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Demirchyan Center becomes IT 2006 headquarters

The second-annual exhibition will host 46 participating companies, with the purpose of creating business connections between IT companies and consumers.

Software giant Microsoft, which recently opened an office in Yerevan will be among the better-known companies engaged in IT business in the spheres of wireless networking, banking and financial technology services, telecommunication, etc. Japanese IT stalwart Mitsubishi will also be represented.

DigiTec 2006 (www.digitec.am) is being organized by Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) (www.uite.org ) and Enterprise Incubator Foundation (www.eif-it.com ), and is held through an initiative of Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, who has declared September 15-October 15 the “Month of Information Technology”.

For several years government and business authorities have championed the cause of IT development in Armenia, calling it a major resource, in a country of few exportable natural resources.

Some 130 companies are engaged in the IT industry in Armenia, employing about 5,000 specialists. IT is considered among the most profitable professions, with programmer salaries ranging up to $7,200 a year.

About 80 percent of IT-related work is exported to more than 20 countries – with 68 percent going to North America; 16 percent to Russia and CIS, and 10 percent to Europe.

Statistics show that if Armenia is holding a leading position in the view of its scientific investment in IT sphere, then in respect of consumption of related IT production it is far behind.

“The goal of such an exhibition is to promote the utilization of such production in Armenia, so that an Armenian businessman could make use of state-of-the-art technology to contribute to his own business and prosperity,” says UITE Executive Director Karen Vardanyan.

During 2005 about 5 percent growth of employment was recorded in the IT sphere, where there was an estimated production volume of about $55-60 million. The same year the IT share in GDP was 1.7 percent, and foreign investment in the field exceeded $10 million. (About 30 percent of IT companies here are foreign-based.)

“Today there is dialogue between the state and business companies, which only contributes to the field’s rapid development,” says Vardanyan. “IT companies do not need privileges, it is simply necessary to take away a number of restrictions connected with customs and tax laws, in order to ensure a more favorable environment for foreign investment.”