State Fund for Development of Information Technologies to start operating at full capacity soon

“The State Fund for Development of Information Technologies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies is expected to start operating at full capacity in the near future. Work is now underway to form the structure of the fund,” said the deputy minister of communications and information technologies Elmir Velizadeh during his interview with journalists.

According to him, after the fund has been put into operation, it will begin to accept and finance projects. The State Fund for Development of Information Technologies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies is a public corporation which was created by the Presidential Order dated 15 March, 2012. The fund aims at providing financial support to new startups, companies and small businesses in the form of grants. The grants will be provided to the projects selected through a competition and compiling with the fund’s activity directions.

This includes the development of advanced software and designs of innovative ICT products, the development of innovative infrastructure, including the development of new technologies and commercial projects, the creation of information modern technologies-based networks and expansion of ICT services, including projects for the development of internet services. Moreover, the fund intends to implement venture financing in order to promote innovation and commercialization of projects in the ICT field.

It will also serve to expand research and development in ICT, promote innovative activity and support activities aimed at production and other important purposes. To achieve these objectives, the fund should attract financial resources and ensure their effective use. It is expected that it will play a partial role of financial donor for the residents of high-tech parks, business incubator projects and scientific research centers. One important task of the fund is to invest in promising and rapidly developing companies, as well as to act as a shareholder in a joint venture. It’s investment policy will promote attraction of domestic and foreign investment to the ICT sector.

Thus, by participating in the joint venture, the fund intends to act as a state guarantee in the field of ICT and increase the reliability for direct foreign investment in Azerbaijan’s ICT sector. Besides that, the fund will study export projects in ICT field, assess their cost effectiveness and attract foreign investment for their implementation. To this end, successful ICT projects will be promoted abroad, which will provide for the participation of projects that are important for attraction of fund investments in international exhibitions, conferences and other events.

The fund’s activities will create opportunities to attract investment and to implement technology transfer for industrial and technological cooperation between local and foreign ICT companies. One of the main tasks of the fund is to give particular attention to financing businesses engaged in the field of ICT in the form of favorable credits through authorized banks and non-bank credit organizations. In this connection, it will offer long-term loans with low interest rates for small and medium-sized businesses which will allow ICT companies to expand their opportunities to use financial resources.