Alastair Lukies: Azerbaijan has potential to become leader of innovation regionwide

Azerbaijan has the potential to become a leader in the innovation sector regionwide, FinTech Alliance Chairman Alastair Lukies told journalists, Report informs.

“It is absolutely clear to me that Azerbaijan has all the necessary conditions to create a successful innovation environment. When describing the situation in Azerbaijan, we should look at the situation in the UK 10 years ago. Your situation is similar to ours at the time, and now the UK has a 10% share of the international fintech market.

Many banks in Azerbaijan encourage the development of this field. Large banks, government agencies, and regulatory bodies need to work together and cooperate with financial technologies. In this case, they will have a greater chance of achieving positive changes for society. But if the banks remain in their positions and the field of financial technologies becomes more aggressive, then there will hardly be a chance to get new achievements,” Alastair Lukies said.

The head of the company added that one of the first steps taken in this field in the UK was the creation of a trade association:

“Banks, financial technologies, and other companies were represented in this association. In addition, we applied the sandbox method. Through this, small companies have increased their knowledge and skills about financial technologies. Another direction is capital and investment in talent. We noticed that there are many talents in Baku. Investing in this area is very important.”

According to him, the speakers at today’s event noted that they can carry out this work by working together: “In this regard, Azerbaijan has a chance. I also understood from the speeches that Azerbaijan has the relevant innovative environment and opportunities not only internally but also for the entire region. I mean Central Asia and the Eurasia region.”