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In his statement at the Astana Economic Forum, Mr. Murat Sartbayev, Director of the Project Management Unit of Fostering Productive Innovation Project said that science and business are uniting in Kazakhstan. He spoke at the panel session “Social development through flexible education and science” and told why inclusive innovation is a modern trend in development of scientific thought in Kazakhstan, reports Toppress.kz.

Inclusive innovation encompasses development, dissemination and implementation of innovations that can improve living conditions. The concept of inclusive innovation has emerged in developing countries, where the poverty faced by many people deprives them not only of the benefits of scientific and technological progress but also of access to the means to meet their basic needs. Inclusive innovations allow to expand access to high-quality products and services that create and increase opportunities for marginal segments of the population, - the speaker explained.  

It should be noted that one of the important participants of inclusive business is the state. It can act as a customer and consumer of innovative solutions, if R&Ds and innovation meet the social priorities of public policy.

A key aspect of the inclusive business or social entrepreneurship model is that such projects are profit - oriented and remain sustainable and self-sufficient in market conditions. However, we should not confuse this with charity, as an inclusive business model involves primarily commercial benefits. But at the same time, it is aimed at solving socially acute problems of society.

Despite the overall favourable socio-economic situation, there are still vulnerable segments of the population, which are present both in the city and in rural areas. So often, residents of some rural settlements are deprived of elementary material benefits such as clean drinking water, quality medical services and education. Another problem is integration of people with disabilities into normal functioning of society and ensuring their work, despite the work of supporting centers for these people, - Murat Sartbayev said.

Currently, Fostering Productive Innovation Project of Kazakhstan and the World Bank is implementing the Inclusive Innovation Consortia Grant Program which aims to unite science and business, create and implement innovation projects with direct social impact. Through implementation of this grant program, Kazakhstan will be able to increase the rating of inclusive development index, which will increase general GIC (Global Competitiveness Index) rating of Kazakhstan.

Before launch of the program, a lot of work was done with the study of international experience and involvement of leading international experts. Surveys and interviews were conducted among representatives of the main stakeholders of the grant program – relevant ministries and their subordinate organizations, NCE "Atameken", representatives of civil society, international organizations, business, education and science. In addition to analytical work, a lot of work has been done in remote rural areas of Kazakhstan, - the speaker said. 

Applications for the call were accepted only in electronic form through a specially created electronic portal to ensure absolute transparency of the process and minimize the human factor.

Priority areas of the grant program: education, health, information and communication technologies, environmental protection, renewable energy sources, agriculture, rational use of resources.

This grant program is a pilot and implemented for the first time in Kazakhstan. It is important to note that it is fully correlated with strategic objectives of the state. Currently, selection of winners of the Inclusive Innovation Consortia Grant Program has been completed. 95 applications were submitted, 9 of which were selected. Co-financing from business is 15%. The projects are aimed at solving social problems in the field of medicine and health care, agriculture, adaptation of people with special needs.

Source: toppress.kz.

The sub-project is working on setting up the production of 2 construction materials: gas-glass concrete and foam concrete, structural energy-saving materials that do not require additional reinforced insulation.

Gas-glass concrete and foam concrete is used in all areas of the construction industry, such as housing, industrial and agricultural construction, construction of schools, hospitals, administrative and public buildings.

Therefore, the product attracted interest of construction companies. On the basis of the exhibition, Eskolit LLP held meetings with companies Bi Group and Aldar EuroAsia LLP, where they discussed application of building materials - gas glass and foam concrete. The visitors also showed great interest in the new materials. Agreements have been reached and arrangements have been made for further cooperation.

Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan K.N. Shamshidinova visited the booth and got acquainted with products of "Escolit" LLP.

Visitors to the exhibition received extensive information about the advantages of the new building material:

  • Market value is 1.5–3 times lower than competitors;
  • Uses crushed man-made cullet instead of sand;
  • Improvement of the environment in industrialized regions,
  • reduction of morbidity;
  • Reduction of volumes of construction products imported from abroad with given physical,mechanical and technological properties.

During development of the project and its implementation, production of construction products in the amount of 5616 cubic meters per year will be organized, where up to 30 permanent jobs and technological lines under the order will be created.

April 22-26th 2019, a working trip was organized to Moscow to exchange experience with existing Venture funds (hereinafter - VF) operating in the Russian market and attract potential co-investors and the management company.

The main objective of these meetings and negotiations is to study the experience of creating and maintaining venture funds in the Russian and CIS markets, also to establish links for further partnership relations.

