Baku hosts finals of V4-Azerbaijan Tech Bridge program

This Friday the finals of the V4-Azerbaijan Tech Bridge program took place in Baku. It brought together numerous leaders of innovation ecosystems from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Azerbaijan enabling them to build an actual bridge between Caucasus and Visegrad markets.

According to Report, the program is implemented in Azerbaijan by a Polish initiative since the beginning of 2022. It is financed by the International Visegrad Fund and supported by Embassies of all V4 countries.

The V4ATB program is supported by the Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan (KOBİA), whose Deputy Chairman of the Board Rufat Atakishiyev said during the opening of the event that “We are glad that only half a year after the signing of the memorandum of cooperation between KOBİA and Startup Hub Poland, we can meet again in Baku and host partners from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia interested in developing contacts and partnerships with Azerbaijan”.

The opening ceremony was also attended by representatives of V4 Embassies in Azerbaijan (Ambassador of Hungary Tamás Torma, Ambassador of Poland Rafał Poborski, Ambassador of Slovakia Milan Lajčiak and Deputy Head of Mission of Czech Republic Martin Lubojacky), who welcomed the participants and wished Azerbaijani startups good luck.

"Poland, which is one of the European leaders in the number of investments in startups, is interested in continuing the implementation of similar projects aimed at dynamizing cooperation with Azerbaijani partners," head of the Polish Embassy, which initiated the whole program, Ambassador Rafał Poborski said. The
Slovak Ambassador Milan Lajciak stated that the Tech Bridge project, initiated by Polish colleagues was successfully carried out during V4 Slovak Presidency: "It´s helpful in tapping the potential of young talents and opening new avenues of cooperation between V4 and Azerbaijani partners."

The Deputy Head of Mission at the Czech Embassy Martin Lubojacky added that "innovation and closer connections between young entrepreneurs and experts are a traditional priority of V4. The interest of young people in cooperation in the field of innovative technologies shows us the shape and direction of future cooperation for the coming years, which we will continue to support together".

Ambassador of Hungary Tamás Torma underlined that “V4-Azerbaijan Tech Bridge is a newly founded initative based a particular demand, introducing a new culture of cooperation, innovative spirit and a new atmosphere”.

Those 10 top-notch Azerbaijani startups selected by the international jury of the program from over 160 submitted applications, presented themselves to an audience of investors, VC funds, accelerators, business angels, bankers, mentors and experts from Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, who came to Baku.

The winner, startup Mur Mur (computer Vision analytics platform for outdoor advertising) received a special prize funded by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Baku - a trip to a prestigious Deep Tech CEE Challenge event, which will take place in November 2023 in Warsaw.