Turning Azerbaijan into tech hub is main goal, says ministry official

A meeting has been held with the students who won the scholarship program announced by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Report informs.

The event was attended by Farid Ahmadov, Advisor to the Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Gachay Mirzayev, Manager of Microsoft Azerbaijan, representatives of other tech companies operating in Azerbaijan, including Whelp and Sumaks, students and their parents.

Congratulating parents and students, Farid Ahmadov gave detailed information about the scholarship program. He said that the organization and implementation of digital transformation in Azerbaijan, the formation of an innovation ecosystem are the main tasks set for the ministry:

“One of the main goals of the ministry is to turn Azerbaijan into a technology service hub in the near future and increase the share of exported ICT products in GDP.”

The ministry official stressed that the implementation of the tasks requires highly qualified personnel.

“Due to the digital transformation, it is necessary to train specialists with new skills and abilities for the labor market. We hope that the scholarship program will give a serious impetus to this process. In the first month after its announcement, more than 5,000 applications were registered for the scholarship program,” Farid Ahmadov said, noting that about 500 people are expected to graduate from the first edition of the project.

Gachay Mirzayev, manager of Microsoft Azerbaijan, said that the private sector has recently hailed the initiatives that promote innovation and digital transformation in the country. He noted that the development of innovative-minded, highly professional people in the country will directly lay the foundation for the growth of the private sector.

Representative of Whelp, one of the project’s partners, Jamil Aghasi spoke about the training areas to be organized within the program. He said that the program will provide knowledge and skills in relevant areas of IT (cloud solutions, cloud administration, big data, cybersecurity, automation, electronics, various programming languages, UI/UX design, etc.).

Then there was a presentation about the scholarship program for pupils and students, as well as their parents.

Classes on Automation, Electronics, Children's Electronics and Cloud Administration have already started at Code and More. Code Academy, Israel-Azerbaijan Training Center, Tech Academy and ICT LAB continue to accept students for the program.

In addition to the IT field knowledge, the project will also organize incubation and acceleration programs, which are necessary for tech entrepreneurship and contribute to the formation of entrepreneurial skills. One of the project’s features is the implementation of these programs in within public-private partnership, with the involvement of universities and startups.