Ambassador Libby's Remarks at Technovate Event
Good morning!
I am pleased to be here with you all today for this exciting event and to be participating alongside my esteemed colleagues from the Azerbaijani government.
I’m also pleased to see our ADA University friends and hosts as well as members of the diplomatic community.
Thank you to U.S. alumnus Farid Ismayilzada, founder and president of Technovate, for putting together a dynamic program.
I understand that the five teams pitching today here at the Technovate-Sabah Startup World Cup are vying for a spot to pitch their ideas at the final competition in California.
Good luck!
Creativity and critical thinking are cornerstones of innovation and progress and we have seen this throughout American history.
From the invention of the light bulb by Thomas Edison to the pioneering tech developments of Silicon Valley, Americans have combined these traits to great effect and propelled themselves to the forefront of global discovery across various fields.
From technology and medicine to the arts and social sciences.
U.S. history demonstrates that creativity thrives in a diverse and vibrant culture that encourages free expression and novel ideas.
But innovation will fall short without the entrepreneurial spirit needed to bring these innovations to the public and a transparent legal system free of corruption to protect innovators from theft.
With the right mindset and the environment for great ideas to come to life, entrepreneurs have revolutionized industries and changed the world.
Think of how American tech giants like Apple or Google began as humble startups but ultimately transformed the way we live
and the way the world works.
At the U.S. Embassy in Baku, we take pride in promoting entrepreneurial thinking and the free expression of ideas that can lead to great breakthroughs.
We partner with Azerbaijani and with international colleagues across the world to provide training in business startups.
Just this year, we had the privilege of training more than 100 women from rural areas of Azerbaijan on how to formulate business plans and secure seed funding.
We are also now developing an International Visitors Leadership Program to send five Azerbaijani startup business owners and representatives to the United States. In this program, they will build entrepreneurship capacity, learn from experienced U.S. entrepreneurs, and form long-term relationships.
We hope these and other programs will contribute to fostering in Azerbaijan the sort of strong startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem that is so crucial for economic diversification.
Government funding has led to a small but growing community of incubators, accelerators, venture capitalists, and angel investors.
We are encouraged to see Azerbaijan enhancing its technical, research & development, and legal capacities and we are eager to see the government implement further reforms that foster innovation.
The United States is committed to helping strengthen the startup ecosystem in Azerbaijan and so we support other programs that can help attract foreign investment.
One recent example was an intellectual property rights workshop organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce
Commercial Law Development Program
and by AmCham Azerbaijan.
Every year since 2018, we have also sent Azerbaijani students to the U.S. together with other emerging entrepreneurs from across Europe as part of our Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative.
This is just one of a broad range of other programs for professionals to provide short- and medium-term entrepreneurship training and education in the United States, while at the same time, our English language programs equip young people in Azerbaijan and around the world to use more effectively the main language of the global economy.
In the same spirit of support and enthusiasm, that motivates those programs I would like to offer you all my best wishes for success today.
I admire your entrepreneurial spirit and am sure we will be hearing some great pitches!
Good luck!