
To attend the annual Armenian technology congress (ArmTech) that this year took place in California, Prime Minister Mr. Tigran Sargsian and his delegation that included the Minister of Economy spent almost a week in the U.S.A., mainly in Northern California.
The PM had, in fact, a very busy program mainly focused on learning more about California’s ICT and high technology hub, including the Silicon Valley. Among his visits, the followings are worth being mentioned and recorded:
He met the V.P. of Intel Mr. John Davies in Santa Clara. Mr. Davies briefed Tigran Sargsian on his company’s four main development areas: Accessibility, development of communication facilities, education and training, and content of information services. During this meeting Mr. Sargsian said his government’s programs are in harmony with Intel’s visions and stressed the importance of joint educational endeavors on computer literacy and Internet accessibility.
He claimed that the ongoing projects in Armenia will ensure a breakthrough in Internet services. To provide for continuity in the implementation of educational programs and the agreements reached during the meeting, Armenian Economy Minister Mr. Nerses Yeritsian was told to continue negotiations with Intel on the matters discussed, the Armenian government press service said.
The Armenian delegation also had a meeting with Cisco CEO Mr. John Chambers. They discussed Internet accessibility, making Gyumri a technology city, and the development of Armenia’s postal system. The new areas of cooperation were said to allow new possibilities for effective interaction.
Mr. Sargsian also met with several other high ranking officials at Synopsys, Renesas Technology, Mentor Graphics, Sequoia Capitals, and others.
University Visits
Mr. Sargsian visited Stanford University, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which was related to his government’s accelerator project at Yerevan Institute of Physics.
The PM also attended the University of California at Berkeley, School of Information. Here he took part in a panel presentation and discussion entitled “Armenia’s competitiveness agenda: Partnering across networks.”
The panel featured some of the same speakers as the ArmTech Congress:
Mr. Sargsyan, Prime Minister
Mr. Pegor Papazian, Director of the National Competitiveness Foundation
Ms. AnnaLee Saxenian, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Information
Ms. Jacqueline Karaaslanian, Director of the Luys Foundation
Mr. Andre Andonian, Partner and Director of McKinsey and Co, Munich Office
The speakers discussed Armenia’s recent initiatives and investment projects, and introduced and reviewed the work of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia.
They presented and discussed various projects ranging from tourism product development and broadband infrastructure to nuclear medicine and the 'Yerevan Innovation Triangle'.
The absence of Armenia’s academic authorities such as Minister of Education and Science and President of the Academy of Sciences in the week-long visit to the U.S. innovation hub in California and particularly during PM’s visits to American universities and research centers was strange and surprising.
Conclusion: Armenia’s Place in the Future World Unknown
At the end of his visit, the PM took part in a gala evening to celebrate Craig Barrett, holder of a presidential award for significant global contribution to the development of information technologies.
Speaking at the gala, Mr. Sargsian said that during his stay in Silicon Valley it became clear to him that it was necessary to make changes in Armenian government’s projects in the area of internet technology.
“They grew outdated over the time we were trying to implement them,” he stated. “It turns out that we have to review and revise; an opportunity that ArmTech provides.
Secondly, during our meetings with a major company an idea was proposed that, firstly, made me astonished, that it’s not Armenia that must go to global companies, but rather, major companies must come to Armenia. The world is becoming very small, and global companies are competing there. There are no longer any places.”
Then the PM discussed his third conclusion: “The competition among the world’s global companies is not in finding a place in the present market, since there is no more unexplored space. Moreover, all the spaces in the future market are also occupied, which makes the Blue Ocean Strategy very timely, since all those territories where we try to position ourselves are occupied today and tomorrow. We are late: this means we must find our ocean, our space, where we will have our relative advantage.”
The prime minister considered the question “What is Armenia’s place in the future world?” to be pivotal. “No global company thinks [about this], other than us; they think about their own business. And ArmTech must provide assistance in finding the answer to the question.”
'The Armenian World'
In the context of the meetings and discussions held recently, Sargsian also referred to ‘the Armenian world’: “The Armenian world is a reality. The rapidly changing and diminishing world showed that. It is not the formation of the Armenian world that should interest us, since it already exists, but its future: What changes we must undergo, how we must change the Armenian world’s traditional structures, and our country.”
