Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20
By Kheyraddin Nasirzade - Trend:
The Innovation Agency under the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan will support all participants in the innovation sphere, Azer Bayramov, Executive Director of the State Fund for the Development of Information Technologies, told Trend.
Bayramov noted that the purpose of the agency, which will soon begin its activities, will be the development of innovations in the Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector.
He said that over the past few years, in connection with the development of innovative technologies in Azerbaijan, a number of decrees were signed by President Ilham Aliyev, and they resulted in the creation of the State Fund for the Development of Information Technologies at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, as well as of the High Technologies Park.
Bayramov added that in order to develop innovations in Azerbaijan, the first InnoFest innovation festival will be held, as part of which a set of events will be conducted. He said that the InnoFest festival to be held in Baku May 29-June 4 this year, is aimed at innovative development in Azerbaijan and implementation of new projects. The Executive Director spoke about the large-scale Monex Caspian Summit related to financial technologies, which will be held as part of the InnoFest festival.
Bayramov emphasized the importance of the Maintech innovation technologies forum, which will also be held as part of the InnoFest. The purpose of this forum is to widely disseminate innovative and technological products and services, as well as support their export, he added.
The Executive Director of the State Fund informed that one of the important events during the forum is presentation of WayRay technological startup company estimated at $500 million. Its founder and CEO Vitaly Ponomarev who was born in Baku, will be among the speakers at the forum.
Bayramov added that Ponomarev’s speech should inspire young start-up entrepreneurs, for whom new opportunities are created considering the importance of the development of innovative entrepreneurs for Azerbaijan.
The overall objective of the Forum activities is to attract the interest of young people to the field of innovative technologies, Bayramov said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the Innovation Agency under the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan on November 6, 2018.
According to the decree, the Agency is a legal entity, which will support scientific research, encourage innovative projects (including startups), finance them via grants, concessional loans and investments in authorized capital (including venture financing), and promote innovation initiatives.