Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and the Fastest Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan signed a cooperation agreement with the INNOLAND Incubation and Acceleration Center of the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan.

At the official signing ceremony, held on December 20th at the INNOLAND Incubation and Acceleration Center, Bakcell CEO Nikolai Beckers has pointed out that application of innovations and supporting startups is one of the main priorities of Bakcell strategy: “It is a known fact that Bakcell is one of the first companies in the country to support various projects aimed at development of startups. Our “AppLab” incubation center is one of the rare environments where some of the country’s most interesting projects are accumulated. I’m confident that our cooperation with the newly opened INNOLAND center will contribute largely to development of the country’s entire startup ecosystem and will become one of the most successful partnerships in the area of innovations”.

Director of the "Innovation Center” Tagi Taghi-Zade spoke about the importance of this cooperation, being a public-private partnership. It was noted that the main goal of this partnership is to support entrepreneurship ecosystems for technology startups in our country and to implement high-level cooperation that serves the needs of emerging technology entrepreneurs. Cooperation between parties will have a great significance in terms of establishing a startup culture in Azerbaijan, developing a spirit of innovative entrepreneurship and startup ecosystems, supporting existing initiatives, creating conditions for the application of innovative initiatives in the current economic processes of the country, forming a motivating factor for the development and creation of various discoveries and other innovations.

It should be noted that INNOLAND is an incubation, acceleration and research center created to develop the private sector, promote innovation and expand the startup movement both in Azerbaijan and beyond its borders. INNOLAND consists of the Co-working, Incubation, Acceleration and IT Training and Education Center.

The AppLab program of Bakcell will from now on function as an Acceleration Center to continue supporting the startup project in a broader format. Since the year 2014, local startups and developers engaged in creation of various hardware and software receive support from Bakcell for implementation of their ideas.

Being a known leader in innovation, Bakcell constantly supports the local startups, as well as project implemented in the area of education, science and technology.

On March 17, memorandum of understanding signed between "Innovations Center" LLC (INNOLAND), which is subordinate to the State Agency for Citizens Service and Social Innovations under the President of The Republic of Azerbaijan, and “Yeni Fikir” LLC. The purpose of the Memorandum is to support entrepreneurship ecosystems for technological startups in our country and in the regions of Azerbaijan and to implement a high-level partnership that serves the needs of emerging (or other) technology entrepreneurs.

The document, along with the formation and development of technology entrepreneurship, also reflects cooperation issues related to the strengthening of business initiatives. Thus, the content of the Memorandum reflects the factors that are being estimated for the establishment and development of innovation ecosystems in our country, as well as business initiatives.

"Innovations Center" LLC (INNOLAND) cooperates with local and international organizations in accordance with the strategy of the development of innovation ecosystem in our country and in the region, as well as for the development of technology entrepreneurship (startups). As one of such organizations, "Yeni Fikir" LLC is one of the companies operating in the intellectual sector in Azerbaijan and having a specific role in the formation of startup culture.

Thus, the "Yeni Fikir" startup competition, which was held for the sixth time this year, is being implemented by "Yeni Fikir" LLC, sponsored by BP, the Baku Engineering University. The company "Yeni Fikir" cooperates with "Innovations Center" LLC (INNOLAND) in organizing the same startup competition. Five startup projects that will win the competition.

The development of five startup projects that will win the competition will also be supported at the Innoland Incubation and Acceleration Center.

Registration is now open for the “Pre-seed and Seed Investment Readiness” program.

The program aims to prepare startups that already have a product and their first paying customers for investment in a short period of time and connect them directly with selected VCs. The process will be carried out through individual mentorship, a deep analytical approach, and the support of the AnalyzeWare platform.

A total of 5 startups will be selected. Within the program, they will shape their investment valuation, financial approach, and strategy over a period of 2–4 weeks. Notably, the selected startups will participate without any membership fee and will receive 12 months of free access to the AnalyzeWare Strategy package.

Application deadline: 14.02.2026

Registration link: https://forms.gle/BQBJ9fuxJoMU8TSr7