Our People > Sadokat Jalolova

Sadokat Jalolova

Journalist

Jalolova has worked as a reporter for some time in local newspapers and websites in Uzbekistan, and has enriched her knowledge in the field of journalism through courses at the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Amsterdam on the Coursera platform.

Articles

Venture Investment

Agrobank Venture Fund Launches With $6.1 Million to Support Startups in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan’s Agrobank has launched a $6.1 million venture fund that plans to invest in up to 75 startups, with agricultural technology and artificial intelligence among its main targets. AgroVentures was presented on September 23 during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026, held from September 22–25 at CAEx in Tashkent. The fund plans to invest between $25,000 and $500,000 in 60–75 companies. Its main focus will be agricultural technology and artificial intelligence, although it will also consider startups in areas including fintech, healthcare, education, and logistics. AgroVentures is aiming to more than double the value of its investments and eventually exit between eight and 12 companies, with those exits projected to be worth a combined $15–18 million. Zohidjon Yusupov, a venture capital specialist at Agrobank, told The Times of Central Asia that the fund would look at the strength of a startup’s team, the problem it was trying to solve, the size of its potential market, and whether its business model could be expanded. Agriculture will be a particular focus, with AgroVentures looking at technologies that could help farmers monitor crops to predict yields and use water more efficiently, as well as gain better access to markets and financing. “For example, AI-based monitoring can help farmers identify crop stress or diseases earlier, while smart irrigation technologies can help reduce water consumption,” Yusupov said. The fund’s first initiative is the Agrobank Corporate Accelerator, developed with Tashkent-based AI Station under a partnership signed on September 15. The 12-week program will select up to 20 startups to test their products with Agrobank and its business clients, with successful participants potentially securing investment or commercial partnerships. Applications are open until October 23 through the accelerator’s website.

4 weeks ago

Technology Investment

Enterprise Uzbekistan Offers Tech Firms English-Law Framework and Tax Incentives Through 2100

Uzbekistan is offering international technology companies a separate legal regime based on principles of English law, tax incentives, three-year visas for foreign specialists, and a regulatory sandbox for testing new products. The measures will form the basis of Enterprise Uzbekistan, a new international center for digital technologies. Organizers presented the project a ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026, held in Tashkent from September 22 to 25, during which they hosted a dedicated Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit. [caption id="attachment_56891" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Davron Yakubov, managing partner at BDO Uzbekistan[/caption] The government hopes the new regime will reduce some of the risks foreign companies face when entering Uzbekistan, including changes in tax rules, commercial disputes, and restrictions on hiring overseas staff. The special regime is planned to remain in place through 2100, while conditions granted to participants are not supposed to become less favorable over time. Farkhod Ibragimov, Chief Executive of Enterprise Uzbekistan, said foreign companies entering a new market typically want to know how long incentives will last, how disputes will be resolved, and what tax, customs, and visa rules they will face. Sultonmurod Rasulov, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Enterprise Uzbekistan, argued that uncertainty itself imposes costs on businesses. “Uncertainty is a kind of hidden tax on every direction a business moves in and every decision it makes,” Rasulov said. For technology companies, he added, rapid economic growth alone is not enough. “Global clients do not buy Uzbekistan’s GDP. They buy certainty, they buy products, they buy predictability.” English Law, Commercial Court, and Regulatory Sandbox Enterprise Uzbekistan is being established as a separate legal environment for international technology companies. English will be the official language for documentation, while its legal framework will draw on the common law of England and Wales. Commercial disputes are expected to fall under the jurisdiction of the Tashkent International Commercial Court. “Even if the Enterprise Uzbekistan administration makes a wrong decision regarding a company, it will be able to challenge that decision in an independent court,” Ibragimov said. The center will also include a regulatory sandbox allowing companies to test products in areas where existing rules have not kept pace with new technologies. The regime is expected to cover cloud data storage and processing, international recruitment, and investment instruments familiar to foreign investors. Companies will be allowed 100% foreign ownership, while more flexible employment arrangements are planned for overseas specialists. Taxes and Visas Enterprise Uzbekistan plans to apply three main taxes: value-added tax (VAT), corporate income tax, and personal income tax. Priority activities may qualify for exemptions from corporate income tax and a zero VAT rate on sales abroad and within the center, subject to the final rules. Rasulov said highly qualified foreign specialists may also qualify for zero personal income tax on salaries and dividends. Foreign specialists are expected to be eligible for visas valid for up to three years, renewable without leaving Uzbekistan. Those meeting Enterprise Uzbekistan requirements will not need a separate work permit. Technology Exports and Talent Rasulov said Uzbekistan’s information and communications technology (ICT)...

