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APPLE CO-FOUNDER VISITS ARMENIA
Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenialiberty.org
Nov 10 2011
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of the Apple corporation, advised Armenia
to invest in education and nurture creativity among young people on
Thursday at the start of a two-day visit to Yerevan initiated by the
Armenian government and information technology (IT) industry.
Wozniak was scheduled to meet with senior government officials, IT
company executives and university students before receiving a state
award from President Serzh Sarkisian on Friday evening.
The annual Global Award established last year will honor his
"outstanding contribution to humanity." It was handed to Craig Barrett,
a former chairman and chief executive of Intel Corporation, in June
last year.
The Armenian government has declared development of the domestic IT
sector a top economic priority. The sector employing more than 5,000
people is dominated by Armenian subsidiaries of California-based
software development companies. According to government data, IT
products accounted for 8.5 percent of Armenian exports last year,
up from 3.6 percent in 2009.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), Wozniak
stressed the importance of good education for steady growth of the
hi-tech industry. "Even the Silicon Valley always attributed a lot of
its success to good schools that had created a lot of good engineers,"
he said.
Armenia - Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc., rides a segway
in dowontown Yerevan, 10Nov2011.â~@~Kâ~@~KWozniak, who co-founded
Apple with the late Steve Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976,
emphasized at the same time that this should go hand in hand with
"inspiring creativity" in children and young people.
"In the age of the Internet it's very easy for anyone anywhere in the
world to come up with ideas that could catch on massively, instantly,"
he said. "It's rare but it's usually from young people because they
aren't so set in knowing how to do things already."
"Don't restrict smart young people, whether they have a college degree
or not," continued Wozniak. "It's not that great when companies
require all sorts of degrees or certification. You have to be able
to spot young people who will think for themselves and come up with
good new ideas -- the real innovators."
The sector's growth in recent years has been facilitated by a rapid
spread of Internet access in Armenia. Tightening competition among
local Internet providers has been improving the quality and lowering
the cost of the service.
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, who will also meet with the Apple
co-founder on Friday, said in July that the IT industry will grow
strongly in the years to come. "We will do everything to increase
the share of this sector [in the economy,]" he said.
Wozniak, 61, who remains an Apple shareholder, suggested that the
traditional popularity of chess in Armenia is also giving the country
a competitive edge on the global IT scene.
"I would say that ... chess is the sort of thinking that is so involved
in a lot of the working out the logistics of hardware and software
engineering, being able to hold a lot of patterns, independent ways
and results in your head," he said.
"But you have to encourage people to want to do the best in the world
and to be the best in the world," added Wozniak.
Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenialiberty.org
Nov 10 2011
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of the Apple corporation, advised Armenia
to invest in education and nurture creativity among young people on
Thursday at the start of a two-day visit to Yerevan initiated by the
Armenian government and information technology (IT) industry.
Wozniak was scheduled to meet with senior government officials, IT
company executives and university students before receiving a state
award from President Serzh Sarkisian on Friday evening.
The annual Global Award established last year will honor his
"outstanding contribution to humanity." It was handed to Craig Barrett,
a former chairman and chief executive of Intel Corporation, in June
last year.
The Armenian government has declared development of the domestic IT
sector a top economic priority. The sector employing more than 5,000
people is dominated by Armenian subsidiaries of California-based
software development companies. According to government data, IT
products accounted for 8.5 percent of Armenian exports last year,
up from 3.6 percent in 2009.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), Wozniak
stressed the importance of good education for steady growth of the
hi-tech industry. "Even the Silicon Valley always attributed a lot of
its success to good schools that had created a lot of good engineers,"
he said.
Armenia - Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc., rides a segway
in dowontown Yerevan, 10Nov2011.â~@~Kâ~@~KWozniak, who co-founded
Apple with the late Steve Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976,
emphasized at the same time that this should go hand in hand with
"inspiring creativity" in children and young people.
"In the age of the Internet it's very easy for anyone anywhere in the
world to come up with ideas that could catch on massively, instantly,"
he said. "It's rare but it's usually from young people because they
aren't so set in knowing how to do things already."
"Don't restrict smart young people, whether they have a college degree
or not," continued Wozniak. "It's not that great when companies
require all sorts of degrees or certification. You have to be able
to spot young people who will think for themselves and come up with
good new ideas -- the real innovators."
The sector's growth in recent years has been facilitated by a rapid
spread of Internet access in Armenia. Tightening competition among
local Internet providers has been improving the quality and lowering
the cost of the service.
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, who will also meet with the Apple
co-founder on Friday, said in July that the IT industry will grow
strongly in the years to come. "We will do everything to increase
the share of this sector [in the economy,]" he said.
Wozniak, 61, who remains an Apple shareholder, suggested that the
traditional popularity of chess in Armenia is also giving the country
a competitive edge on the global IT scene.
"I would say that ... chess is the sort of thinking that is so involved
in a lot of the working out the logistics of hardware and software
engineering, being able to hold a lot of patterns, independent ways
and results in your head," he said.
"But you have to encourage people to want to do the best in the world
and to be the best in the world," added Wozniak.