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If August is widely considered the “2 Fast 2 Furious” of the Armenian events calendar (due to it being boring and with everyone on vacation), then the five-week stretch bridging September and October unequivocally heralds the arrival of “Tokyo Drift Season.” This period is packed with action, keeping attendees of at least five near-simultaneous major international conferences on the edge of their seats.
Sandwiched between September’s Global Armenian Summit and the TOON Armenian Construction Expo was another opportunity for the Armenian capital to showcase “Silicon Mountain”s tech potential to a global audience. The Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE), a business union representing more than 180 tech companies across Armenia, won a bid to host the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) once again on October 4-7.
WCIT is a pioneering event in the global tech industry. Its first iteration in 1978 was the brainchild of the World Innovation, Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) of which UATE is a member. WCIT was one of the first attempts to bring global tech leaders together in a single conference to discuss major issues. Initially held every two years it has been an annual event since 2017, taking place in a different member state each time. The conference’s past success is evident from the recognizable faces of Bill Gates and Vint Cerf featured in the “past speakers” section of its website. While the WCIT once garnered serious interest, it has faced competition from younger, trendier global conferences like the Web Summit, World Mobile Congress, and CES.
Hot on the heels of the 2019 conference’s smashing success—which gathered participants from over 70 countries, as well as household names like Armin Van Buuren, Kim Kardashian, Gary Vaynerchuk, Alexis Ohanian, and CNN’s Richard Quest—the 2024 sequel felt overshadowed by this year’s competitive conference season. The 2019 event had capitalized on Armenia’s global recognition following the previous year’s peaceful Velvet Revolution. This time, the Digitec Conference, which had been paired with WCIT at the same location in 2019, became a victim of its own success. Spun off into an independent event at a nearby venue, it threatened to split visitor numbers.
This year’s WCIT, with the tagline “THE POWER OF MIND: AI Beyond Limits, Within Ethics”, kicked off with much fanfare at a nearly packed Republic Square. The opening featured memorable performances by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, enhanced by AI-generated visuals, and was capped by a performance by American pop star Jason Derulo. However, the following days’ events, which promised a schedule heavily focused on AI, struggled to attract large numbers of visitors. Ticket prices were among the concerns cited for keeping the conference out of reach for some. “We’re paying international conference prices for your average Yerevan tech event,” one Canadian-Armenian tech entrepreneur remarked, noting the many familiar faces in the conference center halls compared to the relatively modest international crowd. “But for diasporans with limited time to spend in Armenia it was an opportunity to participate, to be heard, and to try to have an impact,” said Karen Tonoyan, a New Jersey based attorney who focuses on tech law and frequently works with Armenian startups.
Audiences packed the bleachers for a keynote panel reuniting Moderna co-founder Noubar Afeyan with fellow biotech entrepreneur Garo Armen. The discussion, moderated by returning Richard Quest, focused on introducing AI solutions to revolutionize medical discoveries. Other panels earned praise for providing a platform where members of the tech community, tech-savvy civil society, and government officials could address issues around the integration of technology—and specifically AI solutions—into governance. This theme was prominently featured in a talk by Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, who presented a forward-thinking vision to tackle some of the city’s well-documented growing pains through collaborative, shared tech knowledge.
For many Armenian tech entrepreneurs of the Diaspora, WCIT has become a homecoming of sorts. Rev Lebaridian, VP of Omniverse and Simulation Technology at NVIDIA, solidified the global chip manufacturer’s presence in the country. He was integral to opening an NVIDIA office in Yerevan two years ago. For others, the conference forum sparked important discussions on the need for further collaboration in constructing a robust ecosystem to oversee AI-driven solutions in Armenia. Another luminary in the Armenian scientific community, Naira Hovakimyan, who heads the Aviate Center, led a team of ethnic-Armenian robotics professors at top U.S. universities—many visiting Armenia for the first time—in a series of lectures on autonomous vehicles and their applications. These included Purdue University’s Nina Mahmoudian and a landmark talk by roboticist Gregory Chirikjian.
WCIT’s return to Yerevan signaled Armenia’s cementing place in the global tech community. The continued interest that groups such as WITSA have shown in the country plugs it into a critical global discussion at the cutting edge of humanity’s AI-driven transformation. Armenia follows in the footsteps of countries like Ireland, whose rise from relative modesty to global tech relevance was confirmed by influential tech conferences like WebSummit.
There’s an opportunity for Armenia to harness the gains from this moment of international attention to transform the country’s potential into a solid foundation for future AI development. Distractions such as an overcrowded conference schedule, prohibitive ticket costs, and fears of a superficial focus on the latest buzzwords should not overshadow what is an important event for Armenia and a consequential subject at the cusp of the coming fourth industrial revolution. Otherwise, much like Paul Walker’s performance in the “Fast & the Furious” series, Armenia’s flirtation with AI may prove overhyped and short-lived.