4 weeks ago

Foreign Investment

Karakalpakstan Investment Push Brings $7.6 Billion in New Projects

Uzbekistan has announced 58 projects worth about $7.6 billion in Karakalpakstan, ranging from wind power and data centers to transport and healthcare. At a September 18 ceremony, 11 projects worth $592 million were commissioned or launched, while construction began on 47 more with a combined value of $7 billion. The projects are expected to create around 8,000 jobs, according to the presidential press service. Wind Power Leads Investment Push Among the largest projects is the 1.5-gigawatt Kungrad Wind Farm, being developed with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power. The Uzbek government values the project at $2.6 billion, although ACWA’s own project page puts its cost at just over $3 billion. The development includes extensive new transmission infrastructure and substation upgrades to connect the plant to Uzbekistan’s power grid. The wind farm will also include a 300-megawatt battery energy storage system. Once completed, it is expected to become one of the largest wind power projects in Central Asia. ACWA is already operating renewable energy facilities in Karakalpakstan. The Nukus-1 and Nukus-2 projects have a combined wind power capacity of 300 MW, along with 100 MW of battery storage. According to ACWA Central Asia President Abid Malik, the company’s planned, operational, and under-construction projects in Karakalpakstan represent about 2.3 GW of generation capacity and around $4 billion in investment. The projects are expected to generate about 8.77 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to cover the energy needs of approximately 2.4 million households, while saving around 2.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas. “Karakalpakstan is becoming one of the most vital investment destinations for ACWA in Uzbekistan,” Malik told The Times of Central Asia. He said construction of the Kungrad project could create around 4,000 jobs at its peak, while local content could reach approximately $750 million. ACWA is also supporting workforce development, with 78 students from Karakalpakstan currently studying at Shirin College to prepare for work in the country’s energy sector, Malik said. The ceremony also marked the launch of two wind power plants with a combined capacity of 300 MW and a 100 MW energy storage system in Karauzyak district. Health, Digital and Transport Projects Other projects launched during the visit included the $27 million Sheikh Khalifa Hospital in Nukus, built in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates. The 100-bed facility has created 80 jobs. A Karakalpak Scientific and Practical Medical Academy is also being established for medical training and research. The first phase of a modular computing center operated by the Chinese company Shanghai LinkWise Data Intelligence was launched in Takhiatash district. The presidential office valued the phase at $150 million. Chinese partners are also involved in projects worth a combined $2.281 billion to “produce digital currency” and establish artificial intelligence data centers in Kungrad and Takhiatash. The presidential statement did not identify the partners or explain what producing digital currency would entail. Transport infrastructure is another focus. A $20 million project by SAPSAN TRANS NO‘KIS has already delivered 25 buses and electric buses to Nukus, with another 75 electric buses...

