YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. According to Brett King, a world-renowned futurist and the founder of Moven, the keynote speaker at the Doing Digital Forum 2024 in Yerevan, joining the European Union will open up new opportunities and markets for Armenia. However, the most important issue for this is attracting talented individuals and investment to the country. Brett King emphasized this during a briefing with journalists, highlighting the opportunities presented by digital technologies for Armenia and what needs to be done in that regard.

"Attracting talented people should be made as easy as possible; in other words, the procedures should be simplified to enable the attraction of talented individuals and investments to Armenia," King said.

According to him, the coronavirus pandemic and the development of artificial intelligence have shown that people can work from home for large technology companies.

According to the speaker, this opens a window of opportunities to attract talented people to Armenia. King also emphasized that good food, simplified procedures, and high-quality internet security are key prerequisites for this.

“The two prerequisites have already been met. The first is the ability to obtain a digital visa, meaning that individuals interested in establishing activities here can acquire a one-year visa digitally. The second is the availability of internet connectivity, which I can confidently say is of much better quality here than in many countries, including Central European countries," said the speaker, expressing the opinion that a bit more investment is needed in the telecommunications sector to enhance online banking services.

According to him, the fastest moving and growing institutions in the fintech space are not traditional banks, but fintech institutions.

As an example, King noted that 20 financial technology institutions serve 4 billion people, whereas the top 20 traditional banking institutions serve only 2.5 billion. Furthermore, these 20 fintech companies have increased their revenues by 45% annually, whereas traditional banks see growth of only 15% per year.

"If we consider this future, Armenia's banking system really has something to work on. Specifically, Armenia does not have a licensing system for financial technologies to integrate into the banking system. We are currently working on the introduction of digital funds by central banks, and Armenia still has work to do in this area," King said.

According to the futurist, in 20 years, banks will evolve into computer algorithms and programs through which all functions will be performed. Consequently, bank branches will essentially cease to exist.

King emphasized that technological development is not only related to the banking and financial sector but also to healthcare, education, and transportation.

''For example, in the educational system, there will no longer be a curriculum approved by standards; instead, artificial intelligence will offer a program tailored to the needs, opportunities, and abilities of each student. The same approach will apply to the healthcare sector, where a subscription-based mechanism will provide personalized advice based on a person's blood parameters image, thanks to artificial intelligence," predicts the futurist. He adds that smart technologies will enable people to live longer and age more safely,'' the speaker said.