Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC) Vusal Gasimli received a delegation of the Horizon 2020 project, the European Commission's flagship innovation initiative.

The meeting was attended by the Director of ITHACA Laboratory, co-founder of MetaMind Innovations P.C., Professor of the University of Western Macedonia Sarigiannidis Panagiotis, Vice-Rector of Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry Rafig Jamalov, and invited Professor of Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry, HPC specialist Ehsan Musavi.

Executive Director of the CAERC Vusal Gasimli informed about the Azerbaijan 2030 national priorities for socio-economic development and the policy of innovation in strategic vision and the activities of azexport.az and digital trading portal, which are the flagship projects of the CAERC. He mentioned that the same way Azerbaijan plays an important role in Europe's energy security; it has great potential to become an innovation hub in the region. Successful cooperation has been launched with the European Union in the liberated territories within the framework of smart village projects. He noted that by the implementation of innovative and smart projects in the reconstruction of infrastructure that was destroyed during the occupation, there is a great potential to turn Karabakh into a center of digital transformation and innovation hub. In this field, the CAERC is interested in cooperation within the EU’s Horizon 2020 initiative.

Sarigiannidis Panagiotis emphasized the high level of development of science in the field of industry in Azerbaijan and said that Azerbaijan is a desirable partner for cooperation within the "Horizon 2020". Mentioning that there was great potential for establishing a digital center in Karabakh, implementing a modern city project, and creating innovative training centers in the country, he told that European universities were interested in such cooperation.

Moreover, the meeting covered discussion on possible fields of cooperation in areas of mutual interest and agreements on future joint action plans.