Government to finance over 60 IT-projects
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan’s State Fund for Development of Information Technologies (SFDIT) conducts competition on funding local IT-projects.
The list of IT-projects, that claim to receive grant funding, has already been determined, the Fund’s message from October 18 said.
The selection of projects was carried out since the beginning of July until early September, within the Fund’s 4th grant competition. The projects’ evaluation was conducted in two stages – through primary and comprehensive examination. The assessment took a total of 35 working days.
A total of 121 projects participated in the 4th grant competition, while 112 of them passed the initial examination. After the comprehensive examination, 61 of them were selected. The final decision on grant financing will be adopted at the level of Supervisory Board of the Fund.
The State Fund identified 12 criteria that must be met by submitted projects. Criteria prescribe the projects to be clearly justified, have commercial potential, contribute to the development of the Azerbaijani ICT sector, be attractive in terms of investment, have socio-economic importance, be relevant in terms of innovative orientation, etc.
The Fund’s maximum grant amount may be up to 300,000 manats ($187,000). The grants are valid for 36 months. Small grants are provided in the amount of 10,000-100,000 manats ($6,200-62,000), medium – 100,000-200,000 manats ($62,000-124,000), while large – 200,000-300,000 manats ($124,000-187,000).
The State Fund for Development of Information Technologies was established by the presidential decree dated March15, 2012. It operates under the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan.
The main objectives of the Fund are conducting of the state policy on development and support of small enterprises in scientific-technical sphere, providing them with direct financial assistance, training, which in turn will contribute to the creation of new jobs in the country.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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