ASOIU hosts II Startup and Innovation Festival

The II Startup and Innovation Festival was held at Azerbaijan State Oil and Industrial University (ASOIU) on June 16.

The event was attended by Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade, Minister of Education Mikail Jabbarov, MPs, university rectors, representatives of foreign embassies in Azerbaijan and company executives.

The festival started with the opening of a Laser Center.

The guests were given detailed information about laser-tipped robots, their working principles, functions and practical application.

It was noted that at the initial stage, the Laser Center will operate as an education center where students will gain knowledge about this field.

"At the next stage, the Laser Centre will carry out repair and reconditioning of equipment which is used in various fields of economy and industry. It is also planned to use in future the Centre for manufacturing laser tips."

Rector of Azerbaijan State Oil and Industrial University Mustafa Babanli spoke about the activities that have been carried out by "Eazi START" ASOIU Startup School & Innovation Center over the past two years. He expressed confidence in the future success of the projects presented by young people. According to him, some of these projects will even reach world markets.

Then, the projects "Smart Keyboard", "Cam Touch", "General Reporting Platform", "Multivizor" and "KubiRub", which were developed by "Eazi START" startup school, were presented to festival participants.

Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade also spoke at the event. He stressed that the ministry attaches great importance to the development of information technologies in the country.

"One of the important directions in this area is to promote the ideas which are based on modern scientific achievements. Concrete works have been carried out by the ministry’s ICT Fund, High-Tech Park and Business Incubation Center in this area. Grants are allocated to multiple startup projects to develop innovation areas. So far, ICT Fund has held 4 grant competitions for developing innovation areas.
100 out of more than 600 projects have been financed," Ramin Guluzade said.

Then, Minister of Education Mikail Jabbarov spoke about the implementation of startup projects at higher education institutions. He said that the realization of startup ideas in universities creates new opportunities for both students and universities.

"By participating in these projects, young people strengthen their entrepreneurial spirit and increase their business potential.  We must work together to develop such projects. Along with strengthening students’ entrepreneurial spirit, startup projects may help universities to earn additional income. We must act from a unified national platform in this area. Discussions with businessmen, public and private companies can make this area much more productive," Mikail Jabbarov said.

After that, Chairman of the Copyrights Agency Kamran Imanov wished success to festival participants and presented a document confirming ASOIU’s ownership of exclusive copyright to "Eazi START" startup school’s project "Smart Keyboard" to Rector of ASOIU Mustafa Babanli.

After the speeches, another 6 projects of ASOIU ‘s startup school were presented to festival participants.

Then, the participants of the event received answers to their questions.