Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Security Assistance Shawna J. Wilson and U.S. Consul General in Almaty Peter J. Kaufman joined Deputy Chairman of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Atomic Energy Asset Makhambetov, Vice-Minister of Science and Higher Education Gulzat Kobenova, INP Director General Sayabek Sakhiyev, and International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) Executive Director Karina Anguelieva to cut the ribbon.

“This simulator is an investment in people,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Wilson. “A nuclear power program needs skilled operators, engineers, regulators, and security professionals who know the technology inside and out. The United States is proud to support Kazakhstan in developing its future in the field of the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

“Along with research reactors, accelerator complexes, the Kazakhstan materials testing Tokamak, and radiochemical laboratories, this simulator will serve as another key component of the nation’s scientific and technological infrastructure, expanding opportunities for the practical training of specialists,” said Deputy Chairman of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Atomic Energy Asset Makhambetov.

The simulator is a full working replica of the control room of the Holtec SMR–300 reactor. Three FIRST implementing partners built it:

• The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), an international organization headquartered in Astana, served as prime grantee and project integrator.
• Holtec International, a U.S. SMR vendor, designed the simulator around its SMR–300 reactor.
• Curtiss–Wright, a U.S. engineering firm, developed and installed the simulator and is training INP personnel to operate it.

The United States and Kazakhstan plan for the simulator to anchor a regional center of excellence SMR training facility. The center would train nuclear energy professionals and future reactor operators from Kazakhstan and across Central Asia on advanced U.S. nuclear technologies and the highest standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation.

“Today’s ceremony marks a new chapter in our bilateral civil nuclear cooperation, and brings us one step closer to a future where U.S. SMRs can help Kazakhstan meet growing energy demands while upholding the highest standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation,” Consul General Peter Kaufman said.

Both countries welcome the safe and secure expansion of nuclear power, which delivers reliable energy, creates jobs in both countries, strengthens energy security, and drives technology innovation. The United States remains fully committed to helping states that seek civil nuclear energy, particularly small modular reactor (SMR) technology, access these benefits, which a strong nuclear nonproliferation regime makes possible.

About FIRST (Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology): The U.S. Department of State’s FIRST Program helps partner countries build responsible nuclear energy programs to meet their economic development and energy security goals under the highest standards of nuclear security, safety, and nonproliferation. Kazakhstan joined FIRST in 2022 as the program’s first partner in Central Asia. The partnership builds on more than three decades of U.S.–Kazakhstan nonproliferation cooperation.

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ASTANA — Fighter jets escorted the royal aircraft through Kazakh airspace. An honour guard and the presidential orchestra stood on the tarmac, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was there to greet his guests in person. When King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium touched down on 11 October, they began the first state visit to Kazakhstan by a Belgian monarch — a four-day programme that both capitals cast as a milestone ahead of the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2027.

The ceremony was matched by symbolism. At a joint briefing Tokayev set Belgium’s motto, “L’union fait la force”, beside a Kazakh proverb that where there is unity, there is life. King Philippe, who cited the poet Abay, closed in Kazakh with the traditional wish that his hosts’ shanyrak, the crown of the yurt, stand high.

Behind the pageantry lies real money. Tokayev said Belgian investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded €13,4 bn since 2005. Belgium ranks among the country’s ten largest foreign investors, with more than 100 Belgian and joint companies operating there, and bilateral trade rose by almost 10% in the first eight months of 2026, Kazakh media reported. Tokayev called the ranking “convincing evidence” of confidence in Kazakhstan’s economic future. The joint statement the two leaders signed runs to 19 points, from petrochemicals and transport to artificial intelligence and health, but it singles out critical minerals: it stresses the strategic importance of cooperation and welcomes a round table on the subject held during the state visit.

The substance was tested on 12 October at Nazarbayev University, where the Belgium-Kazakhstan Critical Minerals Seminar — organised by SIM² KU Leuven and Nazarbayev University, and backed by Kazakhstan’s ministries of Industry and Construction and of Science and Higher Education — drew industry leaders, researchers and officials under a blunt motto: “From MoUs to shovels in the ground”. The first session examined how to build competitive critical raw materials value chains, with Belgian companies and research organisations joined on the industrial panel by Kazatomprom, Tau-Ken Samruk and Lindian Kazakhstan; the second turned to research cooperation between Belgian and Kazakh universities and ministries. Both sets of conclusions went to a Royal Critical Minerals Round Table attended by Their Majesties.

