YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The first session of the Science and Technology Development Council of Armenia was held under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in which the draft strategy of the development of science and technology was presented.

The Board includes representatives of the both public sector, and managers of a number of well-known companies operating in the field: "Synopsys Armenia", "Intelinair", "SADA Systems", "Strategic Value Ventures", "BIGcontrols", "Project Integration" and other companies.

According to the readout issued by the Prime Minister office, before the presentation of the draft, the Head of the Government noted that this format was formed for obvious reasons and goals arising from the name of the council, and thanked those present for their willingness to participate in the work of the council. "Obviously, the Republic of Armenia has many obstacles on its development path, and our perception is that one of the primary tools to overcome these obstacles is science and the technological sector arising from it. Through this format, we will try to ensure greater involvement in the development of strategies with the participation of the representatives of the sector, the Government and the parliament's partners", emphasized Nikol Pashinyan and added that today's meeting is the start of that process, and decisions will be made on the organization of further work based on the results of the session.

Hakob Arshakyan, Vice President of the National Assembly, member of the council, presented the vision, goal and scope of the strategy. Accordingly, the vision of the strategy is to ensure the rapid growth of the science and technology sector in Armenia, and the goal is to introduce and implement a mechanism of policy alignment and interrelated development of the fields of education, applied science and high-tech industry.

"In the last three years, funding for science has increased dramatically, and it is noteworthy that the growth is especially in the direction of targeted program funding and thematic funding," Hakob Arshakyan noted and added that there are limited capacities for laboratory testing in Armenia and it is necessary to set priorities here and develop laboratory capacity also in a targeted manner. According to Hakob Arshakyan, it is very important that there are already funds allocated for capital investments. Turning to the high-tech sector, he noted that a 34 percent increase in turnover in 2021, 100 percent in 2022 and 44 percent in 2023 was recorded.

5 branches are presented in the draft startegy: artificial intelligence and machine learning, microelectronics, advanced robotics, quantum technologies, biotechnology and sciences, which contain educational, scientific and industrial components. It was proposed to create working groups that will work under the Government in order to promote the development of the above branches and increase the efficiency of investments.

Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized. "I think that the working groups of the council should carry out audit of our policies implemented in these three directions and evaluate how much these policies contribute to the further development of these branches, evaluate this contribution. If this benefit is small, what should be done to make it more effective?"

There was an exchange of ideas about issues raised in the draft, how to solve the problems and how to address the mechanisms. In particular, recommendations and observations were presented regarding the introduction of development mechanisms in the specified directions.

The Prime Minister thanked for the effective discussion and expressed hope that as a result of joint work, it will be possible to find necessary solutions to the conceptual issues and implement the planned programs.