Armenia seeks to become the technological hub of the Caucasus, leveraging the fact that its capital, Yerevan, was a center for mathematics and computer science in the former Soviet Union, according to the BBC.
To build on this legacy, the country launched the “Armath” school program in 2014, through which about 17,000 students learn robotics and programming in 650 workshops and schools across the country.
The initiative was created by the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE), a business organization that represents over 200 Armenian high-tech companies. In total, around 4,000 technology companies operate in Armenia.
Armenia is the top country in the Caucasus for starting a business, ranking 57th globally, followed by Georgia (70th) and Azerbaijan (80th).
A key factor in the country’s efforts is the network of the Armenian diaspora, with 75% of people of Armenian descent living abroad, including 1.6 million in the United States, primarily in California.
“If you look at the top 500 companies in the U.S., you will definitely find at least one or two Armenians on the board or in an executive position,” says an Armenian-born executive at a California-based asset management company, speaking to the BBC.
Armenia is a landlocked country with 2.7 million people, the smallest in the South Caucasus region, and its borders with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey have been closed for decades due to territorial disputes.
Unlike its neighbors, Armenia has no natural resources and lacks access to the sea.
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