This summer the Enterprise Incubator Foundation has summed up the Innovation and Regional Matching Grants competition, held over two Venture Forums in Tsaghkadzor in the scope of the Matching Grants program.

Held in June 2021, each cycle of the competition featured 21 participating teams that worked with experienced mentors in such fields as marketing, sales, business.

Bagrat Yengibaryan, Director of Enterprise Incubator Foundation

The overall goal of the competition was to support Armenian companies in development of their own innovative tech products and solutions. As part of the experience, the participants have acquired skills in project presentation as well as attracting investment and international clients and partners. The competition has been implemented with the assistance of the Armenian Government and Ministry of High-Tech Industry and the World Bank.

Overall, 10 teams received co-financing provided by the grant program (5,000,000 AMD to 25,000,000 AMD). Those teams are:

ArmBionics

ArmBionics positions itself as a company with a humanitarian mission of recovery for the disabled. In particular, ArmBionics utilizes 3D printing and AI to produce mechanical bionic upper limbs for amputees, which the company wants to make accessible to both local and global markets.

Having successfully created and tested 4 prototypes, ArmBionics team notes that each bionic hand is created specifically for the person who would be wearing it.

Denovo 

Denovo has made a new machine learning algorithm that learns to generate new compounds based on the results of molecular simulations.

According to the Denovo team, their algorithm differs from others because it allows generating new compounds for any molecular target with known structure and for molecular targets with no databases, and generating compounds with new chemical structures, which are highly likely to be patented.

Elmasys

Elmasys is a system for wholesale operators, which automates purchases and storage and optimizes business processes. The system is based on a machine learning and AI module, so it increases the effectiveness of decision-making in conditions of uncertainty thanks to the ability to “learning” the data on the company’s turnover, finances, and external factors.

As the managers using the system accept or rejects the decisions it suggests, the system adapts to new data and grows smarter and more in tune with the company’s strategy.

Forgefiction

ForgeFiction is a platform for serialized storytelling, with the main focus on Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres. The content on the platform is created in a collaboration between the main author, who has full control over the story and does most of its writing, and a worldbuilding community, that is assisting them in creating the Fictional Words.

The chapters of the stories are added periodically, similar to how TV-Shows are released. This allows the users to read the next chapter on the spot, when they have few minutes of free time, instead of dedicating hours for reading.

While the first few chapters of each story are openly accessible for the readers to get to know the story, the further chapters are locked and can be accessed either by making an in-app payment, or by watching an advertisement video. Users receive in-app currency for their payments, which they can later spend to unlock chapters for the stories they read.

Safe YOU 

Safe YOU has created a mobile app that serves as a virtual safe space for women. The app helps prevent and investigate violence against women through content management and communication tools.

The target audience of the application includes governments, NGOs, and international institutions. Currently, Safe YOU has around 5,000 users and 20 professionals from over 30 organizations. The Safe YOU team’s solution has helped save two lives – those of a woman and her 3-year-old daughter.

Strollkeeper

As the name suggests, Strollkeeper is a solution that switches on the brakes of the stroller when the adult operating it takes their hand off the handle. The solution works on an auxiliary electromechanical module and consists of 2 main components: a sensor element attached to the handle and the main brake module attached to the bottom of the stroller.

The team has pointed out that their solution has no analogue on the market now, as it is the only one that can be installed on almost any stroller.

E-boost

E-Boost is a charging system for electric cars that combines charging stations and software collecting relevant data and monitoring maintenance. The team says that the charging stations are to be designed and produced in Armenia.

In addition, E-Boost has a mobile app that will find free charging points, register the amount of consumed energy, and send notifications among other features.

Qayl Tech

Qayl Tech designs and produces software components for automated electromechanical devices, which are applicable in healthcare and machine building. According to the Qayl Tech team, there is no locally designed analog of their product.

It has a wide range of applications, the team says, as it can be used in exoskeleton, wheelchairs and other rehabilitation equipment, as well as in the fields of mechanical engineering and robotics. The reason is that Qayl Tech’s software ensures the functionality and reliability of the device.

Three Smart

Three Smart works with positioning system and navigation technology. Its navIO system identifies the location of the user in both open and enclosed spaces, enabling the user to build routes in any direction and to any destination. The system consists of a mobile app and an indoor navigation system.

According to the Three Smart team, the latter was developed by the GPS creators, and the two-component model keeps the process of establishing the location uninterrupted.

Auto-test engineering

Finally, Auto-test engineering is the creator of the testing platform for electronic computation units (ECU). The application of these units in cars is increasing, the team said, and now ECUs are responsible for almost all functions in a modern car. The team’s idea is to provide a single test platform for the majority of the existing ECUs.

The platform includes basic measuring tools, signal matching equipment, mechanical connection systems, as well as flexible, easy-to-adapt test software architecture. This solution can secure rapid testing of the ECUs, advancing the relevant capacities in the car industry.

Let us add that with received funding each winning team is able to further develop their products and make a solid push for a place in the global market as well. The expansion of their solutions can potentially add visibility to Armenia’s growing high-tech sector, which brings in more investment. One of the highlights of the competition is that all products presented by the winners are practical – not experiments for the sake of experiment, but solutions designed to solve concrete issues and satisfy specific demands.