Digital Bridge 2022: results of the participation of Uzbekistan delegation

The delegation of Uzbekistan, led by the Minister for ICT Development Sherzod Shermatov, took part in Digital Bridge, the international forum of digital technologies and business, which took place on September 28 and 29 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The Digital Bridge International Forum is one of the largest IT events in Kazakhstan, which proceeds annually since 2018 with the participation of the President of Kazakhstan.

This year’s motto: ‘Central Eurasia as a new tech platform’. As part of it, the Minister for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan Sherzod Shermatov made a presentation ‘Digital Uzbekistan’.

During the presentation, Sherzod Khotamovich spoke in detail about the IT opportunities that are available in Uzbekistan, about new programs and projects being implemented in the country in order to develop the IT sector, as well as about the upcoming largest IT event in Uzbekistan - ICT Week Uzbekistan, which takes place October 24-27 in Samarkand.

In addition, such Uzbek startup projects as Beautify.uz, Avlo.shop, Billz.uz, OneApp, TASS Vision, “Sug’urta Bozor” and MyID were presented at the IT Park booth at the forum.

Also, the CEO of IT Park Farhod Ibragimov took part in the panel session "Development of a startup ecosystem in the Turkic-speaking countries" along with the director of "Astana hub" Magjan Madiev, the director of the Turkish technopark "Bilişim Vadisi Technopark" Ahmet-Serdar Ibrahimcioglu, the director of "Hi-Tech Park" Kyrgyzstan Chubak Temirov, Director of the Turkish Cyberpark "Bilkent Cyberpark" Farruk Inaltekin and Project Manager of the Organization of Turkic States Farrukh Zhumaev, who acted as a moderator.

Each of the speakers shared their vision on the development of the IT industry in their countries. The participants noted the importance of cooperation within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States, and discussed the possibility of integrating technology parks in order to accelerate national projects.

Farhod Zairovich noted the particular importance of the development of outsourcing in Uzbekistan, since this is the fastest way to attract the attention of young people to the IT industry and provide young professionals with jobs. He also stressed that it is necessary to strengthen the brand of Turkic-speaking countries in order to attract orders and partners.

During the session, Farhod Ibragimov noted that it is necessary to enter international platforms regionally, and not separately, since the countries of Central Asia have not yet reached the scale of those countries that have been working in this direction for longer, for example, India, the Philippines and others. He also added that such platforms need to be organized more often and they help the Central Asian countries to achieve certain results in an accelerated mode.

As a result of the forum, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the technoparks of the member states of the Organization of Turkic States. The agreement is aimed at the joint development of the IT sector and the innovation ecosystem. In addition, the possibility of establishing the Association of Modern Technoparks UTC will be considered.

The delegation of Uzbekistan also held a meeting with the CEO of the Astana Hub, Magjan Madiev. During the meeting, the parties discussed issues of further cooperation. Thus, a Kazakh colleague expressed interest expressed interest in the experience of Uzbekistan in expanding the IT Park infrastructure, and the Uzbek side showed interest in the experience of Kazakhstan in developing a startup ecosystem and attracting venture funds.

The head of Astana Hub noted the high number of relocating IT specialists from Russia and Belarus and suggested that they work together to provide the necessary conditions for interested parties.

As part of the event, representatives of Uzbekistan also met with the principal of the Alem School, Danabek Kaliajdarov, and got acquainted with the activities of the programming school.

As part of the forum, IT Park has established cooperation with some companies and organizations.

IT Park discussed the possibility of implementing joint projects in the field of artificial intelligence with Nazarbayev University in partnership with Inha, Amity and TUIT universities. Representatives of the Kazakh university expressed their desire to visit Uzbekistan in order to launch a project that will allow translating words from Turkic languages ​​into others, which is supposed to include the Uzbek language.

The Ukrainian company DataArt, which develops software and Internet of Things technologies, also expressed a desire to cooperate with IT Park. Representatives of the company also said that they plan to open a representative office in Uzbekistan.

Moreover, the two companies discussed the possibility of cooperation in startups with IT Park and reached an agreement with Sergazin Startups on mentoring for startup projects, incubation and acceleration programs within the IT Park, and Yandex Cloud expressed interest in supporting Uzbek startups by providing access to Yandex systems and financial support.