EPIC: Educational Partner at Regional Startup Summit in the Emirates

The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) is happy to announce a new partnership with Seaside Startup Summit (SSS) of Startup Armenia Foundation. As an Educational Partner of the program, EPIC will be supporting the organization and implementation of the first SSS Holidays startup event to be held in the United Arab Emirates in December 2021. EPIC has cooperated with the SSS platform since 2018 in organizing workshops and mentoring.

“As an active member of the Armenian entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are excited to be a part of this new initiative. In addition to sharing our educational capacity and experience, this partnership will provide us with a regional outreach, which is one of our strategic goals for the coming years,” says Nejdeh Hovanessian, assistant director of EPIC, who will represent the center at the summit.

The SSS Holidays will be held in a resort setting using a novel format to attract representatives from the Armenia startup ecosystem as well as from the host country. The specially designed educational program of the summit will include panel discussions, mentorship sessions, campfire talks, and startup battles. Participation is open for individuals, companies, and startups.

The event is particularly geared to assemble Armenian entrepreneurs and provides the platform for expanded business connections among participants in the event, as well as with others in the Armenian startup ecosystem. Parallel to attending the SSS Holidays, participants will also visit the Opportunity District of the Expo 2020 Dubai exhibition, where there will be a presentation of Armenian startups at the pavilion of Startup Armenia Foundation and EthnoTech Armenia. 

Startup Armenia Foundation has been organizing the annual Sevan Startup Summit since 2016. In 2018, the project grew beyond Armenia, holding the summit in the United Arab Emirates for the first time and subsequently also in India under the name Seaside Startup Summit. Over these years, SSS has hosted more than 25,000 participants from 90 countries. The project’s success grew its prize fund pool to $350,000 to this date, and the investments made during the organized events have exceeded $4 million. Throughout the last five years of activity, the Summit has played a significant role in shaping and developing the startup ecosystem in our country.