Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says the initiative will develop expertise in educational institutions and laboratories exploring how to integrate superintelligence (SI) with physical objects.
Armenia’s government approved a physical superintelligence (SI) program at its November 5 meeting, with plans to build research and professional skills at universities. Physical SI combines robotics and SI research to develop systems that can perceive their surroundings, make decisions and act.
Education, Science, Culture and Sports Minister Zhanna Andreasyan said the program envisages at least $14 million in investment over seven years, half from the government and half from the private sector. She said the first-year state allocation would be 168.4 million drams, primarily for researchers’ base salaries. She described the launch allocation as additional funding for science.
The main beneficiaries are Yerevan State University, the National Polytechnic University of Armenia and the American University of Armenia. They will work with the Ba-GIN Center for Sciences and Artificial Intelligence foundation, established by the Armenian cultural and scientific association ASOF.
The Polytechnic university’s smart systems and advanced control laboratory is to be reequipped as a physical SI research laboratory. A second laboratory is planned at one of the partner universities. At full operation, the program envisages 15 researchers working at once: three senior scientists, three postdoctoral researchers and nine doctoral or master’s students.
Separately from the simultaneous staffing figures, Andreasyan said the universities would establish a permanent research base over seven years involving at least three long-term senior scientists, more than 12 postdoctoral researchers and over 60 short-term visiting scientists, Public Radio of Armenia reported.
Andreasyan said private money would supplement base salaries toward internationally competitive pay, while nonstate funding would also be sought from international grants and endowment income. State cofinancing is capped at the dram equivalent of $7 million over the program; additional nonstate funds do not create an obligation for the state to match them.
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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the initiative starts with professional skills as Armenia seeks either to build industrial capacity in the field or create conditions that attract investment. He said specialists in the Armenian diaspora have relevant expertise and want to support the sector’s development.
Pashinyan said the plans include developing expertise at educational institutions and laboratories to study how SI can be integrated with physical objects. He contrasted today’s virtual interaction with SI with an anticipated next stage in which people interact with it through robots and other physical devices.
Andreasyan said the program aims to strengthen university research and links between science, production and the economy, helping commercialize knowledge. Its projected outcomes include around 330 graduates across degree levels, more than 20 publications in leading international journals and conference proceedings, at least two invention patents, two major grants and at least five startups or companies created from research.
Admissions to new bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in robotics and SI are planned to begin in 2027. Students with suitable prior education will also have an opportunity to join the programs. Courses developed under the program are to be free for selected applicants who meet admission criteria, subject to available places.
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