Fair Lawn NJ, Jan 10, 2020
World Congress in Information Technology (WCIT) round table discussion
On Friday, January 10, 2020, a well-organized and well attended panel discussion took place at St. Leon church, Abajian Hall, in Fair lawn, NJ, with participants from the NY-NJ metropolitan area communities.
Co-sponsored by the New Jersey Armenian Cultural Association of America (ACAA), Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Arden chapter, Armenian Engineers of America (AESA-NE) Northeastern Section, and organized by Antranig Kasbarian and Harout Jamgotchian.
The round table presenters, were attendees of the 23rd WCIT Conference, that was held for the first time in Yerevan Armenia.
Mr. Armen Morian, acted as the moderator, who was also one of the WCIT organizers and he is an attorney in private practice in New York City. He provides strategic legal counsel to small and medium businesses in high tech industries.
Moderator Mr. Armen Morian Standing, Panelists sited on the table.
The presenting panelists were:
Emma Arakelyan, also a WCIT conference organizer, who is originality from Armenia, with an economic and political science background, and well established in technology and management consulting. She is an author, public speaker, and CEO of Orion Worldwide Innovations LLC and Open Mind production LLC.
Karen Tonoyan, a registered patent attorney specialized mainly on computer, electronic, and software technologies, with a background in intellectual property law.
L. to R. Panelists; Emma, Karen, Stephan, Harout.
Stephan Haig Tchorbajian, V. P. of AESA Northeastern section, a Real Estate developer and Tech Entrepreneur from New York, and a licensed professional Engineer. With an MBA degree from NYU Stern Business School.
Harout Topsacalian, with notable experience in the US energy sector, has been involved with USAID as a contractor in Armenia. His Integrien startup company was instrumental in one of the early establishments of IT team in Armenia and he is an investor in several startups in the tech sector in Armenia.
World Congress in Information Technology (WCIT) is the signature event of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), a consortium of IT associations from 83 countries, representing 90% of the industry.
Last year’s Congress was held in Yerevan Armenia from October 6-9 and included sessions on topics including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, smart cities, cyber security, climate change and more. Discussions also included the state of IT in Armenia and its prospect for growth and development.
After initial introduction and video presentation of the WCIT congress in Yerevan by the moderator, Armen Morian, each panelist gave a short presentation and expressed their views and perspectives as how this event was very productive and, in many ways, reinforced the importance of decentralized Information Technology Centers, such as Yerevan.
The 23rd Congress had many first achievements, besides having record attendance and over 75 great prominent internationally known speakers, for the first time ever the use of artificial Intelligence (AI) to create LIVE instantaneous generated music notes, to be played by live Orchestra.
Prior to the Q & A session with the audience, an inspiring presentation was given by Stephan Tchorbajian about the potential of intellectual energy in Armenia, for the future of Armenia, not only along the IT sector but in many other Engineering dimensions. He encouraged everyone to contribute to this phenomenal growing energy.
Question from the audience were pertinent, for those that were eager to engage in startup businesses in Armenia, especially after clarification from Karen Tonoyan, and the moderator Armen Morian. Both attorneys discussed the effort of streamlining the Business law and the process of doing business in Armenia with confidence and individual investment protection rights. In addition, willingness of Emma Arakelyan, to help interested individuals to facilitate the information resources and formally contacting individuals in Armenia to help smoothly start a business.
The attendees were impressed and satisfied with the information presented by the panelist, taking away an understanding that Armenia is in the forefront of the Information Technology and well positioned to be a leading country in the IT sector.
It was clear from attendance that the Armenian community is eager to learn more about Armenia’s Economic future then just its politics.