ZONE OF INTERESTS

Azerbaijan is about to leap into a post-industrial era with a typical hi-tech information economy. Progress in this direction should be promoted by the creation of regional innovation zones (RIZ) with technoparks - centres producing IT equipment and software. The RIZ project drawn up by the Ministry of Communications has already been examined by most ministries, and the parliament may adopt a relevant law by the end of the year. Meanwhile, leading IT companies of the world have already expressed their readiness to participate in the Azerbaijani project on innovation zones.

The fifth element

"Over the last four years, the average annual growth in the sector of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Azerbaijan has accounted for 30 per cent and has been ahead of the rest of the world by 2.7 times," Azerbaijani Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ali Abbasov said recently. According to the World Economic Forum, in 2006-2007 our country made significant progress on ICT and ranked 71st among other countries of the world.

However, despite the impressive success of this sphere, the entire ICT industry in our country yields slightly more than 500 million dollars annually. According to the results of the first half-year, its share in the country's GDP accounted for 2 per cent, which does not correspond to the potential possibilities of the sector. This situation is partially explained by the quick development of the oil sector which provides the lion's share of the country's GDP. "We have to make every effort to overcome this imbalance: it is necessary to form a perfect business climate to attract investments from leading foreign and local IT companies and international financial organizations to the innovation zones that are being established," Abbasov believes.

The RIZ project has five main components. The establishment of a technopark for the development of small and medium-sized innovation businesses is one of its first elements, and preparations for its implementation have been carried out since last year. Then it is planned to create a regional base to produce and export electronic equipment and software, organize a Data Centre and turn the country into a regional transit information hub, train and develop human resources for the information society that is taking shape and to create an effective mechanism and structure to introduce ICT in various spheres of the economy. "Within the framework of the RIZ project, it would be good to create a regional centre for scientific-technical research which would include a small number of experts - representatives of industrial spheres, scientists of institutions of higher education and scientific-research institutes not only of Azerbaijan, but also of neighbouring states, for example Turkey and Russia," this was the proposal that the well-known scientist of Azerbaijani origin and professor of Californian University, Lotfi Zadeh, made to organizers of the project.

All eyes on nanotechnologies

Having identified the general outlines of the IT breakthrough, the Ministry of Communications started preparing a relevant strategy and a clear plan to implement it. The RIZ project was prepared with the support of the international management and technological consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton. It is regarded as one of most authoritative companies in the sphere of forming innovation zones. The company has 18,000 specialists around the world and has carried out successful projects like the preparation of the strategy on Dubai's economic development and the establishment of a multimedia corridor in Malaysia.

Investments in the ICT sector will, first of all, ensure the creation of technoparks which will create software, assemble powerful computers and laptops, multi-functional digital devices, and develop the activity of servicing companies in the IT sphere. Another consultant of the Ministry of Communications - Global Resources - suggests expanding the niche of the technopark by attracting software developers and software in the sphere of medicine and biotechnologies.

In the process of forming the structure of the RIZ, it is planned to pay special attention to nanotechnologies and our country's participation in world scientific-research and production processes because this direction will mark a breakthrough in the development of science and technology in the 21st century. Electronics, optics, communications, solar energy, and new generation semi-conductors which will help create quantum and neuro-computers and develop bioelectronics - this is an incomplete list of opportunities provided by the development of nanotechnologies. Within the framework of the RIZ project, it is planned to create a research centre in our country which will carry out scientific research in the sphere of nanotechnologies, as well as a production-research enterprise engaged in creating an element base of semi-conductors.

Privileges for investors

In order to attract foreign investors to the RIZ and make export-oriented products here, the project provides for tax, customs and other benefits. "The taxes on enterprises and organizations working in these zones will be reduced to zero," Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ali Abbasov said at the international conference "Regional Innovation Zones: Problems and Solutions". He said that the package of proposals on the RIZ project submitted to the government reflects benefits in monetary policy, the establishment of an import-export bank in Azerbaijan (Eximbank), as well as an increase in the volume of state procurement for goods and services produced here.

The project to create innovation zones truly interests such leading IT companies of the world as Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Intel and so on, as they have already expressed their readiness to provide technical assistance and invest in the development of innovation zones. Over the last two or three months, the leadership of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has held quite productive talks with representatives of the Islamic and Asian Development Banks and the World Bank who are ready to finance the development of the ICT sector in our country. Serious investments in the production of electronic, communication and computer hardware can be expected from South Korea, Israel and Thailand.