How is the development of startups in Uzbekistan progressing today, and how can international experience help with this? This was discussed at the regular meeting of the Uzbekistan Japan Universities Alumni Club (UJUAC), held at Tashkent U-ENTER Innovation Center.

– At this meeting, we discussed the development of the startup ecosystem in Uzbekistan and also touched upon the functioning of this environment in Japan, – said Oleg Ryzhichenko, Director of U–ENTER. – The discussion was attended by members of our Club, Uzbekistan youth who once studied at Japanese universities, and today work in a variety of fields, including IT, innovation, and green economy. And their active participation in the discussion is encouraging, as the startups’ topic is gaining momentum, and they have some relevant experience.

The U-ENTER Center focuses on startups’ topics, supporting young aspiring entrepreneurs and students in evaluating their ideas, transferring them to the company’s rails, scaling growth, and more.

During this meeting, representatives of the Japanese side – leading specialists from Japan Digital University (JDU) and JETRO – shared their experiences, and Club members presented on the development of startup businesses in the country and on a comparative analysis of the digital industry in Uzbekistan and Japan.

Specific proposals were made to improve Uzbekistan’s legislative framework in the fields of venture companies and start-ups, and to strengthen interaction between universities and start-ups, as well as to create additional conditions based on incubators and to establish such incubators at Uzbekistan universities to strengthen direct cooperation at the educational level.

Along with many other issues in the startup ecosystem, Bahrom Rajabov, another member of the Club and the Program Officer for Communications and Information at the UNESCO Office in Uzbekistan, believes that financing and venture capital occupy a key place. He also stressed the importance of expertise and expert opinion. For example, if we take the members of the Uzbekistan Japan Universities Alumni Club, many of them, having received academic education in Japan, today have professional experience in various fields, including significant positions. And such a symbiosis can play a role in examining startups. Here, both the acquired professionalism and the possibilities of applying international experience, in particular Japanese, are essential.

The meeting of the Uzbekistan Japan Universities Alumni Club “Japanese experience in startup development and information technology: opportunities for Uzbekistan” was productive. The participants shared ideas that can be applied to the development of the digital economy and the startup ecosystem in Uzbekistan, especially since these areas are today prioritized by the government.

Nazokat Usmanova, UzA