Armenia -- Students at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, Yerevan, 14Aug2012

Amazing Armenia: revolution, tech unicorns & a powerful female workforce – Sifted

Sifted, a website covering startups in Europe, has an excellent piece on Armenia’s tech ecosystem, featuring PicsArt, 2hz and D’efekt (I had no idea about the latter one).  Here’s my favorite paragraph from the article, go read the rest yourself 😉

With experienced entrepreneurs returning home from the US and a new generation of engineers attracted to the bustling capital of Yerevan from Russia and Ukraine, Armenia is determined to follow Israel in becoming the next Startup Nation. The two countries certainly share a lot in common: a lack of natural resources, reverence for brain power, technological ingenuity – and antagonistic neighbours. Sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaijan, with which they are still technically at war, Armenians joke that they would trade 3,000 years of troubled history for a better location.

Artur Papyan

Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant