The Armenian government has approved a seven-year Physical Artificial Intelligence (AI) Program, which will be implemented through public-private partnerships and co-financing.
Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan said the initiative addresses several strategic priorities, including increasing public and private investment in science, expanding research activities at universities, and improving the quality of higher education and scientific research. These efforts are also expected to contribute to improvements in university rankings.
The program aims to establish internationally competitive research and educational capabilities in robotics and artificial intelligence at Yerevan State University, the National Polytechnic University of Armenia, and the American University of Armenia.
According to Andreasyan, the program envisages an investment of at least $14 million over seven years, with the government and the private sector each contributing half of the funding.
“Over the seven-year period, the universities will establish a permanent research base involving at least three long-term senior scientists, more than 12 postdoctoral researchers, and over 60 short-term visiting scientists. Teams of 15 researchers will work simultaneously.
The Smart Systems and Advanced Control Laboratory at the National Polytechnic University of Armenia will be upgraded and transformed into a Physical AI research laboratory. A second laboratory will also be established.
In the first year, the government will allocate AMD 168.4 million, primarily to cover the base salaries of researchers,” Andreasyan said.
She added that the program is expected to produce around 330 graduates in robotics and artificial intelligence over seven years, generate more than 20 publications in highly ranked international journals and conference proceedings, secure at least two invention patents, and host international conferences and workshops.
Commenting on the initiative, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said artificial intelligence is developing rapidly and that the next stage will involve its increasingly tangible integration into physical objects.
“We are all clearly dealing with AI, which is developing at a rapid pace, and a very natural question arises: What comes next? Naturally, AI will continue to evolve through its tools, but it is also important to note that, according to leading experts in the field, the next major development will inevitably be the increasingly tangible and visible integration of artificial intelligence into physical objects,” Pashinyan said.
The prime minister stressed that, given Armenia’s goal of developing its industrial sector, the country should seek to build industrial capacity in this field or create a favorable environment for attracting investment in such capabilities.
“Of course, the first priority is developing professional expertise, and this project is specifically aimed at building scientific and professional potential in this direction. In other words, we need people and specialists with the skills to work in this field.
Our task, together with our partners already operating in Armenia’s AI sector, is to build a talent pool at specific educational institutions and establish laboratories where artificial intelligence can interact and integrate with physical objects, and where related issues can be studied.
The long-term strategic goal is to make Armenia an attractive destination for investment in this field. It is clear that a substantial share of future investment in the industrial sector will be directed toward this area,” Pashinyan said.
He also highlighted the considerable potential of the Armenian diaspora, including specialists working in the field who want to contribute to its development in Armenia.
“Taking advantage of the fact that we have considerable potential in the diaspora, including specialists involved in this field who want to see it develop in Armenia, we are now making this decision to create opportunities for such developments starting at the educational level,” the prime minister said.