Interview of the ABBYY Company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors David Yang to Mediamax Agency and Itel.am portal

Recently, in Armenia people have been talking actively about the necessity to develop science-intensive economy, involve the scientific potential, which successfully fulfills itself in different countries of the world, in the republic’s development. Mediamax correspondent asked David Yang, the Chairman of ABBYY Company’s Broad of Directors, to present his understanding of these processes.

David Yang was born in 1968 in Yerevan. In 1992, he graduated from the faculty of General and Applied Physics of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). As a fourth-year student, David founded his first company - BIT Software, which was later on renamed into ABBYY. David Yung is one of the founders of Ayb Club and Educational Foundation, which plans to establish Ayb Learning Hub (ALH) in Yerevan.

- A lot of Armenian specialists, who deal with promising scientific activities, work abroad today. It is obvious that it is quite comfortable for them to live and work there. According to you, can one organize the process of attracting them to Armenia?

- What can Armenia offer scientists that the USA, Europe or Russia cannot? According to foreign scientists of Armenian origin, the most important thing Armenia can give is the student environment. Students and young scientists are people, whom they can pass their knowledge to. Students, who will become a basis for revival of a strong academic scientific school.

Many successful figures in science at a certain moment acquire a special attitude towards passing their knowledge to new generations. The very student atmosphere may serve as a point of attraction for compatriots, who would like to do something for Armenia.

At the initial stage, there is the necessity of setting up educational-scientific laboratories under the best higher educational institutions. After that stage, in a few years, there will be people, who will manage to continue this process. And then investors and governmental financial means, necessary to equip more serious labs, will become available.

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