Page 49 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

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

2008 and 2011. The gross expenditures on research and development is relatively
stable at an average rate of 0.2% of GDP.

Table 3.1: R&D expenditures in Azerbaijan between 2008 and 2011

Source: World Bank (www.data.worldbank.org)

One more important factor in developing innovation is creating an ecosystem
for new technology based start-ups. Business incubation is designed to support the
foundation and growth of a new technology based company. Business incubator can
be privately or publicly owned, and provide physical space and a number of services
to start-ups, helping them through the earlier stages of their development. Azerbaijan
has launched some initiatives in establishing an ecosystem that supports technology
based startups. Some projects intended to stimulate innovative entrepreneurship
have been launched by businesses, government agencies and universities. There are
currently ten incubators in Azerbaijan – three of them private, one established by the
government, and three incubators opened by universities and two incubators initiated
by telecom companies – Azercell and Bakcell. It is encouraging to see that in
addition to government, academic institutions as well as private sector have also
been actively contributing to establishing an ecosystem that supports technology
entrepreneurship. Description of the incubators/accelerators initiated by government
and private sector is given below. The information was gathered based on in-depth-
interview (IDI) with managers of these incubators.
Azercell incubation program named Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Center is designed for up to 18 months which includes the following 6 steps, each of
which lasts 3 months:
Conception stage - In this steps startups admitted to Barama Innovation and

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