Government cuts needed development funding Despite the fact that the Information technology sector was proclaimed to be of primary importance, state funds have recently been cut. For the fiscal year 2010-2011, 80 million AMD will be allocated. This compares to 100 million in 2008 and 170 million in 2009.

Thus, the number of events and conferences aimed at developing the IT sector will also suffer. In 2008, a first ever robotics competition was held in Armenia that attracted over 150 young Armenians. There were seven separate contests involved. Five additional contests have been planned for 2011-2012. The ArmRobotics Competition, organized by the Union of Information Technologies Union, only received state funding through the Ministry of Economics until 2008-2009. Robotic engineering and the drafting of automated systems is regarded as a long-term profitable sector both worldwide and in Armenia. This is the view of Armenia’s Ministry of Economics. Hetq recently asked Economics Minister Tigran Davtyan if robotics engineering and automated systems were profitable commercial fields for Armenia. The Ministry’s IT Department responded that, “The application of such equipment has a very wide specter, from civilian to military usage. Taking into account serious developmental technological resources have traditionally been created in Armenia, it is clear that this sector is also important for Armenia’s economic development.” The “wide specter” noted by the Ministry only refers to the organizing of competitions. One can state that the government offers no support to robotic engineering. Robots are not created in the confines of the laboratory but in the homes of robotic enthusiasts here in Armenia. In its previous edition, Hetq focused on the problems facing Armenia’s robotics sector. Some of the young scientists who won prizes at the 2010 competition told Hetq that they wished to participate in a global robotics competition to be held in the U.S. this April 7th. The only stumbling block preventing them is that they just don’t have the necessary funds. We asked around at the Ministry of Economics to see if it was possible for the government to help these young Armenian scientists. The answer was “no”. Here’s what the Ministry had to say. “Taking into account that the 2011 state budget envisages no allocation of funds for the development of the IT sector or for a 2011 ArmRobotics competition, the state budget cannot allot any financial assistance to those wishing to participate in the robot competition to be held this year in the U.S.” So, this, it seems is how the government plans to develop the IT sector in Armenia. Good luck…