YEREVAN, Armenia — The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) at the American University of Armenia (AUA), in collaboration with the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, is pleased to announce the launch of the Blue Tech Transfer (BTT) Platform.
The BTT Platform, developed and launched as part of the Iliad Project, is a one-stop shop designed to connect researchers and projects with essential resources for commercialization, business development, and scaling up. This tool provides consolidated information on funding, startup support, mentorship, intellectual property guidance, and potential early adopters of the solutions and/or services. It provides streamlined access to over 200 verified resources, including funding and investment opportunities, startup support schemes, incubators and accelerators, mentorship networks, and intellectual property guidance. Launched publicly on April 16 and now accessible online, the platform bridges the gap between scientific discovery and real-world application, offering researchers and innovators the means to commercialize marine research and contribute to sustainable growth in the Blue Economy.
Between 2024 and 2025, Iliad hosted a high-impact webinar series that brought together more than 30 international speakers from institutions such as the European Innovation Council (EIC), DG Research and Innovation, the World Economic Forum, the University of Cambridge, SINTEF Digital, and BlueForward Fund. With hundreds of live participants and over 2,000 cumulative YouTube views, the series provided a platform for researchers, investors, and stakeholders to explore transformative ocean-based innovations.
A key theme was the commercial potential of digital twins. As Sofia Parsadanyan, program lead of Iliad BTT, noted: “A digital twin — an advanced, dynamic model — helps detect physical problems faster, predict developments more accurately, and make more effective decisions. The digital twin market is expected to grow from $12.8 billion in 2024 to $240.3 billion by 2035.”
Sessions demonstrated how digital twins serve not only research and environmental monitoring but also engage end-users in early-stage development. Examples included digital twins for aquaculture, seascapes, oil spill simulations, and port management.
Notable speakers such as Dr. Sivasegaram Manimaaran (EU Directorate-General for Research and Innovation), Valentin Golovtchenko (World Economic Forum), and Pierre Erwes (BlueForward Fund) shared insights on European Union support for innovators, the complexities of Earth observation commercialization, and funding early-stage ocean tech. Academic contributions from Dr. Ali Mashayek (University of Cambridge) and Dr. Phoebe Koundouri (Athens University) emphasized co-design and socio-economic integration of DTOs.
In the port-focused session, representatives from the Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company and Fundación Valenciaport showcased real-world case studies on risk assessment, ballast water management, and the role of data infrastructure in driving efficiency and safety.
EPIC’s initiatives under the Iliad Project, from the creation of the BTT Tool to curating global knowledge-sharing events, underscore Armenia’s expanding leadership in European innovation networks by linking academic research to entrepreneurship and providing the tools for commercialization.
The three-year Iliad Project, launched in 2022, is a cutting-edge initiative funded by a €17 million grant under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Its core mission is to develop near-real-time Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTOs) to support sustainable marine management. Bringing together over 50 organizations across 18 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, Iliad is designing and developing 22 local, topic-specific DTOs in 13 countries.
The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) is a platform of the American University of Armenia (AUA) for promoting entrepreneurial education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and startup venture incubation. EPIC provides an ecosystem for emerging entrepreneurs consisting of first-class facilities and collaborative workspace, programs and events, and a network of mentors, advisors, and investors. EPIC fosters the understanding and application of entrepreneurship in students and faculty at AUA to craft high-impact multidisciplinary ventures.
The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, a research center of the American University of Armenia (AUA), promotes the protection and restoration of the natural environment through research, education, and community outreach. The AUA Acopian Center’s focus areas include sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity protection and conservation, greening the built environment, sustainable energy, as well as information technology and the environment. Visit http://ace.aua.am.