With the joint organization of the Ministry of Economy and the Delegation of the United Nations (UN) in Azerbaijan, to promote the goals of the "Agenda for Sustainable Development until 2030", to encourage innovation, and at the same time to promote the "Azerbaijan 2020: Vision of the Future" Development Concept and "The National Economy and the Basics of the Economy" The Second Republican Innovation Competition, which was held to support the implementation of "Strategic Road Maps" for sectors, was concluded.

Prizes were presented to the competition winners on December 10 at the Baku Business Center.

Speaking at the event organized in this regard, Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev emphasized that in recent years, the integration of Azerbaijan into innovation processes, the promotion and implementation of measures ensuring the transition to innovation economy have been included in strategic programs and documents, including the "Azerbaijan 2020: Vision of the Future" Development Concept and covering various sectors. reflected in the Strategic Road Maps. A number of goals and directions of these documents are identical to the UN's "Sustainable Development Agenda until 2030".

It has been pointed out that in the conditions of globalization, the expansion of innovation activity to a qualitatively new level, the spread of innovative innovations, as well as their application in the field of production create new challenges for countries. In accordance with these calls, Shahin Mustafayev pointed out that the Republican Innovation Competition, held for the second year, was organized in order to further increase interest in innovations. Such events stimulate innovation activities and increase efficiency, create the necessary conditions for the development of small and medium enterprises within the framework of innovation infrastructure, scientific- He emphasized the importance of improvement of the research base and innovation activity in terms of the development of personnel potential. The minister said that for the purpose of organizing the competition, a commission consisting of state institutions and representatives of the UN was formed, and a number of meetings were held in the past period to promote the competition and educate the public. Noting that there is great interest in the Second Republican Innovation Competition, Minister Shahin Mustafayev pointed out that more than 200 projects covering economic, social and ecological fields were presented within the competition, and such events will be held in the coming years.

Ghulam Ishaqzai, the resident coordinator of the UN in Azerbaijan, spoke about the importance of innovations and emphasized that such competitions will contribute to the promotion of investments in innovative fields in the future, the application of scientific achievements and innovations in various fields, as well as the improvement of the national innovation system.

At the event, the Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzadeh emphasized that the application of the latest technological achievements in our country makes an important contribution to the innovative development of the economy, he informed about the support measures taken in the direction of the creation of infrastructure to support innovative projects and the expansion of the startup movement. It was noted that startups were successfully represented at the "Bakutel-2018" exhibition.

Culture Minister Abulfas Garayev emphasized the importance of accelerating the creation of a new creative industry and the application of innovative ideas in cinema, design, music, fine arts and other fields.

Ulvi Mehdiyev, Chairman of the State Agency for Service to Citizens and Social Innovations under the President, gave a speech and informed about the preparation of human resources in the field of scientific research and the application of efficient financing mechanisms. It was reported that the "Idea Bank" platform of "ASAN service" was used to simplify the adoption of innovation projects.

Agreement between the Ministries of Economy, Culture, Transport, Communications and High Technologies, the State Agency for Service to Citizens and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the National Academy of Sciences and the Azerbaijani representative office of "Ernst and Young" for the coordination of joint events on the annual organization of the Innovation Competition at the event The memorandum was signed. The document was signed by Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev, Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev, Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade, Chairman of the State Agency for Service to Citizens and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ulvi Mehdiyev, President of the National Academy of Sciences Akif Alizade and the company "Ernst and Young" Ilgar Valiyev, the head of the Azerbaijan representation, signed.

At the end of the event, diplomas and awards were presented to the authors of the first three projects that won the Innovation Competition, as well as the projects that received an incentive award.

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Interesting projects were submitted to the Second Republican Innovation Competition. The projects that took the first three places in the competition are in line with the sustainable development goals of the UN