As Armenia tries to build a silicone valley in the Caucasus

In Armenia Tech Education begins early.

At a typical three-storey state school in the suburbs of Yerevan, the capital of Armenian, nine-year-old Slavik, demonstrates his invention with three LED lights.

“He has learned to control it and the programming language. You can see the code written to him,” says Maria, a 21-year-old coach leading the class.

Next to them, 14-year-old Eric and Narek demonstrate their reasonable greenhouse greenhouse model, which monitors the temperature and automatically controls fans through the mobile app.

Other children are delighted to demonstrate their inventions: games, robots, applications and projects of a smart home.

The eleven -year -old Arakel holds a cardboard model at home with a retractable clothing line.

“I did my mother’s work lightweight, one part of the device is installed on the roof and the other is the engine,” he says. “When it rains, the line goes under the roof to keep the clothes dry.”

These young inventors attend engineering laboratory classes where they study programming, robotics, coding, 3D models and more.

The program began in 2014 and is called ARMATH, which translates into English as “root”. Today, Armenia schools have 650 ARMATH laboratories.

The initiative was created by a business organization called the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UTE), representing more than 200 Armenian companies with high-tech technologies.

“The vision is that we want Armenia to become a power plant that delivers the maximum values ​​of Armenia and the world,” says Sarkis Karapetyan, UTE Executive Director.

In his spacious open plan in Yerevan, he says there are now about 4,000 technology companies in Armenia.

Armat is part of the UTE work and development program. Mr. Karapetyan says the program is the most successful state partnership in the country.

“We collect capital costs from the private sector, go to schools and create Armath laboratory, we donate equipment,” he says. “And the government of the Ministry of Education gives us a $ 2 million budget (1.5 million pounds) annually to pay salaries of coaches.”

There are now more than 600 coaches and 17,000 active students.

“The goal is that the 5,000 most talented children decide to become engineers every year,” says Mr. Karapetyan.

Armenia – a country with a departure of 2.7 million people, the smallest in the Southern Caucasus region, and its borders with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey were closed for decades with unresolved territorial disputes.

Unlike its neighbors, Armenia has no natural resources and sea access. But throughout the Soviet era it was the center of mathematics and computer science.

In 1956, the Institute of Instructions of Finding Studies of Mathematical Machines was established in Armenia, and by 1960 it developed two first -generation computers.

Today, the country inherits the ambition to turn itself into a Caucasus technological power plant.

And there was already some success. Picsart, website and editing and video app that works on AI was launched in Armenia in 2011. Today, a company with a dual headquarters in Yerevan and Miami is estimated at $ 1.5 billion.

Krisp, which creates audio processing software, and Service Titan, which provides business programs, is other Armenian success stories.

Meanwhile, the annual report states that Armenia is the best country in the Kaurus region, which launch the company by investing in 57th place all over the world. This is compared to Georgia in the 70th position, and Azerbaijan in the 80th.

The critical factor in the increase in the technological development of Armenia is the world diaspora of the country – about 75% of the Armenians in the world and the inhabitants of Armenian descent who live elsewhere.

This world community provides important connections, especially in the US technological industry. The US has as much as 1.6 million of Armenian origin, focused on California.

Samvel Khachikyan, SmartGate director, venture capital, based on California and Armenia, which focuses on technological investments.

He says if you look at the top -500 companies in the US, “you will probably find at least one -two Armenians” in the meeting room or one level of control below.

Mr Hochkan explains how his company helps Armenian entrepreneurs create operations in the US.

“Imagine that the Armenian startup, two young people who decided to go to the United States to try to work there, did not know about the culture how it works.

“It will be difficult, very difficult. We help them, it’s like a missile launch, the first couple of seconds is the most difficult.”

SmartGate delivers army founders to the Silicone Valley and Los -Angeles for intensive networks with leading US companies and investors.

But many Armenian startups first check their products in their home market.

Irina Gazorian is the founder of the app called Dr. Jan, who changes how Armenians gain access to healthcare, allowing them easier to book meetings with doctors.

Earlier, Ms. Gazorian worked in the field of products and web designs when, helping she comes from a family of doctors, she identified a gap on the market. “Patients could not find the right doctors, and doctors suffered from endless calls.”

The application works on the subscription model, and doctors pay for the platform listed, and is planned to expand.

“We grow at least 25% of the profit per month,” adds Ms. Gazarian. “In Armenia, we almost do not break through, and it gives us the strength to start expanding to other markets like Uzbekistan.”

Armenia’s technical ecosystem received an unexpected incentive in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of Russian IT specialists left their country, and many decided to settle in Armenia.

Meanwhile, the American giant Nvidia moved to the Russian post to Armenia.

Vasily – Russian IT consultant who moved to Armenia in 2023. “Armenia was the most friendly for people from Russia to help them move, adapt and so on,” he says.

He believes that the Russian IT community in Armenia is now between 5,000 and 8,000 people. In this influx, they said, they filled the decisive gaps in the skills in the Armenian technology sector in areas such as data processing, cybersecurity and financial technology.

However, Vasily says Armenia may be expensive and the country should reduce the tax burden on ITFIMS if they want them to remain in the country.

However, general optimism remains high in Armenia’s technological future. Samvel Hachikyan expects the sector to be a boom. It points to the Titan’s service sailing on the New York Stock Exchange last December, and now costs more than $ 10 billion.