4 weeks ago

ICTWEEK Uzbekistan

ICTWEEK Opens in Tashkent With Focus on AI and Foreign Investment

Thousands of technology executives, investors, startup founders, and government representatives have gathered in Tashkent for ICTWEEK Uzbekistan 2026, as Uzbekistan seeks to expand its technology sector and attract more foreign companies. The four-day event opened on September 22 at the Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan (CAEx) exhibition center and runs through September 25 under the theme “Land of Startups.” Organizers expect around 25,000 visitors. More than 2,000 participants from abroad, representing 70 countries, have already arrived in Uzbekistan to attend the event, according to Rustamjon Ozodjonov, head of global marketing at IT Park, Uzbekistan’s national technology hub, which supports startups and operates a residency program for IT companies. [video width="3840" height="2160" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/document_5303121082444720559.mp4"][/video] “As part of ICTWEEK, we expect B2B meetings, international forums, agreements, and strategic panel sessions,” Ozodjonov told The Times of Central Asia. Ozodjonov said young companies are presenting their projects to potential investors and partners at a dedicated Startup Alley. Artificial intelligence was one of the themes of the opening ceremony. The Bravo Orchestra first performed under the direction of an AI conductor named Timur, before conductor Alibek Kabdurakhmanov took over. Uzbekistan’s Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov used the experiment to question the role humans will play in the economy as AI develops. “Everyone is thinking about what will happen with AI. What will we humans do? I hope this conversation will be real and that people will still remain in demand,” Shermatov told the audience. He linked the issue to Uzbekistan’s young and growing population. The minister said he could not imagine a future in which “everything will be AI” and people are no longer needed. “The most important asset we have is human capital,” he added. Shermatov pointed to the expansion of higher education and digital skills programs, including One Million Coders and training in Python and artificial intelligence. He said Uzbekistan is also sending more young people to study at leading universities abroad. Another goal of ICTWEEK is to connect young professionals and startups directly with international companies and investors. Shermatov encouraged participants to learn foreign languages, particularly English, and use the event to find international partners. Uzbekistan is also seeking to attract more foreign technology companies. “More than a thousand foreign-owned companies are already residents of IT Park,” the minister said. IT Park is also expanding its network of overseas offices and representatives, including in the United States, Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and China. ICTWEEK also featured Enterprise Uzbekistan, a special legal jurisdiction for international technology companies. “Enterprise Uzbekistan is a territory based on the common law of England and Wales and provides a special jurisdiction for global technology companies,” Sultonmurod Rasulov, head of strategic partnerships at Enterprise Uzbekistan, told The Times of Central Asia. “Our goal is to create one of the best jurisdictions in the world, modeled on international financial centers but designed specifically for global technology.” According to Rasulov, Enterprise Uzbekistan aims to create a predictable legal environment for international technology companies and allow them to conduct business from Uzbekistan...

4 weeks ago

Digital Infrastructure

Uzbekistan Opens AI Data Centers and Signs Amazon Satellite Internet Deal

Uzbekistan’s state telecoms operator Uztelecom is expanding the country’s digital infrastructure with two new data centers, a satellite internet deal with Amazon, and a high-speed network designed to move large amounts of data between computing facilities. The projects were presented on September 22, the first day of ICTWEEK Uzbekistan 2026, the country’s largest technology week, which runs in Tashkent through September 25. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/document_5303308046666082166.mp4"][/video] The new data centers have opened in Bukhara and Kokand. They operate as part of the UzCloud platform and provide computing capacity to both government agencies and businesses. The facilities have servers with graphics processing units (GPUs) for training and running artificial intelligence models, machine learning, processing large datasets, and video analytics. Bukhara and Kokand are both more than 300 kilometers from Tashkent. Distributing computing capacity across different regions makes it possible to shift workloads to another site in the event of a failure. The designs of both data centers have received Tier III certification from the Uptime Institute. This confirms that the designs allow maintenance without interrupting operations. “We are expanding access to computing resources and artificial intelligence capabilities for the government and businesses,” Umar Izbasarov, Director of Uztelecom’s Department for Advanced Development and Investment Projects, said at ICTWEEK. Uztelecom has also signed an agreement with Amazon Leo, Amazon’s satellite internet network. UZ-SAT, a subsidiary of the Uzbek operator, will act as an authorized distributor of its services in Uzbekistan. Amazon Leo is a low-Earth-orbit satellite network being built out to include more than 3,000 satellites and designed to provide connectivity in areas where terrestrial networks are difficult or expensive to build. According to Uztelecom, its infrastructure currently covers 96% of Uzbekistan’s settlements, while its fiber-optic network extends for more than 378,000 kilometers. The satellite network is expected to complement it in remote areas and at industrial sites. “The partnership with Amazon Leo will allow us to expand connectivity in areas of the country where the use of traditional terrestrial infrastructure is limited,” UZ-SAT CEO Bakhrom Azimov said. Amazon’s satellite network would add another connectivity option for remote areas alongside fiber-optic and mobile networks. The announcement does not specify when services will become widely available to customers in Uzbekistan. The third project concerns how data is transferred between data centers. Uztelecom, together with Japan’s Toyota Tsusho, NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, and NEC, is launching a pilot All-Photonics Network, or APN. The technology keeps data traveling as light for more of its journey, rather than repeatedly converting it into electrical signals. This can make connections faster and more energy-efficient. In the first phase, APN is expected to connect two Uztelecom data centers in the Tashkent region. The planned link is designed to provide bandwidth of up to 800 Gbps and latency of less than one millisecond. In 2027-2028, the network is expected to expand to the data centers in Bukhara and Kokand. “The growing needs of Uzbekistan’s economy require new data centers and network technologies capable of connecting them into a single high-performance system,” Izbasarov...

