Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia, in cooperation with Black Sea Project Promotion Facility, starts a new initiative, the main objective of which is to develop software-based solutions primarily for SMEs, powered by advanced analytics and intelligence, and customized to address specific business needs in different industries, i.e. telecommunication, financial and banking system, transportation, retail and distribution etc.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of economy not only in Armenia but also in the Black Sea region. Nowadays data, proves to be a powerful pushing force of the industry. Companies, representing diverse trade spheres, seek to make use of the beneficial value of the data. Data has become of great importance for those, willing to take profitable decisions concerning business. Moreover, a thorough analysis of a vast amount of data allows influencing or rather manipulating the customers' decisions to provide them better choices.

To develop that direction in Armenia, as well as in the region, Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia initiates a high-scale project, which will cover both skill development and development of product/service prototypes. Under the project it is envisioned to organize a training program on Data Science for software engineers, which will comprise of not only training courses but also hands on workshops form data science professionals from such companies as Yandex, Microsoft, etc. An important part will be but the practical development of some pilots of data-driven solutions, which are needed and can be applicable to other countries of the region, in particular the Russian Federation, Moldova and Georgia. Product managers and business development specialists will analyze the existing business gaps and issues of diverse fields and establish partnerships with businesses who will be willing to benefit from the project with zero costs.