The scope of activities of technology parks in Azerbaijan is being expanded, Trend's correspondent reports. Sabina Humbatzade, head of the Legal Support Department at the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IRIA), said this during her speech on "Development of the digital and innovation ecosystem in Azerbaijan: new legislative opportunities" held as part of an educational session titled "Digital skills for the media". According to her, the activities of technology parks are regulated based on the “Model Regulations on Technology Parks,” approved by Decree No. 168 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2014.
Humbatzade said one of the new approaches involves expanding the extraterritoriality principle in relation to technology park residency. Later, we introduced the concept of an external technology park resident. Such a resident can operate remotely without being located within the physical territory,” she said.
The department head said that until now, the scope of activities of external technology park residents had been largely limited to the development and creation of software. Although their activities are related to digital development and innovation, they could not obtain external technology park resident status under the existing framework. As a result, they could not benefit from the available incentives,” Humbatzade said.
She said that for this reason, the areas of activity permitted for external technology park residents are being expanded. The new approach identifies 10 main activity domains: “This is not limited to these areas. Each of these 10 main domains includes subdomains and subcategories.
Applicants can also operate in these areas and apply for residency,” the department head added. According to Humbatzade, several burdensome requirements currently applicable to admission as an external technology park resident are also being removed. This prevented startups at the idea stage from obtaining residency and benefiting from incentives,” she said.
She said that under the new approach, these requirements will be abolished. An individual or company can declare that it operates in one of the designated areas of activity, apply and obtain residency,” Humbatzade stressed. According to her, residents operating within the physical territory of a technology park gain access to the relevant premises and infrastructure, while external residents can benefit from incentives provided for by legislation.
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