From February 24 to March 1 twelve delegates including top representatives of Armenia’s information and communication technology industry (ICT) as well as entrepreneurs and investors took part in a study trip to Turkey as part of the second stage of the ‘‘Exchange of Entrepreneurs’’ project.

During the five-day exchange programme the Armenian delegation had meetings in Istanbul and Antalya with top ICT experts, Investors, VCs, Startup founders and entrepreneurs from Turkey, which enabled to get an indepth overview of Turkey's ICT ecosystem.

On February 26 the delegates from Armenia visited  the well-known Technopark located at Istanbul Technology University (where well established and known companies such as Monitise, Solvoyo and Rasyonet  have their headquarters), well known accelerator FitStartup Factory and one of the most successful Startups- Yemeksepeti.

At ITU the group learnt about the legislative, tax, social and other privileges that were given to companies whose businesses are located in the Technopark premises.  Two of Technopark companies-Monitise and Solvoyo-made presentation about their products and services. Thus, Monitise plc is a world leader in Mobile Money - banking, paying and buying with a mobile device, while Solovyo provides strategic, tactical, and operational planning in one platform giving the most comprehensive capability to maximize profits while minimizing costs.

At  FitStartup Factory representatives of  Armenian startup teams and companies had a chance to understand how startup support is provided in Turkey and they also  pitched their ideas and products to investors from Turkey.  Arpine Grigoryan (“Shadowmatic” puzzle app), Mihran Babayan (Home Planning), Nigel Sharp (Voiceboard) and Pavel Snkhchyan (EyeCare Plus) were the young entrepreneurs that presented their startups.

At Yemek Sepeti the Armenian delegation familiarized with the operations of this successful online food delivery platform and toured their office premises.

On 27-28 February Armenian delegates traveled to Antalya to attend the highly reputable Startup Turkey event.