VivaCell-MTS invests AMD 92 mln to help open first fablabs in Armenia

VivaCell-MTS invests AMD 92 mln to help open first fablabs in Armenia

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.

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