IoT Lab opens at National Polytechnic University of Armenia

With the support of Viva-MTS and with joint efforts of Union of Employers of ICT (UEICT) and National Polytechnic University of Armenia (NPUA), two auditoriums renovated and turned into IoT labs have been opened at the 9^th building of the university. Two well-equipped auditoriums provide a motivating educational environment.

Since 2019, partner organizations have opened 11 auditoriums and a co-working space at NPUA to provide modern educational conditions for students and startups. Viva-MTS has invested AMD 184 million for this purpose.

Government representatives, the Rector and faculty members of NPUA, Viva-MTS General Director and representatives of the Company, board members of UEICT, its Executive Director, as well as other members of the Union participated in the opening ceremony of the educational facilities.

RA Deputy Minister of Economy Rafael Gevorgyan noted in his welcoming speech that not only the creation of appropriate infrastructure is important for strengthening the ties between education and business, but also the development and implementation of educational programs in cooperation with the private sector, which will best meet the changing market requirements. The Deputy Minister also emphasized the importance of technology in ensuring the inclusiveness of economic growth. In particular, he drew attention to the need for their application in various branches of the economy, to which the newly created center at the National Polytechnic University of Armenia with the support of Viva-MTS and ICT Employers' Union is a step towards this. "I am pleasantly surprised, because I myself from 1997 to 2006 was studying here, and I went from Bachelor's to Master's degrees, and then defended my thesis. It is very nice to see the change of environment and cooperation of ICT Union and Viva-MTS. In fact, changing the educational environment, adapting it to the requirements of time, thinking and innovative technologies is not only important, but also necessary. I think what has been created here over the years will motivate students and help create a larger stream towards natural sciences and engineering. It is a strategically important direction for our state," said Ruben Simonyan, the Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry.

“If the education system is not flexible, young people risk falling behind the demands of the modern world. To avoid this, we started taking steps in collaboration with other organizations many years ago. We focused on the content of the training materials, their relevance, and the creation of a stimulating learning environment. Our goal was to be inspirational, empowering, and modern. This auditorium is intended for the next generation of developers, who will be working on IoT solutions. Many people today know the term "Internet of Things" (IoT). Furthermore, no one will be surprised to hear that a "smart home" or "smart garden" may be controlled via a smartphone. This is a sphere, where technologies intertwine with marketing, data science, sales, and business-strategies. That is why the educational environment shall be attractive, the labs shall be properly equipped, the instructors – experienced, and the educational materials shall be tested on the ground before they are used for learning. The system of education needs to produce specialists that are on high demand, and, so the continuity of the ties between universities and business sector plays a fundamental role. We are here just for that reason,” Viva-MTS General Director Armen Avetisian said.  

“Within the framework of Viva-MTS Corporate Social Responsibility programs, with the joint efforts of the Union of Employers of ICT and the National Polytechnic University of Armenia, we have renovated the auditoriums on the 7^th floor of the 9^th building of NPUA, refurbishing them with computers and other necessary equipment for providing modern educational process. We are very proud of the work we have done and we are trying to complete this project. I should mention that we have already renovated 11 auditoriums and provided them with approximately 100 computers and other equipment. By creating such an educational environment, we try to motivate students to learn and come up with new ideas. It is very important to implement such models in other universities, as well. I would also like to highlight the collaboration between the private sector and university, and as well as the collaboration between two members of the Union: NPUA and Viva-MTS, which is a brilliant example in the context of collaboration,” said Eduard Musayelyan, the Executive Director of UEICT.

"I should mention that these programs will contribute to the organization of competitive education of students specializing in information and communication technologies, and this is an opportunity to organize quality education by providing laboratory infrastructure and conditions. On any occasion, we talk about innovation, smart solutions, digitization. We provide the process so that our students have the opportunity to create such innovation in the future as a result of competitive education, which will contribute to the digitization of the country, to increase the quality of private business activities. The project was carried out by the joint efforts of the ICT Employers' Union, Viva-MTS and the National Polytechnic University of Armenia, and this trilateral format creates confidence that the cooperation will be continuous", - said Gor Vardanyan, the Rector of the NPUA.

The presentation of the "Telecommunications and Communication, IoT Systems" school program was also held during the event. In essence, this is a fulfillment of an important process that started in 2015. With a joint effort, the Ministry of ESCS, Viva-MTS, Synopsys Armenia, Unicomp and UEICT have started to implement an ICT subject training program in high schools, which is a long-term investment for the specialization of young people in the ICT field.

Three laboratory kits "Smart House", "Protected House" and "Smart Garden" were shown and tested during the event.