INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VENTURE CAPITAL TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN ON OCTOBER 17

ARKA
Oct 1, 2008

YEREVAN, October 1. /ARKA/. An international conference on venture
capital will take place in Yerevan on October 17, reported Bagrat
Yengibaryan, director of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF).

The workshop aims at introducing IT cooperation projects to overseas
investors and interested parties.

U.S. and European investors, as well as 13 local companies will
participate in the conference. A small IT exhibition will be organized
as part of the event.

The participants to the meeting will sum up the results of a grant
program promoting the private sector-science cooperation.

"The authors of the three best research projects will be awarded
$10,000 and future investors will have an opportunity to study these
projects," Yengibaryan said.

According to the EIF Director’s estimates, some $10mln is necessary
to boost Armenia’s IT sector. He stressed the importance of attracting
venture capital for local IT market.

The RA Government plans to attract some $700mln for the IT sector in
ten years.

The organizers of the conference are EIF, the U.S. Civil Research
Development Fund and the RA Ministry of Economy. The event is part
of the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program.