Science development fund allocates 1 million manats for ICT projects
By Nigar Orujova
The Science Development Fund under the President of Azerbaijan has allocated 1 million manats to finance competitive projects in the field of information and communication technologies, the Fund's Executive Director Elchin Babayev said at a conference on September 5.
According to Babayev, the competition is being conducted jointly with Azerbaijan's Communications and Information Technologies Ministry, in accordance with the Action Plan of the ICT Year, which is underway in Azerbaijan.
The competition will accept projects in such sectors as information support, innovative development, biometrics and cryptography, distant education and teaching resources, Babayev said.
The total amount of financing within the competition is envisaged in the amount of 1.2 million manats.
"The minimum budget of the projects bidding at the competition should not exceed 10,000 manats and the projects' maximum budget should range between 10,000 and 100,000 manats," he said.
Participation in the contest is open for employees of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), non-governmental organizations, independent scientists and specialists in the ICT sector.
The projects of the competition will be registered at Azerbaijan's Copyright Agency.
The projects will be approved in September-October, and the results of the competition will be announced on November 10.
Azerbaijan achieved 10.5 percent growth in the ICT sector in the first half of 2013 compared to the same period of last year.
The Action Plan of the ICT Year includes the activity of the State Fund for ICT Development. The State Fund was established to implement the state policy on development and support of small enterprises in the scientific and technical fields and defines three ways of financing - investments, grants and credits.
Each Azerbaijani citizen may avail of the advantages of the ICT Fund's financing.
According to the ICT Ministry, the initial financing volume of the Fund for 2013 is 15 million manats (over $19 million).
The Fund will also organize contests for developers until the year-end. As a result of the tenders, distinguished projects will be selected with perspectives of their future funding.