11:54, 1 December 2023

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Science and Business Days 2023 conference has brought together entrepreneurs, scientists, analysts and businessmen in Yerevan to identify the ways that science and business can jointly contribute to the development of a knowledge-based, rapidly growing economy.

Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan opened the forum on December 1.

Essayist, mathematical statistician, former option trader and risk analyst Nassim Taleb is the keynote speaker of the forum.

Nobel Prize laureate, molecular biologist and neuroscientist Ardem Patapoutian, who was the 2022 keynote speaker, greeted the participants of this year’s event via videocall.

The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan also attended the opening ceremony.

In her speech, Andreasyan highlighted that the government has increased science funding over 150% in the recent years, and the results are already visible.

“We live in difficult times. Difficult times are times of the mind, and the mind can be developed only if we make steady efforts in the direction of developing science. This is among our government’s priorities. In the past years we increased science funding over 150% and this has already given results,” Andreasyan said.

Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan recalled that the Armenian government has recently approved a support program for production of economically complex products. In the event of investments, the Armenian government is ready to return up to 35% of the investments to the companies in the form of cashbacks and tax privileges.

The economic policy is aimed at securing economic growth based on investments and increase of productivity.

Physicist, author, and entrepreneur César Hidalgo, whose research includes the introduction of methods to measure Economic Complexity and Relatedness, also participates in the forum.