New Grants Supporting Startups to be Launched in Armenia

“Support to SME Development in Armenia (SMEDA)” project and Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) will organize new co-financed grant competitions aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and innovations in science and technology sphere, EIF press release notes.

In the scope of Innovation Matching Grant competition, during 2017 and 2018/2019, 18 grants will be provided, ranging from EUR 30.000 to 50.000, intended for projects with a duration of maximum 12 months. On the other hand, in the scope of Scientific-Technological Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) in the same period for about EUR 10.000-15.000 will be provided for 12-month term projects.

At the moment the Innovation Matching Grant Competition is already open for Armenian companies, which are registered in Armenia for at least a year and have a technological background and corresponding experience (e.g. in engineering, clean tech, biotechnology). The deadline for application is February 5^th. For participants interested in application an additional meeting will be organized to provide them with more details.

“This program is a unique opportunity for Armenian tech community and the country in general because apart from supporting the companies, it boosts the country’s competitiveness. Such programs implemented in IT sphere showed that it’s possible to build companies in Armenia which develop their own solutions and products. EIF has been implementing STEP program for about 10 years, within the framework of which more than 50 startups have received support. Innovation Matching Grant Competition is another successful example due to which we were able to create Armenian solutions which are beaming on the world map”, EIF Director, Bagrat Yengibaryan noted.

The Scientific-Technological Entrepreneurship Program is planned to be announced in mid-January 2017.