From September 11 to 13, 2024, the Eurasian Digital Summit 2024 was held in Almaty – the largest international business event that brought together IT directors and heads of digital companies in the Eurasian region. The event was attended by more than 300 IT leaders from Kazakhstan and other countries.

The event was organized by the professional event agency "Apple Events Group" with the strategic support of IDC, the IT CEO Club business club and the Community of Kazakhstani IT Managers, as well as technological partners of the event.

The business program of the Eurasian Digital Summit 2024 included three separate events: IT CEO Club Forum, CIO Summit 2024 and the Annual Congress of members of the Community of Kazakhstani IT Managers.

The IT CEO Club Forum was held on the first day of the summit, September 11th. At the event, representatives of Kazakhstan's leading IT companies discussed topical issues in the field of information technology in the country.

Baizhan Kanafin, Chairman of the Board of the IT CEO Club and CEO of Documentolog, announced plans of the IT CEO Club to cooperate with universities to conduct educational programs for students and high school students. Marat Abdildabekov, CEO of the IT Division, a branch of Kazakhtelecom JSC, presented the company's results in the development of data center infrastructure and shared plans to expand the data center network and develop cloud services.

"Over the period 2012-2023, our investments in data centers have paid off 3.4 times, which confirms the correctness of the chosen strategy," said Marat Abdildabekov.

The event also discussed issues of sustainable development, trends in E-commerce, human capital in the IT sector, the development of Kazakhstan's innovative potential and other issues. During the panel session “Export work of the company”, CEO of MOST Holding Mirat Akhmetsadykov spoke about the experience of product scaling and shared plans for international expansion, and founder and CEO of S1LKPAY Gani Uzbekov spoke about the problems and solutions of his innovative business.

On the second day of the summit, on September 12, the CIO Summit 2024 was held, which brought together more than 170 senior executives of major companies and government agencies, IDC analysts and top managers of global technology leaders.

Kanysh Tuleushin, First Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, delivered a welcoming speech at the opening of the CIO Summit.

“The public sector of Kazakhstan actively supports the development of digital technology and innovation. In recent years, as you know, Kazakhstan has made important steps in this area. For example, more than 93% of public services are already available online and this simplifies the interaction of citizens and businesses with the state,” Kanysh Tuleushin stressed.

The CIO Summit 2024 business program included four key thematic sessions on the digital economy, technology, data economics and cybersecurity. Special attention was paid to the use of artificial intelligence and industry insights.

Rustem Bigari, CEO of the Center for Digital Government Support in Kazakhstan, noted that 50% of companies use AI in at least one of the functions – from customer service to supply chain management. Abdulaziz Sattarov, a member of the Board of Directors of Universal Bank, spoke about the challenges in the banking sector of Uzbekistan.

Andrey Beklemishev, Vice President of IDC, presented the results of the latest research on the data economy of Kazakhstan:

“According to a study by IDC and First Credit Bureau LLP, the data market in Kazakhstan has grown at double-digit rates in recent years and amounted to 556 million euros in 2023. By 2030, according to the baseline scenario, the market volume will amount to 973 million euros. With favorable development, the market may even exceed the 1 billion euro mark by 2030,” Andrei Beklemishev, vice president of the international analytical company IDC, noted in his analytical report.

In addition, within the framework of the CIO Summit, an exhibition of solutions from world technology leaders was held, who acted as partners of the event: OpenText, BeCloud.AI, Lenovo together with Intel, Cloudflare, Noventiq - the leading partner of Microsoft, Dell Technologies together with SDC, SUSE, Commvault, Katyusha Print, Creatio, Servercore. 

The third and final day of the Eurasian Digital Summit (September 13) brought together more than 70 IT managers from among current and potential members of the Community of Kazakhstani IT managers.

Andrey Beklemishev, Member of the Board of the Community of Kazakhstani IT Managers, Vice President of the International CIO Academy, Vice President of IDC, member of the Board of the IT CEO Club, in his welcoming speech noted the importance of networking and the transfer of experience between generations of Kazakhstani CIOs.

During the thematic sessions of the congress, participants discussed the issues of training modern CIOs and its role in the organization, IT financial management, cybersecurity, organization of IT departments, positioning of IT departments and the use of AI.

In conclusion, the organizers stressed that the Eurasian Digital Summit was held in Kazakhstan for the first time and became an important platform for discussing topical business topics for the development of the economy of Kazakhstan and the entire Eurasian region.

The Eurasian Digital Summit 2024 became the key event of the year for professionals in the field of information technology and digital transformation, provided a platform for establishing business contacts, exchanging ideas and shaping the future of the digital economy of the region.

About the event:

The Eurasian Digital Summit 2024 is a large-scale international business event for CIOs and executives of digital companies from the Central Eurasian region to discuss the most important trends, growing opportunities and new strategies for digital business transformation in the coming years. The organizer is the professional event agency Apple Events Group with the strategic support of the international analytical company IDC, the business club IT CEO Club and the Community of Kazakhstani IT managers.  Photo: Telegram-Real Digital Channel