4 weeks ago

Aviation Fuel Project

Uzbekistan’s $6.1 Billion Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project Enters Design Phase

A $6.1 billion sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) complex planned for Uzbekistan’s western Khorezm region has entered the engineering design stage. Developer Allied Biofuels expects to decide whether to proceed with construction in the first quarter of 2027. Established in Uzbekistan in 2025, the company convened a September 18 meeting in Ningbo, China, with its main engineering and technology partners, Sinopec Engineering Group, Denmark’s Topsoe, South Africa’s Sasol, and U.S.-based Plug Power. The meeting covered the integration of their technologies, plant design, cost estimates, and the construction timetable. Allied Biofuels expects to complete this stage before making a final investment decision (FID). An FID is the point at which a developer commits capital and proceeds with construction. Until then, the $6.1 billion remains the project’s estimated cost rather than funding already secured. Sinopec is responsible for front-end engineering design, systems integration, detailed engineering, and cost development. Allied Biofuels and Sinopec signed the engineering contract at the Tashkent International Investment Forum in June. The agreement is structured to become an engineering, procurement, and construction contract if the complex goes ahead. Topsoe and Sasol are providing technologies for electro-synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF), which is made using renewable hydrogen and captured carbon. Plug Power is expected to supply up to 2.4 GW of electrolyzer systems for hydrogen production. The complex would require an unusually large amount of renewable power, with plans calling for 4.45 GW of renewable generation and 1,600 MWh of battery storage. The developers intend to combine electricity and hydrogen production, biomass processing, and fuel production at a single site. At full capacity, Allied Biofuels expects the complex to produce around 160,000 tons of SAF, 257,000 tons of e-SAF, and 5,000 tons of renewable diesel annually. The development comes as Europe mandates greater use of SAF. Since 2025, aviation fuel suppliers in the European Union have been required to ensure that SAF accounts for at least 2% of the fuel supplied at covered EU airports. That year, EU airports received 1.1 million tons of SAF, almost six times the amount supplied a year earlier. In 2030, the overall share is set to rise to 6%, including a minimum 1.2% for synthetic aviation fuels. E-SAF remains difficult to produce at commercial scale. Around 50 synthetic aviation fuel projects in Europe are still awaiting final investment decisions, according to the European Commission. Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg are preparing a pilot auction scheme backed by more than €2.1 billion to help bring them to market. Allied Biofuels is already developing routes to deliver fuel from the planned complex in Uzbekistan to foreign markets, an important consideration for the landlocked country.

4 weeks ago

Aral Sea

From Solastalgia to Solutions: What the First Aral School Cohort Discovered in Karakalpakstan

“They are producing food in a place where people believe there is nothing,” said Martina Manterola. In Karakalpakstan, the autonomous republic in western Uzbekistan where the retreat of the Aral Sea has left large areas increasingly arid, farmers continue to grow crops, while fishing survives in pockets of water near Moynaq. The Mexican researcher and artist, whose work focuses on food systems, ecology, and feminism, spent six months in the region as one of 22 participants in the first Aral School, an interdisciplinary residency based in Nukus, the regional capital, that brought together postgraduate researchers and specialists working across architecture, anthropology, water management, and food systems. Their task was to examine how environmental change is reshaping daily life and what outside researchers can learn from people who have remained in the region. What they found challenged familiar images of a landscape defined solely by environmental collapse: alongside farming and fishing, traditional buildings offer practical lessons in coping with heat, dust, and water scarcity. The Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, the state-backed body behind the school, has opened applications for a second cohort. The next residency will run from January to June 2027 under the theme “Climate and Landscape.” The Times of Central Asia spoke with four members of the first cohort about what they learned. [caption id="attachment_56544" align="aligncenter" width="657"] Image: Aral School[/caption] Adapting to Heat, Dust, and Water Scarcity For Akhmed Kaipbergenov, an architect from Nukus, the program changed how he looked at the city where he grew up. “I always knew the environment around me. I knew how hot the summers are, how strong the wind can be, how much dust there is. But when you are a child, you don’t really think about these things as part of architecture.” After studying architecture and urban regeneration in Rome, Kaipbergenov began paying closer attention to the ways traditional buildings in Nukus respond to local conditions. Courtyards create shade and protected spaces away from the street. Building materials and orientation can reduce exposure to the sun, while ventilation matters in a city where summers are extremely hot and rainfall is scarce. “I don’t see them only as old or traditional elements,” Kaipbergenov said. “I see them as solutions that were developed because people had to live with this climate.” For him, that means contemporary architecture in Karakalpakstan should begin with simple measures rather than importing designs developed for very different environments. “Orientation, shading, ventilation, courtyards, materials and the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces can make a big difference before we even start talking about complicated technologies,” he said. Landscaping also needs to reflect the scarcity of water. Instead of trying to reproduce water-intensive green spaces, Kaipbergenov argues that planners could make greater use of shaded pedestrian areas, courtyards, and places to sit. “I would start with shade,” he said. “It sounds very simple, but in Nukus, shade can completely change how you experience a public space.” Traditional courtyards, he believes, could also be reinterpreted in schools, libraries, and cultural...

