January 15, 2015. the Round Table on the theme of “Role of industrial parks in the development of entrepreneurship” was held by the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation and Support for Economic Initiatives Public Union in the conference room of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers’) Organizations of Azerbaijan Republic within the framework of “Micro-Enterprise Support” Project implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation with the financial support of USAID. Entrepreneurs, representatives of various companies, university representatives, and experts attended the round table.
Welcoming participants of the round table, Mr. Sabit Bagirov - chairman of EDF briefly informed about previously implemented projects and sahibkarol.biz web site. He noted that they observed the current situation of industrial parks and conducted research on industrial parks in Azerbaijan. Then, he invited Mr. Arif Najimov - expert of Support for Economic Initiatives Public Union, to present his research on industrial parks in Azerbaijan.
Firstly, Mr. Arif Najimov introduced the concept of the industrial park to the round table participants. He noted that despite this phenomenon is new in Azerbaijan, technoparks have already launched their activities in universities like Qafqaz, Khazar and Baku State University.
Then, Mr. Arif Najimov invited participants to see a video about Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park. The video aroused interest among participants.
Then, he talked about privileges for technoparks and noted that technoparks get tax privileges, such as tax exemption (except income tax). Companies operating in industrial parks use technical opportunities of the university and benefit from students’ innovative ideas recruiting them. He stressed that technoparks are based on the cooperation between universities and companies. He also noted that there are business incubators for startups in technoparks.
Then, he talked about the international experience in the sphere of technoparks and noted that, in many countries, technoparks are financed by local municipalities.
He also noted that the “2015-2020 State Program for the development of industry in Azerbaijan” was approved by the government.
During discussions, round table participants shared their experiences. It was noted that it was intended that 25 factories will operate in Sumgayit Technology Park and 17 of them have already launched their activities there.
After the discussion, Mr. Sabit Bagirov – President of EDF, spoke about indicators of Azerbaijan in the World Bank’s “Doing Business – 2015” Report. Firstly, he informed me about the “Doing Business” Report. He notified that the “Doing Business” report is prepared by experts in order to evaluate the business environment in various countries and published by the World Bank every year since 2003. Mr. Sabit Bagirov noted that the report is designed taking into consideration of 31 indicators on 10 issues. He informed that Azerbaijan occupies 80th place in the report.
At the end of the round table, questions addressed to speakers were answered and discussions were held around the topic.
