National Sustainable Development Goals Innovation Lab Pioneering for Armenia and the World

In addition to behavioral experiments, the lab works with artificial intelligence. For its UN work, the lab has created a tool which is a type of SDG barometer. It allows measuring Armenia’s progress concretely on the UN goals in real time through a machine learning algorithm. Margaryan said that although other countries have such barometers, this one is unique because of the real time component.

In the field of tourism, Margaryan said, the lab was the first in the world to create a platform providing real time assessments of touristic issues in a country — in this case, of course, Armenia (https://www.travelinsights.ai). It continually analyzes social media and websites like Trip Adviser, Airbnb, booking.com and Facebook to divide the expressed sentiments into three basic categories, and 27 subcategories. The Tourism Committee of Armenia’s Ministry of the Economy constantly receives information to be used for marketing and for solving problems. Eventually, Margaryan said, tools will be made available for private use of this data as well.

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During May of this year, Margaryan and others from the Innovation Lab visited Switzerland for meetings with various UN bodies and went to Canton Valais, important as a touristic center. There they introduced their tourism tool to Techno-Pole de Sierre, a university, where there interest in its use to provide solutions for Swiss issues. Margaryan said at this point negotiations are in progress to determine the best approach for both sides.

Another program which will provide real-time data is Edu2Work, which will analyze job advertisements, including skills demanded and wages offered, and help bridge the gap between the worlds of education and the employment market. Behavioral interventions based on the results will help direct youth to choose the fields most in demand in the market, and correspondingly, informational campaigns can be organized. This program is being carried out within the framework of the Work Armenia program, together with the British Nesta and the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT).

The lab is carrying out a variety of other mass data assemblage projects, such as the creation of an Armenian farm registry to learn what Armenian farmers produce and their capacity. There are some 272,000 farms in Armenia today. Real-time satellite and drone imagery will be supplemented with on the ground information. Artificial intelligence will help monitor crop growth. With greater information, Margaryan explained that the efficiency of agriculture can be maximized. It can be determined what grows best, for example, in a particular zone of land, and when.

As the Armenian innovation lab is the first example of cooperation between a nation-state and the UN for the implementation of SDG goals, the UNDP has decided to use it as a model for the creation of similar centers in some 60 more countries. Margaryan declared that his lab would aid these new centers to set correct theoretical foundations and practices so they understand how they must operate.

Similarly, Armenia’s government uses the reports from the lab to apply policies on a national level. Margaryan said, “This is the advantage of a small country: we can be more flexible and fast.” He added that modernization of the sphere of state governance will require, in his opinion, great reforms, in which digitization must be a large component. He said, “Digitization is not always innovation but innovation without digitization is not possible. We must move towards transparency fast, and turn to the minimal the contact between citizens and governmental bodies. No one wants to lose time; no one wants to wait in line….Everyone wants fast, transparent and effective work.”

Margaryan said that digitization will help diasporan Armenians to participate in Armenian life and the economy more easily, when many services can be accessed via the internet.

The lab works with many local and international nongovernmental bodies and private associations in addition to the Armenian government and the UN.

In the United States, one of the labs it works with is Stanford ChangeLabs. Margaryan said that during his Boston visit, there was the opportunity to meet with the leaders of various centers, and relations established with the director of a Harvard center dealing with technology transfer.

Margaryan estimated that the lab’s budget is roughly 1.5 million dollars, including 1 million from a Russian Federation fund for specific programs, 250,000 sterling pounds from the English government for an education program, and 100,000 dollars from the UN Development Coordination Office. While this is a small sum for the US, he said, this is not a bad budget if the lab is considered a startup organization.

Margaryan concluded: “I want to say that we work in a very open fashion. You see that I am in Boston and met with many different people. It is important for me that we have many different partners. I want the representatives of our community here in Boston to know that there is such a thing in Armenia and we are always ready to cooperate, and are ready to accept, host and in the case of proposals for work, always are ready to collaborate with our diaspora of Boston and the various universities there.” For questions about the lab, write to info@sdginnovationlab.am.