From Silicon Mountains to Digital Gateway: How Armenia's ICT ecosystem can anchor EU-Global South connectivity under the Global Gateway

Tamar Margaryan and Knarik Yedigaryan

No 2025-8, Discourses in Social Market Economy from OrdnungsPolitisches Portal (OPO)

Abstract: Armenia's information-communication-technology (ICT) exports climbed to US $1.1 billion in 2023, a 43 percent year-on-year surge that places the small Caucasus republic among the world's ten fastest-growing tech exporters. This paper asks how Armenia's digital capacities can be operationalised in the European Union's Global Gateway to deliver secure, sustainable, and inclusive connectivity between Europe and the Global South. We combine gravity-model trade simulations, layer-three latency mapping, venture-capital deal analytics, and 27 expert interviews to identify three high-impact leverage points: Trusted Data Corridors that scale the 2024 EU4Digital cross-border e-ID pilot; Dual-use SpaceTech Hubs building on Armenia's first national satellite and Starlink rollout; Diaspora-backed Innovation Funds such as Formula VC II (US $30 million, 35-40 deals). A risk-adjusted Monte-Carlo model suggests that a €180 million Armenian Digital Gateway Facility (ADGF) could unlock €1.2 billion in additional trade and 9 000 ICT jobs by 2030 while cutting data-transit latency to Frankfurt by 32 ms (73 Ç 41 ms). Comparative analysis with Estonia's e-Residency programme demonstrates the viability of small-state digital-hub strategies. A five-year implementation road-map and policy recommendations on cyber-resilience, skills mobility, and ESG governance offer a replicable template for other middle-income innovation hubs.

Keywords: digital connectivity; Global Gateway; Armenia; EU-Global-South relations; trusted data corridors; ICT exports (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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