On July 18, a meeting with specialized companies in the ICT sector was held at the Center for Universities and Industry Business Association at Azerbaijan Technical University (AzTU). The purpose of the meeting was to establish a dialog on strengthening university-industry partnerships.
Rector of Azerbaijan Technical University Vilayat Veliyev delivered an opening speech at the event and made a presentation on "University-Industry Business Association and IT." The rector noted that the development of a business alliance between universities and industry creates an opportunity for the establishment of a university-based model of entrepreneurship. In this business association, the development of the IT sector also plays an important role. This requires a perfect learning process and the establishment of an innovation ecosystem supporting a university-industry business alliance; the educational process should be conducted in the engineering field through the use of software and there should be collaboration with IT organizations and companies.

Elnur Nasibov, Chairman of the Management Board of the Education Development Fund, welcomed the guests and informed them about the Foundation's activities. The Chairman of the EDF Management Board said that the participation of industry representatives plays an important role in training young people to meet the requirements of modern employers, as well as in conducting important research and development work. One of the main goals of a university-industry business association is the development of human capital. This cooperation can contribute to the training and experience of both existing staff of the partner enterprises and students taking their first steps in business life. The most important value, however, is the ability to turn innovative ideas into products and services.

Fuad Gambarov, Head of the HR Department of Bestcomp Group CJSC, and other representatives who took part in the event voiced a number of interesting questions and suggestions.

In conclusion, E. Nasibov, EDF Chairman, stressed the importance of continuous dialogue and partnership between public and private organizations within the university-industrial business association and thanked all participants.