The delegation of Startup Estonia and the “Garage 48” Acceleration Center, established upon the initiative of the Estonian government, got acquainted with the “INNOLAND” Incubation and Acceleration Center of the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Wide information on operating Co-working, Incubation, Acceleration and IT Training, as well as the startups residing within the center, was delivered to the guests.

Then, the Memorandum of Collaboration was signed between parties.

The Memorandum of Cooperation involves the establishment of an entrepreneurial support ecosystem as well as the creation and development of investor opportunities in the relevant regions for local technology startups. Furthermore, it covers the adoption of mutually agreed measures such as an effective exchange of incubation and acceleration programs and exchange of information on the attraction of local and foreign investors and etc.

According to the agreement reached within the memorandum signed with the "Startup Estonia" Center, the initial assessment of the regional applications sent to the “Startup Estonian Visa” program will be implemented in Azerbaijan. Startups applied to the relevant program from the regional countries such as Russia, Georgia, Mongolia, Iran, and Afghanistan will be initially assessed by the “INNOLAND” Incubation and Acceleration Center. Only startups that have successfully completed the initial stage will be able to move to the next stage of the program. This will play a significant role in attracting regional start-ups and projects to our country and increasing the success potential of the startup ecosystem.

The “Startup Estonian Visa” Program was established in 2017 on the joint initiative of the Estonian Startup Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Estonia. The main goal of the program is to facilitate the entry of successful startups and projects of non-EU countries to Estonia. Thus, successful startups sent their applications to the “Startup Estonian Visa” Program are provided with a special code through which the applicants and their team members may obtain a permit to live up to 5 years in Estonia.

To enhance the knowledge and skills of the employees of the Lankaran Regional “ASAN Service” Center, a three-day training program was conducted by Nicat Amiraslanov, Head of the “INNOLAND” department of the Innovation Center, and Nofel Aliyev, Senior Public Relations Specialist of the center.

During the training, participants were provided with both theoretical and practical knowledge on the following topics:

• What is an idea and methods of idea generation

• The concept of startups and the first steps to create one

• Effective presentation skills

• Ways and benefits of using artificial intelligence tools

The training was organized with an interactive approach. Participants worked in groups, engaged in teamwork, completed tasks based on real-life scenarios, and reinforced their learning through interactive games.

As part of the “Explore & Connect” project by the “CAVAN” youth movement, an info tour was organized at “INNOLAND.”

First, the participants were introduced to the center and our resident “iLab.” Afterwards, they got acquainted with the innovative startups operating in the center and learned more about their working principles and projects.