One of the main news of the forum is that the World Programming Championship in 2024 will be held in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The memorandum on holding this world championship was signed by Bagdat Musin, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, and William B. Poucher, Executive Director of the ICPC Foundation.

“It should be noted that the popularization and development of sports programs has a great influence on the development of the IT industry. You know very well that Kazakhstani schoolchildren and students regularly participate in international competitions, such as IOI and ICPC, and occupy ranking positions. As the Head of State noted, this Championship will be an excellent start for young talents and will help strengthen the country’s IT community. In addition, this creates conditions for the recognition of Kazakh programmers on the world stage,” emphasized Bagdat Musin .

The international technology park Astana Hub signed 8 memorandums aimed at developing the ecosystem of technology startups in Central Asia, the venture market of Kazakhstan by popularizing venture investments in the region, as well as “Astana Hub operates educational programs, within the framework of which more than 18 thousand people have successfully completed their training. More than 2,000 participants successfully completed incubation and acceleration programs. Here conditions are created for the free development of both Kazakh and foreign technology companies. Our educational programs are in high demand in the countries of Central Asia, including Tajikistan. We signed an agreement to provide access to the Astana Hub educational platform together with TechnoHub Dushanbe for 12 months. In addition, together with State Business Incubator Tajikistan and Public Found “Accelerate Prosperity”, we plan to strengthen and develop friendly relations in the development of the startup ecosystem,” said Magzhan Madiev, CEO of Astana Hub .

In addition, at the Digital Bridge 2023 site, Thomas Pramothedam, CEO of Presight from the UAE, and Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of Samruk-Kazyna, signed an agreement and agreed to create a joint venture to accelerate digital transformation in Kazakhstan. The project involves the introduction of digital solutions to improve the efficiency of the Fund’s subsidiaries and production enterprises, the creation of a hub for computing power for the development of AI and advanced training of specialists.  

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kazakhstan, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, as well as the Kazakhstan Agency for International Development (KazAID), signed a Declaration of Intent. The main goal of this trilateral collaboration is to promote Kazakhstan's successful government technology (govtech) solutions at the regional level.

Also, Kazpost JSC and AliExpress signed a cooperation agreement. Considering the big leap in the development of e-commerce in Kazakhstan and in the world, the parties intend to develop cross-border trade. This project is planned to be launched in the 1st quarter of 2024.

Let us remind you that on October 12-13, the capital of Kazakhstan hosted Digital Bridge 2023, the largest IT forum in Central Asia. The main topic of the forum is a discussion of the role of artificial intelligence in the modern world - Artificial and Human Intelligence: The Right Balance.

The two-day forum program included large-scale events, such as a plenary session with the participation of the Head of State and one-to-one meetings with him, 30+ panel sessions with international speakers, signing agreements, events from Google for Startups, filming of a reality show about startups “Meet” the Drapers", Digital Bridge Awards, Astana Hub Battle, Startup Alley, job fair and a number of exhibitions - corporations, robotics, VC, IT schools and regional IT hubs.

The organizers of Digital Bridge 2023 were the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Akimat of Astana and the international technology park Astana Hub. General sponsor -  Kaspi.kz . Sponsors and partners - Freedom bank, Visa, Yandex, Citix, Ozon, TTS, Halyk, Eurasian bank, BI Group, Allur, Bereke bank, Huawei, Mycar, Kazakhtelecom, Kcell, Tele2, Altel, Beeline, KazMunayGas, Qazaqgaz, Bitrix 24 , QIC, KDSS, 7Generation, Binance.