Armen Kherlopian: Country’s greatness is not population but number of people employed in tech sector, and we can be great!

There is a very serious potential in Armenia, but we have forgotten several important things during one or two generations. Armen Kherlopian, founder of BAJ Accelerator, scientific and innovation director of Covenant Venture Capital company, said this in an interview with NEWS.am Tech.

A scientist in Armenia earns very little, which is surprising; a scientist must earn a lot

"If we go back a generation or two, for example, during the Soviet years, there was an Armenian scientist Alexander Khomujyan, whose first robot he created set foot on the Moon and also on Mars. We have this kind of power. Even now, there is a Nobel laureate from abroad, Ardem Patapoutian, who has a laboratory in the USA. We have such people, but there is something very important that we have forgotten: the role of a scientist for the people. In Soviet times, a scientist worked on some material, whereas a modern scientist must also lead and push the frontier of science further, which is very beneficial to both the economy and security," Kherlopian says.

Referring to the problems of the education sector in Armenia, he said: "For example, companies take students from the 1st-2nd year of universities; that is, one of the problems is that students do not have time to mature and engage in serious science. Secondly, in order for the student to connect his life with science, it is necessary to create a connection between science and monetary reward. People say that a scientist in Armenia earns very little money; this is surprising. A scientist must bring money to his organization and advance his laboratory. This kind of thinking is very important in modern science."

Startups can become champions of the economy and make Armenia competitive in the world

According to Kherlopian, there are startups that can grow very quickly and increase the turnover to $1 billion. The most serious startups are based on science, they are related to biophysics and robotics and can play a very important role in the country's development.

"Therefore, the state should support these startups, which can later become champions of the economy. In other words, this is more important than developing the general economy. This is a very serious vector for the economy to grow. This will enable us to become competitive in the world," he says.

Children can have a bright future by becoming scientists and engineers

According to Armen Kherlopian, it is necessary to increase the number of Armenian specialists in high tech, and Armenian companies should start buying companies in other countries in order to create connections because scientific organizations in the world somehow represent an international network. Moving forward in these two directions is very important, and this should be accelerated in order to be able to move in line with the demands of the market.

"The third important direction is Tumo, as an education program. Families should understand that their children can have a bright future by becoming scientists, engineers, participating in startups. This will also resolve the issue of the number of workers in that field in the future," Kherlopian said.

To the question of what the Armenian state should do to make doing science appealing, he answered: "There are companies in the field of information technology that should be considered champions of our economy. The state should present itself to the world with the names of these well-known companies, and the people should follow the success of these companies."

What should be changed in Armenia’s education sector?

According to the scientific and innovation director of the Covenant Venture Capital company, universities in Armenia have a major engineering school, the students find their place in various countries, which means that we have a success story.

"For example, our medical university has a good name in India. It is very normal for these connections to be with various countries. We also need other nations to present important areas and achievements in our country, and vice versa. This is also important from the point of view of strengthening the security of our country through science. Student exchange programs are very important. This is an ‘ambassadorial’ movement in its own way," Kherlopian notes.

When asked what needs to be changed in the education sector in Armenia, he answered: "First, I would set a serious goal for the universities that some of their students should be from other countries. In other words, instead of reducing the number of places for Armenian students, they should increase the number of places for students from abroad. Those connections are very important. Second, universities should have connections with major startup organizations that will be part of their education. Students should see what can be created and what results can be achieved."

The size of a country is not its population, but the number of its people employed in the tech sector

Armen Kherlopian says that one of the employees of the Philippine embassy once told him that the Philippines is a small country, and he was surprised how a country with a population of 70 million could consider itself a small country.

"I was wrong. In fact they are 120 million, including their diaspora. If that is a small country, then what kind of country is Armenia? That embassy worker was counting the number of people working in the tech industry, not the population. Armenia can have such strength if every Armenian is instead of ten people. This is not an exaggeration; there are Armenian engineers who work like ten [people]. I encourage Armenians to get used to these technologies, get acquainted with our brilliant startups, get a good education," Armen Kherlopian said.