"WILL, DESIRE AND THOUGHT-OUT POLICY ARE NECESSARY"
Ja nuary 23, 2010
Interview of the ABBYY Company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors
David Yang to Mediamax Agency
Recently, in Armenia people have been talking actively about the
necessity to develop science-intensive economy, involve the scientific
potential, which successfully fulfills itself in different countries
of the world, in the republic’s development. Mediamax correspondent
asked David Yang, the Chairman of ABBYY Company’s Broad of Directors,
to present his understanding of these processes.
David Yang was born in 1968 in Yerevan. In 1992, he graduated from the
faculty of General and Applied Physics of Moscow Institute of Physics
and Technology (MIPT). As a fourth-year student, David founded his
first company – BIT Software, which was later on renamed into ABBYY.
David Yung is one of the founders of Ayb Club and Educational
Foundation, which plans to establish Ayb Learning Hub (ALH) in Yerevan.
– A lot of Armenian specialists, who deal with promising scientific
activities, work abroad today. It is obvious that it is quite
comfortable for them to live and work there. According to you, can
one organize the process of attracting them to Armenia?
– What can Armenia offer scientists that the USA, Europe or Russia
cannot? According to foreign scientists of Armenian origin, the most
important thing Armenia can give is the student environment. Students
and young scientists are people, whom they can pass their knowledge to;
students, who will become a basis for revival of a strong academic
scientific school. Many successful figures in science at a certain
moment acquire a special attitude towards passing their knowledge to
new generations. The very student atmosphere may serve as a point
of attraction for compatriots, who would like to do something for
Armenia. At the initial stage, there is the necessity of setting up
educational-scientific laboratories under the best higher educational
institutions. After that stage, in a few years, there will be people,
who will manage to continue this process. And then investors and
governmental financial means, necessary to equip more serious labs,
will become available. Even if the government allocates millions of
dollars for setting up advanced labs in Armenia today, who will work in
those labs? I do not have much faith in the possibility to establish,
using reasonable money, labs, which will provide the quality necessary
to invite scientists only for scientific work. It is more realistic
to attract scientists into especially set up educational-scientific
laboratories and organize an "army" of young specialists around
them. In particular, China has taken that path.
China attracts scientific personnel not so much into laboratories,
as into educational institutions and small scientific laboratories
under those institutions. At the same time, one should realize that
this process will not be easy either, since a higher school in Armenia
needs serious reforms.
– What is your attitude towards the concept of "Armenian World",
within the framework of which they plan to turn not only residents
of Armenia, but also the representatives of all Armenian nation,
into consumers of intellectual and material production?
– I believe that successful implementation of this concept in many
respects depends on concrete services and products, which will be
offered to consumers. If we talk about the sphere of culture here,
of course, one should produce products in the sphere of theatre,
cinematography, music, literature, where the target audience represents
ethnic Armenians. But if we talk about material production, everything
that takes place in the world today, dictates a diametrically opposite
approach: integration into the global market.
In this view, Armenia should find points of growth for products, which
will be consumed by not only Armenians, but also the entire world. If
we want to make technology competitive, one should take competitive
basis as foundation, be guided by the existing level in the world
and create something new basing on it. Israel is a bright example
for this. A country, which has small population, which exists in
conditions of constant war, managed to become one of the world leaders
in the sphere of bio- and information technologies in the course of
20 years. Another example is Finland. It is also a small country,
with complex climatic conditions and with weakness of a part of the
population for alcohol. Nevertheless, they set up wonderful industrial
parks, the largest ones in Europe. One industrial park in Finland is
larger than all industrial parks in Russia taken together. There is
nothing impossible, one should simply study the best examples, chose
an efficient strategy and thoroughly follow it. China is a gigantic
country with gigantic population and with complex social situation.
Nevertheless, China found the correct path of cooperation with
its compatriots, working abroad, they started to return and what
happens there now simply boggles minds. Another bright example is
Taiwan. This is a small island without natural resources, 80% of the
territories of which is covered by mountains. The population lives
in conditions of full blockade by mainland China. Nevertheless, this
country produces up to 60% of electronic components for the entire
world. Thus, all this is already done in the world. One should set
up a workgroup with participation of scientists, industrialists and
patrons, who will study the practice of the above-mentioned countries:
the necessary steps to attract investment capital, basing on which
schools and higher educational institutions start to grow. Given the
entrepreneurship talent Armenia possesses, given the creative mind of
the people living hear, this is absolutely possible. Will, desire and
thought-out governmental policy, headed by people, who enjoy trust of
investors, are necessary. And then investment funds in Armenia will
be established not only by people with Armenian origin. Residents of
Armenia need full realization of the fact that success, both personal
and the success of the country in general, depend only on them.