For 3 months, invited experts conducted master classes for participants on such topics as "State support measures for start-ups", "Legal aspects of business and taxation", "Protection of intellectual property", "Development of IT products", "Marketing" and other. Also, startup teams received tracking from certified trackers and more than 150 hours of individual consultations. All events were held in a mixed format: online and offline.

• With the help of experienced guides - experts and trainings, we enable novice startups to quickly and painlessly go through the thorny path to building a business, avoiding the most common mistakes. After incubation, a startup understands more clearly who its future product is intended for, how to improve it and where to direct its potential, - says Yerbol Akhmetov, senior manager of the business programs office of Astana Hub.

At the Demo Day, which took place on November 23 in Petropavlovsk, local entrepreneurs, company executives, employees of the akimat and universities listened to the speeches of 10 strongest participants, asked questions and gave professional feedback. Each of the speakers tried to reveal the essence of their project in a limited time and emphasize its uniqueness and relevance to the city.

For example, the developer of the mobile application for tourists and guests of Petropavlovsk "Travel Guide" Nurzhan Smailov emphasized that the difference between its development and the well-known analogue - the 2Gis application is that the latter is limited only to the city, while Travel Guide covers even uninhabited areas on map. The main places visited by tourists are marked here: historical sites with a full description, popular tourist areas, attractions, catering, hotels, etc.

The team of the “IT-farm” project - Sanzhan Nurmukhanbet and Aldiyar Ersain presented the Eyes system, with the help of which the guys organized a full-cycle farm for growing tilapia and monitor the performance of the production process even at a distance. The first prototype has already been successfully used in the laboratory of the local Palace of Schoolchildren - representatives of the aquatic fauna specially purchased in Egypt grow up here. Young entrepreneurs note that tilapia is one of the most useful fish to eat, as it contains a high concentration of protein.

Programmer Bolatkhan Zhusupov drew attention to the lack of high-quality applications for distance learning for schoolchildren during the pandemic. His solution was an interactive game on the history of Kazakhstan. A virtual assistant - an alien leads the child through the pages of history, and tests in the form of quizzes help to consolidate the material covered. In addition, there are also historical figures in the game - for example, Al-Farabi, who also communicates and even lectures to students.

NIS students of Petropavlovsk Vladislav Prosekov and Arlan Mukhamedzhanov, despite their young age, are already experienced participants in various IT project competitions. The guys created the My Receipt application after a number of cases when it was necessary to return the goods to the store, however, due to the loss or poor quality of receipts, this was not possible. Today, the application is already operating on the Android platform and allows you not only to scan and sort checks, but also track the statistics of your purchases. Arlan and Vladislav note that upon presentation of such an electronic check, there will be no problems with its authenticity, because the application is connected to a single database of ofd consumer checks.

• As the regional manager of Astana Hub, it was extremely interesting for me to look at the new trend in our region and personally work with the participants as a guest expert and advise them. All projects are very cool. I believe that many of the ideas presented were viable, I would like to see their work at the next stages of startup development, - Ivan Bukhonin, regional community manager of Astana Hub in Petropavlovsk, emphasizes.

The regional incubation program in Petropavlovsk was held this year for the first time. 28 startups passed the selection, 21 projects completed the program. Incubation is a program for the development of start-up projects that are at the idea stage. The purpose of the program is to help the project to bring the idea to the prototype of the future product and to provide theoretical and practical knowledge on the conduct of technological entrepreneurship.