The PM had, in fact, a very busy program mainly focused on learning more about California’s ICT and high technology hub, including the Silicon Valley. Among his visits, the followings are worth being mentioned and recorded:
He met the V.P. of Intel Mr. John Davies in Santa Clara. Mr. Davies briefed Tigran Sargsian on his company’s four main development areas: Accessibility, development of communication facilities, education and training, and content of information services. During this meeting Mr. Sargsian said his government’s programs are in harmony with Intel’s visions and stressed the importance of joint educational endeavors on computer literacy and Internet accessibility.
He claimed that the ongoing projects in Armenia will ensure a breakthrough in Internet services. To provide for continuity in the implementation of educational programs and the agreements reached during the meeting, Armenian Economy Minister Mr. Nerses Yeritsian was told to continue negotiations with Intel on the matters discussed, the Armenian government press service said.
The Armenian delegation also had a meeting with Cisco CEO Mr. John Chambers. They discussed Internet accessibility, making Gyumri a technology city, and the development of Armenia’s postal system. The new areas of cooperation were said to allow new possibilities for effective interaction.
Mr. Sargsian also met with several other high ranking officials at Synopsys, Renesas Technology, Mentor Graphics, Sequoia Capitals, and others.
University Visits
Mr. Sargsian visited Stanford University, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which was related to his government’s accelerator project at Yerevan Institute of Physics.
The PM also attended the University of California at Berkeley, School of Information. Here he took part in a panel presentation and discussion entitled “Armenia’s competitiveness agenda: Partnering across networks.”
The panel featured some of the same speakers as the ArmTech Congress:
Mr. Sargsyan, Prime Minister
Mr. Pegor Papazian, Director of the National Competitiveness Foundation
Ms. AnnaLee Saxenian, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Information
Ms. Jacqueline Karaaslanian, Director of the Luys Foundation
Mr. Andre Andonian, Partner and Director of McKinsey and Co, Munich Office
The speakers discussed Armenia’s recent initiatives and investment projects, and introduced and reviewed the work of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia.
They presented and discussed various projects ranging from tourism product development and broadband infrastructure to nuclear medicine and the 'Yerevan Innovation Triangle'.
The absence of Armenia’s academic authorities such as Minister of Education and Science and President of the Academy of Sciences in the week-long visit to the U.S. innovation hub in California and particularly during PM’s visits to American universities and research centers was strange and surprising.
Conclusion: Armenia’s Place in the Future World Unknown
At the end of his visit, the PM took part in a gala evening to celebrate Craig Barrett, holder of a presidential award for significant global contribution to the development of information technologies.
Speaking at the gala, Mr. Sargsian said that during his stay in Silicon Valley it became clear to him that it was necessary to make changes in Armenian government’s projects in the area of internet technology.
“They grew outdated over the time we were trying to implement them,” he stated. “It turns out that we have to review and revise; an opportunity that ArmTech provides.
Secondly, during our meetings with a major company an idea was proposed that, firstly, made me astonished, that it’s not Armenia that must go to global companies, but rather, major companies must come to Armenia. The world is becoming very small, and global companies are competing there. There are no longer any places.”
Then the PM discussed his third conclusion: “The competition among the world’s global companies is not in finding a place in the present market, since there is no more unexplored space. Moreover, all the spaces in the future market are also occupied, which makes the Blue Ocean Strategy very timely, since all those territories where we try to position ourselves are occupied today and tomorrow. We are late: this means we must find our ocean, our space, where we will have our relative advantage.”
The prime minister considered the question “What is Armenia’s place in the future world?” to be pivotal. “No global company thinks [about this], other than us; they think about their own business. And ArmTech must provide assistance in finding the answer to the question.”
'The Armenian World'
In the context of the meetings and discussions held recently, Sargsian also referred to ‘the Armenian world’: “The Armenian world is a reality. The rapidly changing and diminishing world showed that. It is not the formation of the Armenian world that should interest us, since it already exists, but its future: What changes we must undergo, how we must change the Armenian world’s traditional structures, and our country.”