1 month ago

Aral School

“It’s Not the Whole Story”: Aral School Participants Rethink Karakalpakstan

A proverb about seasonal food caught the attention of Australian researcher, multimedia artist, and producer Jess Nikitina-Li while she was at the Aral School in Nukus. “I’m interested in language, art and storytelling, and I didn’t really know what I would be working on during the program, but I became obsessed with this proverbial wisdom that kept coming up when we started asking questions about food systems in Karakalpakstan,” she told The Times of Central Asia. One proverb in particular became important to her work: “Three months of pumpkin, three months fish, three months melon, three months milk. All four seasons of the year the people are well fed and a lot of sweet fruit we have in our lands.” “This really grounded my thinking because it reflects my belief that people are not inherently depleted,” she said. “People become depleted through extraction. Seasonal abundance has always been in this land, and people know how to work with the seasons; people are adaptive.” The school is an initiative of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF). Its first cohort studied food and water at a household level. Applications for the second cohort, which will explore the theme of “Climate and Landscape” from January to June 2027, are open until October 25. [caption id="attachment_56507" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Image: ACDF[/caption] TCA spoke with participants about their work in Karakalpakstan. Nikitina-Li became particularly interested in the role of women within households, including kelin, a term referring to a young bride or daughter-in-law. “One of the key projects I worked on was a project called Tabak,” she said. “Tabak is a specifically resonant symbol in Karakalpakstan. It is the iron plate that everyone traditionally eats from.” Her work with women eventually led to the creation of a cooking collective called “The Wild Kelin,” through which participants explored traditional recipes, nutrition, seasonality, and the knowledge passed between generations. “I wanted to see what was important to them, what was relevant to their households, because that to me is the test of what is relevant to this region,” she said. “We did a lot of community programming, textbook research, field research, field recordings and filmmaking, but the most important thing for me was done in close collaboration with our local colleagues,” she told TCA. “This was really a priority for me. It was why I came here, to have this strong intercultural exchange and to make solidarities with the land and with the people who understand the land the best.” “We didn’t do this through this lens of people as victims, but through a lens of empowerment and understanding people as having agency - that they have an inherent capability of keeping themselves, and each other, alive,” Nikitina-Li said. “Something unique to this program was understanding how to create a community - a community of thinkers and makers who are grounded in the same principles, values and ethos, but who work so differently.” “My biggest takeaway from the first cohort is wow - this was very...

