ICT main indicators

Historically, Armenia was on the forefront of high-tech research, development, and manufacturing. Since early 1950s, Soviet Armenia has been a main hub of USSR’s critical scientific and R&D activities in a number of technology industry segments such as mainframe and industrial computing, electronics, semiconductors, software development and others. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenian technology sector focused primarily on the large-scale R&D and production projects targeted at industrial and military applications. After the independence of 1991, the industry switched its focus to the software development, outsourcing, and IT services. The software and services segment really gained its momentum during the last 10 years, during which the sector grew at 27% per annum. In 2008, the share of the industry in Armenia’s GDP was 1.2%, which is comparable to that of India (1.4%) and Germany (1.3%).

In recent years, the sector has witnessed major inflow of foreign investors who have located in Armenia to capitalize on the young and highly qualified workforce. Around 62% of the industry’s output is exported to over 20 countries, mainly USA, Europe, and NIS. The major specializations include embedded software and semiconductor design, custom software development and outsourcing, financial applications, multimedia design, Internet applications, web development, MIS and system integration. In particular, Armenia has outstanding achievements in semiconductor design software and IP solutions. Foreign companies specialized in chip design place their R&D facilities in Armenia to benefit from the talented and creative workforce pool and highly competitive wage rates

Based on 2007 GDP figure, source Central Bank of Armenia.

Information source:  The Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF): http://www.eif_it.com/