Table 3 Foreign companies collaborating with a university or a NAS institute

In the ICT sector, companies include Synopsis (US cheap design company), Lycos Armenia (German Software Company), IBM, CISCO, Nokia and Oracle, whilst in the instrument making and electrical/technical production sector is the branch of National Instruments. MIKA-Progresstech (Sukhoj airplane affiliation) is a key player in the engineering sector, whilst companies in the chemical industry include Nairit factory, Vanadzor, and Prometey Chimprom.

Cooperation with universities includes the following:

 • Interdepartmental Chair of ‘Microelectronic Circuits and Systems’ established by LEDA Systems (acquired in 2004 by Synopsys Inc.) and SEUA. The Chair, now part of Synopsys University Program, supplies more than 60 quality VLSI and EDA specialists each year. Later Synopsys expanded this initiative through opening interdepartmental chairs at YSU, RAU and ERA

 • SUN Microsystems Development and Testing Laboratory formed by Sun Microsystems, EIF, and USAID to help supply quality professionals for the Armenian IT industry at SEUA, YSU and Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU) and Gyumri IT Centre

 • Gyumri IT Centre, the first IT training centre in the city of Gyumri, established by the Fund For Armenian Relief (FAR) and EIF in 2006

 • Armenian-Indian Centre for Excellence in ICT funded at YSU

 • Microsoft Innovation Centre formed by Microsoft, EIF and USAID at SEUA

 • A two-year undergraduate programme in Internet computing designed primarily by Lycos staff at 2 universities in Yerevan