During the talks and meetings, the following issues were discussed regarding the VF establishment: VF structuring model, basic requirements for creation of VF including mandate and fund size, investment geography, remuneration of the General partner, amount of investments in projects, technology focus, investment strategy and optimal investment policy. The meeting also discussed problems and solutions in structuring the Fund in CIS jurisdictions and special jurisdictions where English law is applied.

The meetings were attended by representatives of both private VF and public funds of Russia such as: RVC, RFDI, PRYTEK, Cabra.vc, Far East High Technology Fund, VTB Capital, Skolkovo, Internet Initiatives Development Fund, EG Capital, I2BF, Almaz Capital, Linn Grove Ventures and Leta Capital.

On April 12, 2019, Almaty hosted the IT conference with the participation of the largest IT companies of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia.  Sub-project "Machine vision based on an adaptable self-organizing neural network" took part in a significant IT-event.

Team of "Kazakhstan Innovation Technologies Company" LLP of the subproject "Machine vision on the basis of an adaptable self-organizing neural network" participated in a large-scale IT conference in Kazakhstan with over 20 representatives of the largest IT companies of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia.   40 speakers from the largest IT companies of CIS made statements. Speakers covered such issues as machine learning, product analytics, product management, mobile development, testing, design, front-end, back-end.  Data Science and Data Analytics sections discussed the topics: Data harvest. How to sow, fertilize, collect and cook. Recipes of the best BigData dishes, multi-agent artificial intelligence systems, personalization of paid services with the help of DS and prediction of consumer behavior, Kaspi Data Factory – Big data for Big Fish, etc.

Within the framework of the event, prospects and technological aspects of products of Kazakhstan Innovation Technologies Company LLP were considered. Among the speakers, Ersat Dulat, machine learning enthusiast spoke about multiagent reinforcement learning, actively gaining popularity in the field of AI research, neural networks, reinforcement learning and game theory. Different algorithms of optimization and problem setting where agents can cooperate, compete and communicate were discussed. Also, the latest sensational models were the subject to review: Dota v5, The StarCraft Multi-Agent Challenge and AlphaStar.

The conference was attended by 600 people representing large companies, design organizations as Kolesa Group, Kaspi.kz, Nommi, Arbuz.kz, Aviata, Chocotravel, too Wooppay, DAR Ecosystem, EPAM Systems. Recognized gurus of their field - experts from Kolesa Group, Kaspi.kz - told participants about trends and developments.   Subproject of the grant program "Machine vision based on an adaptable self-organizing neural network" of the Fostering Productive Innovation Project showed itself and told about R&Ds.  Uvataev Duman (Chief Data Officer Kaspi.kz) actively discussed cases involving computer vision and development of LLP "Kazakhstan Innovation Technologies Company". Participants of the Data Science vs. Data Analytics have shown interest in development of the subproject.    Thanks to this approach, the conference became a platform for dialogue between business and system of LLP "Kazakhstan Innovation Technologies Company".

From 7 to 12 April 2019, the Project Management Unit for Fostering Productive Innovation Project held a series of explanatory seminars for scientists of Kazakhstan in Shymkent, Turkestan, Almaty in the framework of Component 4 "Strengthening Coordination of the National Innovation System. Enhancing the capacity of the Existing Institutional Structures."

The purpose of these seminars is to stimulate submission of applications for international grant programs.

Today, the world community dictates its conditions for development of science, including in Kazakhstan, it is necessary to introduce the practice of attracting extra-budgetary funds (external financing/financing from abroad) to stimulate the research activities of scientific organizations and persons involved in development of science. This will accelerate the process of integration of Kazakhstan's research into global innovation and scientific ecosystem.  This contributes to conclusion of development at the international level.

The seminar program includes the following: instructions for use of the instrument for seeking research grants, submission of application. Basics of work with the registry of research grant programs (hereinafter - Registry) is a list of international grants provided by various funds and institutions, and Kazakhstan's grants provided by non-governmental public organizations for entities involved in research and technical activities. 

A pilot version was launched on the basis of www.fpip.kz website.

In future, it is planned to expand this tool and transform it into a digital platform that will automatically collect data from open sources of information.

As part of organizing these seminars, PMU visited SKSU named after M. Auezov, IKTU named after Yassavi, KazNU named after Al-Farabi, KazNPU named after Abay, Satpayev University, Turan University, KBTU, KazNAU.

Seminars were attended by scientists, Master's and doctoral students, as well as the teaching staff of universities.

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