ASTANA – The International Expert Council on Digitisation discussed at its Jan. 31 meeting international practices in digital development, the role of e-government as well as how to nurture young talent and develop a startup culture.
Photo credit: primeminister.kz.
The gathering also discussed economic sustainability in developing technology and the impact of innovation ecosystems on education and employment.
The goal of the discussions was to address challenges to digitisation development and examine the outcomes of the Digital Kazakhstan state programme.
Kazakhstan hopes to digitise parts of the economy, government and human capital development and implement a Digital Silk Road and innovative ecosystem within five years.
Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev told the council that digitisation should, above all, improve citizens’ lives.
Council attendees from national universities included Kazakh-British Technical University President Kenzhebek Ibrashev, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University President Galimkair Mutanov, International Information Technology University President Damir Shynybekov, Satpayev University Vice President for Corporate Development Bakhytzhan Barmagambetov, Nazarbayev University (NU) Vice President for Innovation Yerden Kussain and NU Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Michael Lewis.
International experts included United Nations E-government Branch Chief Vincenzo Aquaro, Big Innovation Centre Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Birgitte Andersen, 01 Booster Inc. Co-founder George Goda, Astana Hub CEO Joseph Ziegler, former Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation CEO Yasmin Mahmood, International Data Corporation Vice President and Regional Managing Director in the Commonwealth of Independent States Robert Farish, Singularity University Faculty Chair of Finance and Economics Amin Toufani and World Economic Forum Head of the Internet of Things, Robotics and Smart Cities Jeff Merritt.
Many of the attendees also participated in the Feb. 1 annual Digital Agenda in the Era of Globalisation 2.0 Forum on the Eurasian Innovation Ecosystem in Almaty. Attendees discussed the Eurasian Economic Union digital agenda, Industry 4.0, Sustainable Development Goals and the digitisation of small and medium-sized businesses.
