ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry outlined key achievements in technological sectors, following successful execution of tasks set for the country’s innovative advancement in 2023, the ministry’s press service reported on Jan. 24.
Photo credit: digital.report.
Last year, Kazakhstan approved focused funding for priority technological areas, including MedTech, AgriTech and GreenTech, Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0, GovTech, and Metallurgy.
A pilot launch of the Single Window of the National Innovation System was initiated through the astanahub.com information system. This platform streamlines access to support measures for innovative projects and acts as a government platform for placing technological business tasks, ensuring transparency throughout the innovation process.
Implementing government support measures for innovation, such as innovation grants, business incubation, and technology transfer, was reinforced. At the end of the year, 31 projects were supported under three grant programs, totaling around 1.2 billion tenge ($2.6 million).
Subsoil users collaborated with the Park of Innovative Technologies Autonomous Cluster Fund, concluding 58 contracts worth 8.2 billion tenge ($18.4 million). These funds financed 32 projects within the fund, totaling 4.7 billion tenge ($10.5 million), fostering innovative activities.
Three rounds of competitions were held under the manufacturing sector consortia and inclusive innovation consortia programs, financing 13 subprojects with a total of about three billion tenge ($6.7 million).
The Fostering Productive Innovation Project led to the creation of Tumar Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund. An acceleration program in Silicon Valley with Draper University resulted in successful startups, attracting investments from My Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
As such, Beyne.ai, Beep, and Smartestprep startups received investments from the My Ventures venture fund for $30,000 each, and the CoPath startup raised $20,000.
The startup CITIX attracted $1 million worth of investment from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
