Armenia, Belgium expanding horizons of cooperation in AI, innovation

Many Belgian companies have no information about Armenia as a technological hub, an IT player. In an interview with NEWS.am Tech, Belgian Ambassador to Armenia Eric de Muynck said this during the AI9 Startup Campus event, which was organized by the Belgian embassy in Armenia—and with the aim of strengthening ties between the two countries in innovations, technology, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Representatives of leading companies and startups from Armenia and Belgium were on hand at this meeting to discuss the prospects of joint projects in such domains as health care, cybersecurity, and education. The event attracted the attention of a wide range of specialists and became an important step on the way to creating new formats of bilateral cooperation.

"Not being an IT expert, my role as an ambassador is to unite the IT ecosystems of Armenia and Belgium, to find partners for Armenian companies in Belgium, so that we find out how they can complement each other. For example, this afternoon I visited a cancer diagnostic laboratory, and we have research in the field of artificial intelligence in Belgium to improve the diagnosis of cancer, particularly breast cancer. I think that we can establish a partnership between such a laboratory or research center in Armenia and a research center in Belgium, as well as companies, in order to develop such solutions for Armenia. And I believe that in order to promote innovations, a partnership between research centers, academies, industry, and the private sector is necessary," said Eric de Muynck.

When asked what the difficulty of establishing cooperation between the Belgian and Armenian innovative systems is, the diplomat said: "Lack of knowledge. Ignoring problems and difficulties? No. But, as I already said, my role is to help make Armenia visible on the map. Many Belgian companies have no information about Armenia as a technology hub, an IT player. And the purpose of this evening and the visit of the big delegation to Armenia is to show them that something important is happening in this country."

According to Valéry Safarian, Chairman of the  Belgian-Armenian Chamber of Commerce, cooperation with Belgium makes the European market and technologies accessible to Armenian companies, especially in cybersecurity and data protection. "Armenia has a huge potential, and we are happy to see how the country is becoming a more significant IT hub."

Also, Safarian emphasized that the Belgian-Armenian Chamber of Commerce has existed for more than 20 years and has organized the visit of more than 200 companies to Armenia. However, as Safarian noted, this is the first time when the delegation has focused on the IT sector. According to him, "this mission became possible thanks to the recently opened Belgian embassy [in Armenia], which supported our project and helped expand our network of contacts. We believe that such events, like the WCIT Congress, create the right platform to start cooperation."

Famous Belgian experts Badr Bussabat (AI ethics expert), Benoit Macq (TRAIL-TRusted AI Labs), Sébastien de Halleux (Field Al), Ibrahim Ouassari (MolenGeek), Axel Yaghi, (Exatech), Agnès Flémal (WSL), Bart Simmons (ZetesConfidens), and Eric Wyns (Pluritech) spoke at the event.

Busabat emphasized the importance of AI's ethic standards, Macq supported the topic by discussing social and economic aspects. Gevers and de Alain presented the AI technology for early diagnosis of cancer, and Wassari told about the platform for learning programming. Yagi and Flémal talked about education initiatives, while Simmons and Vince spoke about cooperation in cybersecurity.

It is important to note that Armenia has already presented itself as a significant IT hub, and thanks to the partnership with Belgium, it will be able to strengthen its position in the international arena. The aforesaid event, organized by the Belgian embassy in Armenia, demonstrated the significance of the development of bilateral relations in technology and innovation, and showed that Armenia, which continues to strengthen its position as a technological center, has all the opportunities to become a noticeable player in the international arena, and the country’s partnership with Belgium will only accelerate that process.