BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
A new educational platform, Startup Academy, has been launched in Azerbaijan, Director of the SUP.VC Innovation Center, Vusal Karimli, told Trend this week.
“To date, the platform has been launched in the beta testing stage, the full version of which will be presented in cooperation with foreign countries,” said Karimli.
Besides, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations (ASAN Service) under the President of Azerbaijan informed about holding of the ‘Azerbaijan 500 ASAN Startup’ program’s launch.
According to the Chairman of the ASAN Service Ulvi Mehdiyev, this program will contribute to the formation of an innovative ecosystem and infrastructure in the country in the context of the rapid development of technologies, and give impetus to innovative entrepreneurship among potential start-up developers in Azerbaijan.
Speaking about formation of a new innovative ecosystem, Rashad Azizov, head of the innovation and digital development department at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, said that the growth of a startup ecosystem in Azerbaijan is one of the country’s priority tasks.
"The formation of the legal framework allows, first of all, the state most profitably, for all participants, to create investment funds, make investments in projects and a number of other important issues," noted Azizov.
He reminded that since 2012, the Azerbaijani government has begun to pay special attention to the startup ecosystem of the country, and some changes have been made in this industry since 2018.
"These changes affected not only state organizations, but also a number of others. In the same year, innovation centers and agencies were established under the Ministry of Communications to directly support the startup environment, provide assistance and provide the necessary conditions for entrepreneurs in the development of their activities in this direction," added the ministry’s representative.
In the outgoing week, myContact project’s manager Kamran Mammadov informed about launch of a new mobile platform in Azerbaijan.
According to Mammadov, despite the fact that this platform is presented for the first time in Azerbaijan, the demand and interest in it are high.
“The services of the platform can be used by both individual users and corporate ones. The solution of this platform is aimed at replacing the usual paper business cards. Each user registered on our platform enters their data (full name, phone numbers, links to social networks, and a number of other data), which are further systematized from our side, after which an electronic card is issued to the user in the form of a plastic card,” he added.
Besides, the Azerbaijani Innovation Agency signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of high technologies with the Turkish ‘Technopark Istanbul’.
“The turning of Karabakh into a place of high technologies and innovations in the region is important for the economy and future progress of Azerbaijan. According to the signed memorandum, in order to increase technical knowledge and train young experts in Azerbaijan, it’s planned to regularly conduct incubation and acceleration programs, technology transfer programs, as well as an exchange of knowledge and experience,” the agency noted.
Besides, Nadir Alasgarov, Head of the digital product development department at Azerbaijani Kibrit Tech company, in his interview to Trend said that the company’s products, which have a versatile focus, can be in demand and easily implemented in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan for both business and the public sector.
“As is known, Azerbaijan’s president has approved the concept of creating a ‘smart village’ in the liberated territories. Part of this concept is the so-called ‘smart buildings’, the systems of which are monitored and controlled by ‘smart’ systems,” he noted.
“Our company, with many years of experience and certified engineers in the implementation and maintenance of automated building management systems (BMS), is ready to offer its services within this project. This solution was developed entirely by local experts and fits perfectly into the smart village concept for using smart agricultural solutions,” added Alasgarov.
Along with the above events, Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan Rashad Nabiyev signed a number of agreements with the Turkish counterparts.
So, during one of meetings with Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey Adil Karaismayiloglu, he discussed issues of mutual interest in the field of transport, cybersecurity, and communications.
Furthermore, Minister of Industry and Technology of Turkey, Mustafa Varank, and Rashad Nabiyev exchanged views on cooperation in the field of ICT and innovation.
The parties stressed that the signing of these documents will give an impetus to the development of the two countries, as well as the relevant areas, within which the agreements were reached.