Louis Pouzin to Receive Armenia’s “Global IT Award”

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — A French scientist who was one of the early developers of the World Wide Web will pick this year’s presidential “Global IT Award” (GIT) that Armenia has given annually since 2009 to prominent scientists, engineers and executives who have made an outstanding contribution to the global advancement of information technologies.

Louis Pouzin, who invented the datagram and designed an early packet communications network, CYCLADES, is expected to arrive in Armenia at the end of next week for an award ceremony to be hosted by President Serzh Sarkisian on November 8.

In announcing the winner of the award on Friday, Hovik Musayelian, the general manager of Armenia’s leading IT company, Synopsis, said that during the official part of Pouzin’s visit on November 7-9 the 85-year-old scientist will have a number of meetings, including with students and professors at Armenian universities.

Pouzin is the seventh winner of the Presidential GIT Award since its establishment. Among the past laureates of the prize are such well-known IT personalities as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (2011) and top Russian information security specialist Eugene Kaspersky (2015).

Armen Gevorkian, the chief of presidential staff, told a press conference in Yerevan today that besides becoming a good tradition the award given to iconic figures in the IT sector and industry has also made Armenia more recognizable as a nation in the world.

“All our previous award winners were quite well-known individuals in the sphere, and besides their contribution to Armenia’s IT sector development with their character, significance, ideas and advice, they have also become good friends of Armenia,” the official said. “We already have cases when some of our previous laureates at their own initiative and with their own means assisted educational establishments in Armenia. We have laureates who are seeking to bring their technologies and knowledge to Armenia to establishing corresponding structures, laboratories here.”