Page 59 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Odiljon Abdurazzakov: Role of technology transfer catalysts in stimulating
innovation: how to apply finnish experience to emerging economies

which bridge universities and industry. Public research institutions like VTT Technical
Research Center work shoulder-to-should with representatives of the private sector in
carrying out applied research, which have significantly high probability of being
commercialized. Most of the fundamental research carried out by universities and
research insitutions remain uncommercialized due to their nature. Considering this
inhibiting factor, it is important to encourage and support universities and research
institutions in Azerbaijan to focus on applied research. In the long-term, establishment
of catalyst institutions similar to VTT Technical Research Center woudl accelerate the
process of technology transfer in Azerbaijan.
This study was one of the first to analyze the start-up ecosystem in Azerbaijan,
which is important in stimulating innovation. The results of the in-depth-interviews
with managers of start-up incubators and accelerators in Baku indicate a positive
trend in the involvement of three important sectors – government, private sector and
academic sector in establishing and developing the ecosystem. High-Tech Park
established by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies,
QUTechnopark established by Qafqaz University, Barama and AppLab accelerators
of mobile operators Azercell and Bakcell as well as privately owned accelerators
such as Sup.az, Next Step and Baku Business Factory show an interested by all three
sectors in building a competitive innovation ecosystem in Azerbaijan. However,
through the Delphi techniqe, it was determined that there are some challenges the
ecosystem is facing, such as the gap in financing new technology based start-ups,
shortage of talent pool and need for more effective legal infrastructure. These
challenges require more involvement by universities, private sector and the
government. Universities training specialists in the field of entrepreneurship and
engineering should focus more on applied learning. Entrepreneurship education
similar to Tiimiakatemia can be adopted by Azerbaijani universities offering degrees
in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship. With regard to financial and legal
infrastructure, there is a need for adoption of legislation regulating relationship
between investors and founders of new technology based firms. The experience of
Finland demonstrates that there is a need for more active involvement of
government funding similar to Tekes in funding new-technology based firms. The
State Fund for Development of Information Technologies (ICT Fund) was
established in 2012 under the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies
of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The objective of the ICT Fund is to stimulate
innovative activities and provide finanial support (www.ictfund.gov.az). In order to
expand the activities of the ICT Fund, there is a need for closer cooperation between
the Fund and start-up accelerators.

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