W Musavir:
ASTANA: Astana Hub, the Kazakh capital’s international IT and start-up hub, presented its key directions and major digital projects from July 3 this year. Magzhan Madiyev, Director, Corporate Fund of Astana Hub International said, “Located at the EXPO 2017 site, the hub launched a 100 start-ups community-building programme through which participants will co-work in a shared space, learn together, exchange experience and establish relations with investors and experts. Each team will be promoted, tracked monthly and have access to start-up auctions to attract investment. “Astana Hub is an important project for digital and innovative modernisation of the country. It is becoming a centre of advanced technologies and talented specialists. This project is set to make Kazakhstan the centre of digital innovative solutions.”
He added, “In total, 13 projects have been submitted to the program. Not all of them got to the end. Some projects are very good and have been admitted into other programs. For example, three of our graduates have been admitted into the Smart Zholy program and are heading to Singapore to work on business development in South-East Asia. We will keep in touch with them, keep an eye on their progress and in addition to the accelerator program we will do other projects to support developers.”
Astana Hub is a centre of advanced ideas. It is a place where young talents are supported, trained and received help in making business plans and further developing projects. Not only local inventors exchange experience, but also foreign ones. A number of developments by Kazak youngsters, including interactive glass, robotic strollers and pipe cleaning devices are presented at the IT technopark.
“Astana Hub has become a good centre of attraction for advanced technologies and talented specialists from all over the world. By launching the project, we will be able to realize one of the main ideas of the Head of State which is to make Kazakhstan the centre of digital innovative solutions. Today, it is possible as there are continuous investments in the development of human capital. The Technopark creates working conditions for investors, corporations and Government agencies. Today, 150 projects are being implemented in the international technopark of Astana Hub IT start-ups,” he added.
“The idea to create an innovation ecosystem is beginning to live. The presentation of the new Astana Hub was meant to demonstrate the focus of the Technopark, identify opportunities for co-operation with the IT community and demonstrate Kazakhstan’s main digital projects. The Astana Hub is becoming and will become a good centre of attraction for advanced technologies and talented specialists from all over the world. “Technologies are changing, and we need specialists who can work with these high technologies. The main goal of the Astana Hub is to bring together young IT specialists from all over the world and help them realise their ideas in Kazakhstan, according to Magzhan Madiyev.
“Training our own personnel in a short period is very difficult, so we are now saying that we need highly qualified specialists and our doors are open for them. At the Astana Hub, “all the conditions are being created so that young, ambitious guys can set up their headquarters in Kazakhstan”, he said.
“The Astana Hub has already graduated the first batch of participants in the start-up project programme. In the future, we will have other support programmes. Kazakhstan is seeking to develop its IT sector by attracting both Kazakh and foreign specialists.
“The future belongs to digital technologies,” he added. “Kazakhstan has ambitions to be the dominant player in the region and to join the vanguard of modern technologies, so that is why we have started talking now about bringing in foreign specialists.”