The crisis has hardly affected the Armenian IT companies, Karen Vardanyan, Executive Director of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) Karen Vardanyan told NEWS.am. He said that surveys to specify the figures are under way now.

“Pressured by the crisis, the enterprises operating in other fields are thinking of enhancing their business efficiency, and IT application is one of the ways of doing it. But this figure cannot even be considered satisfactory,” he said. “The IT development concept approved in 2008 points out that the number of IT enterprises is to reach 1,000 by 2018. But, statistical data show that only one of five enterprises survives. That is 500 rather than 100 enterprises have to be opened annually, whereas only 40 have been opened this year. But we do not know whether the enterprises will survive on the market,” Vardanyan said.

According to the concept, the number of employees at the Armenian IT enterprises is to reach 20,000 in eight years. “Everything remained on paper. And it is the Government, enterprises, as well as the society, that are responsible for the idea not being implemented,” Vardanyan said. He believes that the sector’s development requires “the domestic market’s response, which implies a change in the people’s way of thinking.”

Vardanyan pointed out three lines of developments of the Armenian IT sector: the state government system and modernization of military equipment; business; households. IT application will rule out shadow businesses and embezzlement, while some people would object to it. “80% of businesses in Armenia are either monopolies or controlled by government agencies. Such businesses are not drawn in competition, while competing businesses need IT technologies,” Vardanyan said.

Educational software is considered a personal product worldwide, but in Armenia hardly anyone is serious about education – both students and their parents. “People worldwide view PCs as a means of education, but our students use computers for playing, chatting or visiting porno sites,” Vardanyan said.

One of the major problems is that the IT enterprises do not ensure enough discoveries and publications." We have a lack of interesting ideas and need new discoveries. When they happen, they are recognized the best in the world. This year a contest involving 400 venture companies has been held in the United States, and an Armenian company’s innovation was recognized the best," Vardanyan said.