VivaCell-MTS invests AMD 92 mln to help open first fablabs in ArmeniaOctober 12, 2015 - 11:00 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - President Serzh Sargsyan attended the opening of two fablabs at Ayb School in Yerevan and the Central School of Dilijan. At the event the President was briefed on the process of establishing innovative labs in Armenia, which started in 2013 thanks to cooperation between Ayb School and the MIT, supported by VivaCell-MTS and the Central Bank of Armenia. The program is widely known across the world for encouraging applied learning. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ayb Foundation Father Mesrop Aramyan and VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian spoke at the official opening. Fablab is an exclusive program with large-scale impact for the introduction of “smart” laboratories in Armenia, aimed at helping education become more applicable. Fablab is a workshop-laboratory, equipped with special devices and materials that allow the use of innovative technologies in various fields of science and produce samples of “basically everything”. Fablabs aim to promote the research in production of prototypes in physics, robotics, technologies, mechanics in Ayb School and Central School of Dilijan, serving as research platforms for young Armenian scientists. VivaCell-MTS allocated AMD 92 million for the implementation of the project. “I’m delighted that VivaCell-MTS is part of a project of national importance – opening of the first FabLab in Armenia based on the model of the worldly known MIT,” VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian said. “There is a rule in business – do not repeat others. Differentiate from others, find your competitive advantage, develop your capability to make it distinctive, and reach the point where your capability is unique, and not easy to copy. This is how one can create a valuable asset.” To introduce the concept of fablabs in Armenia, Ayb has held lengthy negotiations with the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms. In the course of negotiations Ayb and MIT specialists have studied the list of fablab tools and discussed the expediency of their usage in Armenia, enabling Ayb to acquire the full package of fablab equipment, including a computer aided laser cutter, a computer aided milling machine for large prototypes, antennae, printing blocks, 3D printers, other tools and projects. Top stories The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Defense Minister Suren Papikyan has visited the southern Armenian province of Syunik, the Defense Ministry reported on March 18. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |