Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

First "start-up" competitions are scheduled in Azerbaijan in December, the Communications and Information Technologies Ministry said on September 19.

According to the ministry, the main objective of the competitions is to select the most effective and promising ICT projects.

During the contest, preference will be given to projects that envision the creation of innovative products, "green" technologies, as well as projects on the development of the ICT sector and the Internet.

The selected projects will be financed by the State Fund for the Development of Information Technologies, which is expected to start activity by the year-end.

Banking and non-banking credit institutions will be involved in financing the projects.

Authorized banks and credit institutions will be selected after approval of the criteria for their selection, which is expected within the next 15 days.

The state fund was established to implement the state policy on the development and support of small enterprises in the scientific and technical fields and defines three ways of financing - investments, grants and credits.

Each Azerbaijani citizen may avail of the advantages of the ICT Fund's financing. The initial financing volume for 2013 is 15 million manats (over $19 million).

The maximum grant available is up to 300,000 manats, provided for a period of 36 months. The amount of small grants is designated at 10,000 to 100,000 manats, while medium grants could be from 100,000 to 200,000 manats and large ones -- from 200,000 to 300,000 manats.