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LACK OF PUBLIC AWARENESS IN ARMENIA?

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The Informational Technologies (IT) sector in Armenia is rather vulnerable and there is not much room for development.

There are more than 80 IT companies in Armenia and they mainly export their products. According to head of “Synergy International Systems” Ashot Hovhannisyan, investments in the IT market are mainly from abroad and products are generally exported.

Hovhannisyan set aside a couple of current issues in the IT sector that require solutions and the most important one is the fact that Armenia is not competitive compared to other countries.

For example, in countries like India the work force is comparably cheap and that is why the IT sector moves forward. Other issues connected to Internet connection and the lack of resources.

According to head of the Center for Management Technologies of Yerevan Khazhak Karayan, several tax privileges and creation of free trade zones may promote the IT sector. Karayan believes that the IT sector needs government support, especially in terms of cooperation with financial institutions. Getting funds from financial institutions has been rather difficult to date because the evaluation mechanism in Armenia is underdeveloped.

“That is a major issue today because the evaluations given by the local financial institutions are an important standard for foreign investors. I advise the government to allow exclusions for IT companies when it comes time for project implementation,” says Karayan.

Representative of the “X Tech” creative studio Arman Atoyan says that the IT market in Armenia is underdeveloped due to lack of public awareness. The latter would cause demand for WEB technologies and program deals. Atoyan added that the “Armenian Youth Association for Development of Information Society” has been founded with the purpose of starting processes that will show people what IT is capable of.

“I think that it is very important to show the world a product that is “Made in Armenia”. Let’s start with the development of that brand,” said Atoyan.