The winners of the “Neruzh 4.0” program have been announced

The “Neruzh 4.0” Diaspora Tech Startup Program, held in Dilijan on August 23-28 at the initiative of RA Ministry of High-Tech Industry of the RA, has come to an end. On August 27, the official closing ceremony of the event took place, during which the winners of the program were announced.

Davit Sahakyan, Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of the RA welcomed the participants of the Neruzh 4.0 program for their desire to repatriate, establish a company and work in Armenia. He congratulated the winning teams and thanked all partners for supporting the project. And the Deputy Minister urged the teams that did not take prize places not to be disappointed, but to make efforts to realize their technological and business potential.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Executive Director of the “My Step” Charitable Foundation, welcomed the participants and guests of “Neruzh 4.0”, recalling the history of the creation of the “Neruzh” project, the origins of which date back to 2018. According to him, the program is based on the model of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation between Armenia and the Diaspora. In this context, he emphasized that, in his opinion, the real good deed of the Diaspora is the creation of a business that operates in the homeland, and not just doing charity work or maintaining jobs in Armenia based on social responsibility, and the “Neruzh” program is about this.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan also clarified that this year the “My Step” Foundation did not take an active part in the program, since the RA government and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry have fully taken over the leadership of “Neruzh” and are successfully implementing the program.

Before the official closing ceremony of the event, a presentation (pitching) of technological, innovative ideas and projects of the participating teams took place, based on the results of the evaluation of which the previously formed commission determined the winners of the project.

The winning teams of this year’s program, which will receive a grant to create a startup in Armenia and implement their ideas, are determined at two levels: teams at the idea stage and teams with a product.
By decision of the commission, “Propulsion Lab” took 1st place among the teams at the idea stage, “Dynamica” – 2nd place, “Maestrolls” – 3rd place, and “Waveye Inc” was recognized as the winner of the teams with the product, “Parsl.ai” took 2nd place, “OQNI” took 3rd place.

It should also be noted that the “Starship Armenia” and “Tripanova” teams from among the program participants received a grant of 3,000 and 1,500 US dollars, respectively, from “Rocket Systems”, and the companies “Dynamica” and “OQNI” received consulting support from the company “Saege Consultants” in writing a public relations strategy.

22 teams from 7 countries took part in the “Neruzh 4.0” program, which took place in Dilijan on August 23-28. During the 6-day event, teams from the USA, France, Russia, Georgia, Canada, Brazil and Germany had the opportunity to listen to industry lectures, work with mentors and make their presentations even more presentable. They also got the opportunity to expand their cooperative network, exchange knowledge and experience, communicate with invited teams from around the world.

The goal of the “Neruzh” state program, launched in 2018, is to promote the professional repatriation of the diaspora, contributing to the economic progress of Armenia and the development of a start-up ecosystem.