On the topic of  the creation of the Alliance of Startup Ecosystems – “Startup Central Eurasia Platform”

From 25 to 26 November 2021, at the Astrum IT Academy of Tashkent region under the leadership of IT Park and the International Telecommunication Union, with the support of the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan, within the framework of the Startup Central Euroasia platform, a large international seminar “Regional cooperation  -Ecosystems as a Key Factor of Global Digital Leadership – Startup Central Eurasia Platform” was held.
 

 

The seminar was attended by leading experts in the field of information technology represented by leaders and representatives of large domestic and foreign IT organizations and companies, such as: Google, IT Park, Venture Capital Association, Astrum IT Academy, Kazakh financial company FinTech Hub AIFC, Astana  Hub, Belarusian company Angels Brand, Georgian company Future Laboratory, Association of ICT Companies of Moldova, Hi-Tech Park of the Kyrgyz Republic, Russian company Sber and many others.

First Deputy Minister for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Digital Economy and Electronic Government Oleg Pekos, Director of IT Park Farhod Ibragimov, representative of the International Telecommunication Union – Regional Director of the CIS Regional Office Natalya Mochu, Director of Astana Hub Magzhan Madiev and  others also attended the event.

Director of IT Park Farhod Ibragimov informed the participants of the seminar about the history of the creation of IT Park, the activities of the organization and ongoing projects.

 

Also during the seminar, the issues of venture investment in innovative startups were raised.  In the member countries of the International Telecommunication Union, hackathons, ideathons and other start-up contests are regularly held, the winners of which find potential investors.

The CEO of Digital Area and the head of the innovation department of the Bank of Georgia Andro Ratiani, as well as the CEO of the Association of Venture Investment of Uzbekistan Dilshod Zufarov spoke about how to invest correctly and by what criteria to determine the prospects of start-up ideas.

Additionally, the speakers discussed the issues of creating thematic alliances to increase competitiveness in specific areas by sharing experience, knowledge, creating joint research teams, providing access to research and tools, and improving cooperation between universities.

Entrepreneurs and IT specialists spoke in detail about the benefits of the development of artificial intelligence in the era of digitalization of industries, the development of standards and access points to the financial systems of countries, about the main tools for measuring the success of their startup to attract subsequent investors, and about what skills should be developed for more  effective communication with venture capitalists.

After the end of all presentations, the event attendees took part in a number of training sessions led by SoftwareLead Managing Partner Vitaly Yanko, Panda Doc Product Manager from Belarus Tatyana Aulachevskaya, Attendify founder Artem Yaremchuk, Google representative Sam Kakhr and VC Fund representative Igor Makhanyok.

During these training sessions, the listeners got to know the guests of the event better, expanded their networking, talked with potential business partners and learned a lot from the successful examples of such foreign startups as: Cerebra, Namba, Clockster and so forth.

It should be emphasized that the participants of the seminar within the framework of the event noted the importance of further cooperation in the development of startup ecosystems in the region, in particular, cooperation in the creation of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, Business Process Outsourcing, Venture Funding and Education within the framework of the Startup Central Eurasia platform.

The main goal of the Alliance is to improve the competitiveness of the participating countries in these areas through the creation and development of joint projects.  Within the framework of the Alliance, structures will be created for the exchange of information and knowledge, including the exchange of experience between project teams working in the aforementioned areas.

It is important to note that within the framework of the Alliance, work will be carried out to harmonize the legislative framework, which will improve the interaction of countries in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Financial Technologies, Business Process Outsourcing and Venture Funding.

The result of the Alliance should be to simplify the entry of startups of these directions into the markets of the region and their connection to banking networks and computing power, as well as the use of open data from the participating countries.

As a result, organizations and companies signed a special document “On the creation of an alliance within the framework of regional cooperation of startup ecosystems – Startup Central Eurasia Platform”, which allows them to enter the Alliance and become a member.  IT Park also joined the ranks of the Alliance, which will allow us to develop the aforementioned areas and exchange international experience.

Holding such seminars significantly increases the interest of entrepreneurs, leading experts in the field of information technology and startup managers to take part in the formation and development of the startup ecosystem in Uzbekistan, based on the experience of foreign organizations and companies.