Research Grant Programs

About the research grant programs

ISTC is committed to advancing knowledge and innovation through its comprehensive research programs.

ISTC’s research programs cover a wide range of topics, including Cognitive computing, Big Data Analytics, Cloud computing, Internet of things, Mobility, Security and Social, and more. By focusing on these critical areas, we aim to push the boundaries of what is possible and drive innovation in the tech industry.

Join us at ISTC to be part of a dynamic research community dedicated to making impactful contributions to the field of technology and data science. Whether you are a student, a researcher, or an industry professional, our research programs offer the perfect environment for you to explore new ideas, develop your expertise, and drive innovation.

ISTC RESEARCH GRANT

To encourage the collaboration between the scientific community and industry, R&D promotion and commercialization, ISTC with the support of EIF and USAID Armenia conducted ISTC Research Grant Program (IRGP) in 2017. The program was developed for supporting research activities in Armenia in the fields of Cognitive computing, Big Data Analytics, Cloud computing, Internet of things, Mobility, Security and Social․ ISTC supported projects undertaking innovation from the demonstration stage through to piloting, testbeds, systems validation in real-world/working conditions. It was targeting relatively mature new technologies, concepts, and business models that need one final technological development step to reach the market and achieve wider deployment.

In the scope of IRGP ISTC provided:

Artavazd Khachatryan - FPGA accelerated Time Series Database for IoT and BigData
Martin Ayvazyan - Research of signal modulation in 5G
Hrant Khachatryan - Machine learning for medical time-series
Serob Muradyan - Machine Learning for Data Analysis of Local Field Potentials with Feedback Regulation
Kristina Sargsyan - Deep Reasoning for Advanced Analytics
Karapet Davtyan - Electronic Health Information Management System (e-HIMS)
Sos Khachikyan - Regional Analysis and Decision-Making Optimization through Technology Based Strategy in Vayots Dzor Region
Marine Ghahramanyan - Application of IBM® BPM Technology to Ensure and Measure BPM Project/Program Efficiency in the Telecommunication Industry of Armenia.

Hrant Khachatryan - Multilingual Sentence Parsers
Mariya Nikoghosyan - Portraying human pathogenome with machine learning
Hovhannes Haroyan - Non orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) modulation design for 5G network
Senik Matinyan - Machine Learning Applications in Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation System
Lilit Nersisyan - BIGPathways : a database and a platform for biological pathway based drug repositioning
Davit Ghukasyan - A novel BCI speller system
Armen Allahverdyan - Parameter learning in non identifiable models
Gevorg Martirosyan - Machine Learning in Real World Optimization Problems
Vardan Baghdasaryan - Machine Learning based credit scoring using local credit dataset

Lusine Hovhannisyan - “ArmBionics”: Control of custom bionic hand with machine learning data analysis
Hayk Ishkhanyan - Dispatch an algorithm for qualitative optimization of logistics
Hrant Davtyan - Structuring Financial Documents trough AI converting human-readable financial documents (pdf) into machine-readable format (XBRL)
Hayk Sargsyan - Human action recognition in videos with convolutional neural networks
Yevgeni Mamasakhlisov - The Prediction of the Structures Ensemble of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins with Recurrent Neural Networks Algorithms

US-ARMENIA RESEARCH COLLABORATION GRANT

During 2018, ISTC and EIF, with the support of USAID Armenia successfully launched the US-Armenia Research Collaboration Grant program. The purpose of the program was to implement funding for research teams to exchange their experiences with US Research teams and collaborate with US research institutions. The goal was to bring joint research projects to Armenia.

As a result of the program, 30 participants successfully traveled to the US and started a collaboration with the counterpart universities including San Jose State University, University of Southern California, University of Maryland, Northwestern University, Harvard University, etc.

SUCCESS STORIES

Marina Davtyan - ArmBionics

Marina is a medical student and a young researcher. She has been working on the development of myoelectric bionic hand for a few years. She is the CEO and co-founder of ArmBionics. ArmBionics is a startup company that focuses on the development of bionic prosthetics. The goal of the project is to improve the quality of affordable limb prosthetics. ArmBionics aims to develop individual prosthetics for each person's needs.

Marina and her team have been awarded the ISTC Joint Research Grant which was the first significant opportunity for the team and helped them a lot for further research. They have created an original 3D model of a bionic hand that can easily be customized according to the patient's specifications. The 3D model has been coupled with EMG via a program. As a result, they have a 3D model of a bionic hand that can do simulated movements gaining muscle signals from a human. They have recorded and analyzed EMG signals data via machine learning classification tools having excellent accuracy. They have also initiated the platform for brain-computer (BCI) interface control of a bionic hand. They have also recorded EEG signals data via Emotiv Epoc+ device in the context of different imaginary movements with or without association with numbers.

The data has been analyzed, and the repository of BCI data analysis is available with the following link on GitHub. Also, myoelectric prosthetic has been tested with the patient to get feedback. And now they are working to improve the product. They are developing an android application which will be available with the final product, via this application you will be able to record EMG signals and do the real-time analysis to predict the movements, the technology aims to improve prosthetics functionality.

She has been awarded the US-Armenia Research Collaboration Grant, which was an excellent opportunity to visit research centers and labs in the field. She visited neuroscience and rehabilitation labs at Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (Chicago, USA). Marina has learned about cutting-edge research in the field.
The main topics of her interests were rehabilitation, myoelectric controlled upper limb prosthetics, EMG pattern recognition, reinnervation, etc. She has spent two weeks in Chicago, learned new skills, made connections, and collaborations. Those collaborations were not only crucial for her research but also their community. Marina thinks that they can exchange knowledge and get the best expertise from the US professors by organizing practical workshops and seminars in Armenia.

Decoding the Brain Workshop, which is going to be co-organized with ISTC, is one of the incredible opportunities to learn from the best scientists in the field. Worth mentioning that one of them will be professor Lee Miller from Northwestern University (Chicago, USA).