YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The 5th Business Innovation Forum this year will gather Armenian and foreign specialists over digitization of Armenia’s economy, innovation strategy approaches, development of scientific-research infrastructure.

The event will be held in Dilijan on November 10-11 under the high patronage of the Armenian Prime Minister.

Karen Vardanayan – executive director of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE), told Armenpress that the main goal of the Forum is to create a platform of professional discussions on strategic issues.

“The Union has set a task before it to restore Armenia’s image as a country of high technologies, thus, a platform is needed where the ways of achieving this are being discussed. High technological country without an agreed policy in different areas and clear innovative approach is impossible”, the UITE executive director said.

Foreign specialists are also invited to attend the event, the international experience is examined and discussed. This year the Forum will be attended by specialists from Germany, Belgium and Romania. We hope it will become an Armenian Davos. If Davos mostly discusses economic, financial topics, this Forum will become a platform for those interested in innovation, as well as will receive an international and more thorough nature”, he said.

As for the topics to be discussed at the Forum, Vardanyan said the participants will first of all discuss issues relating to creating a local industry necessary for the digitization of the economy, developing scientific-research infrastructure, innovative strategy approaches, digital security. They will also touch upon issues on improving the intellectual property system since it, according to Vardanyan, doesn’t fully meet the requirements.

“The innovate strategy must show the ways how to create a competitive and innovative brain since its growing is a cultural issue. But no matter how much we discuss other elements and infrastructures, the number one issue today is the education”, he said, adding that in order to capture the first place, it is necessary to have a serious scientific-research potential, and this must be ensured by universities.

The Forum is organised in partnership with “Support to SME development in Armenia” (SMEDA) is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ’s Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme.