The Representative Office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Uzbekistan is implementing three major projects to create decent jobs for young people in startups and digitalization.

A workshop was held at Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, dedicated to supporting start-ups and creating jobs in digital technologies.

The event was attended by KOICA employees in Uzbekistan, the leadership of relevant government agencies, in particular, the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, IT Park, and TUIT. Responsible persons of international partner organizations in project management took part in the workshop via the ZOOM platform.

Information was presented about STEP – an integrated program that supports startups and jobs in digital technologies in Uzbekistan. The main goal is to strengthen the connectivity of each project through cooperation under the auspices of STEP through a public-private partnership program, a volunteer program and other programs.

The first of these projects, estimated at $15 million, aims to promote the development of ecosystems that support startups and entrepreneurship.

As part of this project, scheduled for 2020-2024, it is planned to attract Korean experts. In cooperation with them, it is planned to carry out the activity within four years to create an exemplary business incubator in Tashkent. Starting entrepreneurs with its help can get practical assistance from qualified professionals to implement their ideas.

The second project “Creating the foundations for stable development of the IT Park and strengthening the potential of IT Park in Uzbekistan” is being implemented in 2021-2025. Attention is paid to creating the foundations for the growth of the IT industry in Uzbekistan and increasing the competitiveness of companies in information technology, creating an operational management strategy and through it – strengthening institutional capacities.

Based on the third project (2022-2027), TUIT will continue to work on establishing a business information technology system. The goal of this step is to train qualified personnel in digital economy and ICT, to create a model of industrial and academic cooperation.

The workshop participants discussed the process of implementing the three above projects, studying the experience of Korea and other countries in relevant areas. An agreement was reached to regularly hold such events.

Director of KOICA Uzbekistan Ms. Park Sunjin noted that the program that united these three projects – “Promotion of startup ecosystem and technologies in Uzbekistan” – will contribute to the implementation of the “Digital Uzbekistan – 2030” strategy, in particular, the creation of decent jobs for the young generation, and the formation of a startup ecosystem.

At the workshop, the parties considered the prospects for cooperation in creating a startup ecosystem and attracting investments to Uzbekistan. Views were exchanged on the activities being carried out in the country in information technology.

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Bekhruz Khudoyberdiyev, photos by Oybek Pardayev, UzA