1 month ago

Aral School

Learning to Live With the Aral Sea’s Changed Landscape

In February, participants from a new school in Nukus joined local foresters on the dried bed of the Aral Sea to plant saxaul. The shrubs can take root in salty ground and help hold down dust blowing across Karakalpakstan. Foresters from the Karauzyak State Forestry Department guided the work, drawing on years of experience in the region. The planting exercise, organized with the United Nations Development Programme, offered an early indication of how the Aral School intends to teach. Its participants work alongside people already responding to the sea’s retreat, learning from the landscape and those who live with its consequences. Now, the school is preparing for a second intake with a six-month residency in Nukus from January to June 2027. Architect and curator Joseph Grima will lead the program, which will focus on climate and landscape. Applications are open until October 25. Based in the capital of Uzbekistan’s autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, the school brings international practitioners together with participants from the region. The Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF), which established it, announced the new intake and Grima’s appointment during an assembly at the Savitsky Museum in Nukus. The museum owes its remarkable collection to Igor Savitsky, who rescued thousands of works rejected by the Soviet authorities, finding them a refuge in remote Nukus. Gayane Umerova, chair of ACDF, and Grima spoke to The Times of Central Asia about the school’s long-term goals and how local people will help shape its work. “The Aral School was never conceived as a single cohort or a single event. It’s a long-term commitment by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) in line with the Government’s plan for Karakalpakstan,” she told The Times of Central Asia. “The programme is designed from the ground up to avoid simply taking knowledge without giving anything back. The cohorts live in Nukus for half a year, not for a two-week field trip, precisely so that the landscape and the people in it are teachers, not subjects.” “Participants would also work directly with local professional bodies and institutions,” Umerova said. “Local experts sit inside the programme’s design, not as guest lecturers brought in to validate conclusions already reached,” she said. [caption id="attachment_56453" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Group discussion with local community members - Aral School Assembly at the Aral School. Photo courtesy of ACDF.[/caption] Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea shrank as Soviet irrigation projects diverted water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya to grow cotton and other crops. The retreat devastated fishing communities and exposed a seabed contaminated by agricultural chemicals. Wind carried salt and dust across the surrounding land. In Moynaq, once a fishing port, fishermen dug channels through the sand to reach the retreating water. Eventually, they abandoned their grounded boats, leaving rusting hulls on what had been the seabed. [caption id="attachment_56373" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Abandoned boats on the former Aral Sea bed at Moynaq. Photo: Stephen M. Bland[/caption] The consequences differ across the former sea. In Kazakhstan, the Kokaral Dam...

1 month ago

digital economy

ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 Brings Startups and Investors to Tashkent

Tashkent will host ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 from September 22 to 25, bringing together startup founders, investors, technology companies, and industry experts from Uzbekistan and abroad. The four-day event will be held at CAEx, the Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan exhibition center. Its startup and investment programme will focus on technology entrepreneurship, venture capital, and the international expansion of Uzbek companies. The Times of Central Asia is a media partner of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 and will cover key developments and discussions taking place during the event. The startup and investment programme will begin on September 22 with the Startup & Venture Summit, which is expected to bring together representatives of the global startup ecosystem. Discussions will focus on developing the regional venture market, access to capital, international expansion, and the roles of public and private investors in building startup ecosystems. On September 23, the Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit will focus on Uzbekistan’s development as a technology jurisdiction for international businesses. The programme will address legal certainty, institutional infrastructure, and conditions for attracting foreign technology companies and investment. The summit will include presentations by Enterprise Uzbekistan, keynotes from EY and BDO, a fireside chat involving IT Park Uzbekistan and Enterprise Uzbekistan, and a panel discussion titled “Rethinking Jurisdictions for the Global Technology Economy.” The same day will also feature the Global Startup Ecosystem Awards by StartupBlink, held in cooperation with IT Park Uzbekistan. The ceremony will recognize cities, countries, and regions that have performed strongly in StartupBlink's global rankings. It will be followed by a discussion on best practices in startup ecosystem development, with participants expected to examine factors behind successful ecosystems and how developing technology markets can use existing experience. One of the main events of the week will be the regional final of the Startup World Cup on September 24. Selected startups will present live pitches to an international jury and venture capital representatives. The winner will have an opportunity to advance to the global Startup World Cup in San Francisco, where finalists from around the world will compete for a $1 million investment prize. Artificial intelligence will also have a major role in this year’s programme. The AI Native: Ideas to Innovation event on September 24 will explore the development of AI ideas into technology and business products, covering areas such as large language models, cloud technologies, multilingual AI, robotics, AI agents and business automation. The programme will also look at opportunities for young specialists through AI education, hackathons and career paths. The technical side of technology growth will receive attention on September 25 during AWS Community Day Uzbekistan, which will focus on cloud technologies and solutions for scaling digital products. The final day will also feature the Ignyte AI Challenge, where startup teams will present AI-based solutions to international experts, as well as TAQDIMOT, a Startup Show & Pitch Battle featuring short presentations from technology projects. The startup-focused programme is part of a broader ICT Week agenda. Other events include several AI-focused forums and sessions, the Fintech Forum,...

1 month ago

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 104 Next