Minister Robert Khachatryan participated in the conference organized by the “Gituzh” initiative

On November 29, “Armenia’s National Research and Innovation System: Transforming Challenges into Revival” conference, organized by “Gituzh” initiative, was launched at the American University of Armenia.

AUA President Dr. Brus Boghosian welcomed the participants and noted that it is a great honor that the conference is being held at AUA, as it is aimed to popularize science, which is extremely important.

Then “Development of Science and Technology Potential in Armenia: where and how to start” panel discussion was held, in which vice president of the National Assembly of RA Hakob Arshakyan, RA Minister of High-Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan, RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan, and a representative of the “Gituzh” initiative, Chairman of the board of trustees at “Ayb” foundation Aram Pakhchanyan participated.

The speakers referred to the state policy directed to the development of science and the scientific ecosystem, the importance of applying scientific results in the economy, and other topics.

Vice president of the National Assembly of RA Hakob Arshakyan noted that a supercomputer artificial intelligence center will be established in Armenia next year, which, once again, proves the goal-oriented policy of the RA government.

“It is impossible to make progress without science. Not just technological progress, but also the strengthening of social life,  statehood and independence. The ideas that people have about the state, history and public life, are completely encapsulated in scientific progress. Innovation creates opportunities to achieve competitive advantage. If you don’t have a scientific basis, you cannot be a leader, without it success will be short-term,”- said Hakob Arshakyan.

RA Minister of High-Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan thanked the organizers and noted that the discussed topics are extremely important for our country’s development. Talking about the science development policy of the Ministry, Robert Khachatryan emphasized that almost all programs implemented by the Ministry, both in the fields of high technologies and military industry, have a science component.

“Any program implemented by the Ministry is targeted, and should be aimed at solving the problems and meeting the needs of science and high-tech community,”- said the Minister. Talking about the state support programs for IT sector, Minister Robert Khachatryan noted that there are different opinions about them.

“Some think that it is not necessary, there are opinions that the support given is not enough. Each company in the industry has its problems and one support program cannot solve all problems. Now we are trying to develop targeted support programs so that it is possible to provide targeted solutions to individual problems,”- said Robert Khachatryan.

RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan referred to the priorities of the science sector. “Armenian government has set clear and measurable targets in terms of funding science, rejuvenation of science sector, generation change, involving new scientists, achieving results and promoting technological progress. In the last 3 years, the Government made significant investments in the field of science, and there is a need to understand the effectiveness, midterm results and measurability indicators of these investments, so that our next steps are more considered and accountable in terms of results,”- Zhanna Andreasyan said.

Aram Pakhchanyan referred to the role, activities and goals of “Gituzh” initiative, the problems of the scientific sphere, emphasized that the systematic work is the path to solve these problems.

Representatives from scientific, educational, technological community and state sector were present at the conference.

The main goal of the conference is to discuss the prospects of creating a strong and competitive scientific and technological system and the existing challenges, trying to outline the tools and approaches of solving these problems.