Armenian IT companies to receive grants totaling AMD 1 billion under government’s 17th anti-crisis program

YEREVAN, September 18. /ARKA/. The results of grant competitions for first and second events under the Armenian government’s 17th anti-crisis program, which is being held to lessen COVID-19 adverse impacts, have been summed up. Grants totaling about 1 billion drams will be provided to Armenian high-tech companies. The results of the program were presented at the press conference by the Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry Victoria Poghosyan.

Under the 17th program, high-tech companies will be able to receive grant packages as assistance in overcoming difficulties due to the coronavirus, in particular, to preserve jobs and stimulate the formation of innovative ideas with their subsequent commercialization.

Applications for participation in the first and second events were accepted from June 1 to July 1, and for the third program, applications for co-financing grants will be accepted until December 1, 2020.

As part of the first component of the 17th anti-crisis program, innovative grants will be provided and contracts will be signed with product-creating legal entities registered in Armenia over the past two years. The program implies a grant of up to 10 million AMD for each winning project.

The competition was held in two stages. At the first stage, 141 organizations applied and some 117 applications were evaluated (24 applications were declared invalid). As many as 35 participants, who received 7.5 and higher points out of 10 from the commission, passed to the second stage. As a result, the ministry will sign grant agreements with 23 organizations that meet all the criteria.

To implement their ideas, the organizations will be provided with a total of about 227 million drams. The winning organizations are representatives of the following spheres: artificial intelligence (32%), data science (19%), Internet of things (19%), robotics (11%), modern communication technologies (5%), bioengineering technologies (5%), electronics and microelectronics (5%), energy storage technologies (3%), superconductors (3%) and other (3%).

Under the second program, 17 events within the framework of the From Idea to Business program will be given grants to service-providing technology companies registered in Armenia for 2 or more years, which have created products and won the competition. The program implies a grant of up to 20 million drams to each winning project.

The competition was held in 2 stages: at the first stage, 148 organizations applied, of which 143 applications were evaluated (5 applications were declared invalid). 46 organizations, which received 7.5 and higher points out of 10 from the commission, passed to the second stage of pitching. As a result of the competition, an agreement will be signed with 41 organizations.

For the implementation of their projects, organizations will receive a total of about 789 million drams. Organizations are representatives of the following spheres: artificial intelligence (19.4%), data science (11.3%), robotics (8.1%), electronics and microelectronics (8.1%), Internet of things (8.1%), modern communication technologies (6.5%) etc.

In total, the Armenian authorities approved 24 programs to counter the socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus. Some of them relate to economic support for business (agriculture, tourism, SMEs, microbusiness, IT and other industries) and others are aimed at social support for various groups of the population, another program is purely ecological (planting coastal forest zones using willow seedlings).

A number of programs have already been completed, some are still in the process, and the government is discussing new opportunities for assistance for the citizens of the republic and is already adopting long-term development programs. -0-