November 18, 2004

AUA Continues Dialogue on Information Technology

Yerevan -André Andonian, Senior Partner of McKinsey & Co, Germany, Visited the American University of Armenia (AUA) on Nov. 7 and spoke on the Comparative Productivity and Development Potential of the Armenian Information Technology Sector. "Armenia shows good productivity performance given quite a young and fragmented sector," said Andonian, as he highlighted the strategy for software and information technology services. Andonian emphasized the need for Armenia to build on its advantages, adapt to foreign markets, be open for global alliances, pursue export strategies and aspire for leadership to achieve growth. His advice was that Armenia's global export focus should be on customized application development and embedded software. "In the high growth scenario, Armenia can become comparable with current dominant countries."

Andonian is a Senior Partner in McKinsey's Munich office with more than 12 years experience in the field of high technologies. "Armenia's specialists not only possess in-depth knowledge of information technology but are also well educated to solve more complex problems linked to high-tech engineering," said Andonian. The American University of Armenia continues to encourage active dialogue on developing Armenia's high tech industry by hosting lectures and seminars from experts in the field, such as Andre Andonian. This is in line with its mission to prepare leaders for the computing industry. AUA's Computer and Information Sciences program established just three years ago, has seen great success in placing graduates in Armenia's fastest growing high tech companies.