The international technopark Astana Hub has launched two regional branches, Jaiq Hub and Kyzylorda Hub, which will support and develop innovative projects in the cities of Oral and Kyzylorda, QazMonitor reports citing Astana Hub.
The branches will operate to establish local IT communities, as well as train and coach IT experts. Additionally, the regional hubs will offer entrepreneurship training, assistance in attracting investment, financial accounting, and PR support during the projects’ incubation stages.
Alina Abdrakhmanova, managing director of the Astana Hub, announced that the technopark has set a goal to open regional hubs throughout the country this year.
Kyzylorda Hub
Zhanarys Tubekbayev, the representative of the Kyzylorda Hub, said they intend to organize various networking events and competitions in the region, such as Smart City Hackathon, Pecha Kucha Night (blitz pitching event), and Innofest Kyzylorda.
"Our regional hub was opened on the basis of the business incubator of Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda University and the region’s Information Technologies Center. Our goal is to support local youth who want to start their own business and develop their startups, but do not have such an opportunity," said Tubekbayev.
Jaiq Hub
According to Omarbek Tashim, the representative of the Jaiq Hub, they have already started work and held two meetings on April 9 and 14.
"The meeting featured talks by great IT speakers and founders of their own startups. Nurbolat Amangaliyev, for example, the founder of the Anthill startup, spoke about the city management organization and IT development. Pretty soon we will hold a workshop on Google Developer Groups programs," said Tashim.
Regional support
The hubs will host various events and programs, including Idea Battle and Startup Talapker competitions for startups. They will also provide incubation programs at the concept and product creation stages, and stream all of the Astana Hub’s educational and business programs.
In addition to the events and programs hosted by the hubs, the regions will have access to various online training courses, including Startup School and No Code courses, and the Startup Academy technological entrepreneurship program, as well as a variety of offline and online meetings available.
The regional branches will also cooperate with Digital Nomads, an association of 4,000 Kazakh IT specialists who have work experience in the world's leading companies.
