Venture conference to take place in Yerevan on December 2

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Venture conference of the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) will take place in Yerevan on December 2.

Within the framework of the conference, 14 companies will present their projects, five of which till receive financial prizes at the volume of $15 thousands.

Mediamax reports that the Director of “Enterprise Incubator” Foundation Bagrat Yengibaryan stated today that the venture conference is being held in Armenia for already the third time, and each year the number of winning companies and the sum of prizes increases. In 2007, 3 projects received prizes $1 thousand each, in 2008 – 4 projects - $7.5 thousands each.

Head of High and Information Technologies Department of the Ministry of Economy of Armenia Vache Kirakosyan informed that by the end of the year a venture fund will start its activity in Armenia on funding information technologies.

Armenian government is in process of negotiations on this with Russian Sitronics Company. It is expected that the initial capital of the fund will make $40mln, and the participation of the Armenian government will make 10-15%. They also consider the opportunity of attracting loan means from the World Bank.