DILIJAN, Armenia (DiasporArm) — For three days in June, the Central Bank’s conference center in the pine-forested hills of Dilijan became something far more than a building. It transformed into a global hub where some of the sharpest Armenian minds on the planet — scientists, engineers, educators, artists, policy makers — came together around one shared conviction: Armenia can and must compete at the highest levels of global excellence.
This was the fifth annual conference of the Armenian Society of Fellows (ASOF), and if any gathering captures what collective Armenian ambition can look like, this is it.
A Network Like No Other
ASOF is only five years old, yet it has already woven itself into the fabric of the Armenian world with remarkable speed. The Society now counts 382 members spanning 35 countries, including three Nobel laureates, and covers every discipline — from computational sciences and engineering to the humanities, health sciences, cultural heritage, and the arts.
The mission, as ASOF Chair Mary Papazian reminded participants at the opening session, is deceptively simple: to help raise Armenia’s educational and research institutions to world-class levels, and to network them globally. What makes ASOF unusual is that it is also deliberately finite — designed to dissolve after 20 years, because the goal is not to build another diaspora organization, but to build capacity within Armenia itself so the country can stand fully on its own.
The Big Announcement: A $14 Million Bet on Armenia’s AI Future