Kazakhstan’s pitch: more than a quarry

Astana’s message is that it wants to be more than a quarry. Kazakhstan has the potential to supply 21 of the 34 critical raw materials identified by the European Union, Vice-Minister of Industry and Construction Olzhas Saparbekov told the seminar. The figure indicates the breadth of its potential contribution; it does not mean that commercially viable supplies are already available for all 21 materials.

The groundwork is still early. According to the ministry, more than KZT 67 bn (approximately €134 million) has been allocated to geological studies since 2018, covering over 2mn square kilometres, with coverage expected to reach 2.2mn by the end of 2026. Exploration across 11 raw material search areas has identified 38 promising sites. These figures describe an expanding exploration pipeline, rather than proven reserves or projects ready for construction.

Kazakhstan already produces tantalum, niobium and beryllium and recovers molybdenum and rhenium, and a gallium production facility with planned capacity of 15 tonnes a year is envisaged. Priority products include battery materials, special alloys, semiconductor materials and permanent magnets: materials that must meet the specifications of high-technology customers.

“Given its current potential and capabilities, Kazakhstan could occupy a unique position globally as a participant in critical raw materials midstream industries, playing a key role in ensuring stable and resilient global supplies,” Saparbekov said. Midstream — the processing, separation and refining that connect the mine to the factory — is where Astana wants to stand.

Molymet: a template that already works

The clearest evidence that the model can work comes from Molymet. Nele Van Roey, the company’s chief executive, gave a keynote speech and joined the industrial panel. Molymet has no active investments in Kazakhstan yet, she said, but Molymet Belgium runs two contracts with Kazakh partners: processing molybdenum concentrates from Kazakhstan, and selling by-products back. “It’s a two-way collaboration,” she said, with raw materials travelling to Belgium and processed materials returning to Kazakhstan.

Her verdict was positive. The contracts are executed as agreed and in a professional way, making Kazakhstan a really good business partner on critical raw materials. To move from raw exports to higher-value products, she pointed to tolling, under which the mine remains owner of the material while Molymet upgrades it for further processing or sale to the steel industry. By-products, sludges, concentrates and metal recovery offer other routes; opportunities, she stressed, exist across the whole value chain, from mining to recovery.

The obstacles, though, are practical. Van Roey named two. The first is language: Belgian partners do not speak Russian, and translation is not the same as communicating in one’s own language. The second is logistics. Transport of molybdenum once took about three weeks; with the Russian border closed, cargo now goes via the Caspian Sea and Turkey, which is slower and raises questions of financing and price risk in a volatile market. That is where politics comes in. Tokayev has asked for a practical partnership between the Antwerp-Bruges port complex and Kazakhstan’s Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk, part of the Middle Corridor linking Asia and Europe.

Van Roey described the Belgian approach as bottom-up, built on commercial relationships between companies. Europe, she argued, should not manage execution but create the legal and strategic framework and the political will for countries to cooperate. Both sides should also share more information about their strengths, so that opportunities are detected faster. Kazakhstan, she noted, is among the closest molybdenum sources to Belgium, while alternatives in the U.S. and Latin America lie much further away.

Molymet is now studying investment in Kazakhstan, but it needs a solid business case, since the funding must be private rather than coming from Belgium or the European Commission. “If the volumes of molybdenum concentrates are assured,” Molymet Group could build processing facilities locally. A memorandum of understanding has already been signed.

Astana’s answer, Saparbekov said, is a phased approach in which processing would gradually move to Kazakhstan together with technology and expertise. Talks covered raw-material processing, metal separation and refining, engineering and equipment, as well as logistics and financing. Antwerp was discussed as a route for finished products to Europe, alongside a possible combination of European financing instruments and Kazakh state support. The commercial test will be whether these arrangements can support competitive local production and reliable deliveries.

KU Leuven: a different kind of partnership

Peter Tom Jones, director of SIM2, Sustainable Metals and Minerals institute of KU Leuven university, who opened the seminar and moderated both panels and the fireside chat with Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek, said his view changed during the day. He first saw Belgium’s best fit in midstream refining, but now sees cooperation across the entire chain: exploration, mine development, processing, refining, building materials from residues, and energy, water and life-cycle management.

Kazakhstan, he argued, should capture more of the value at home. Models based mainly on extracting materials for refining elsewhere leave the added value of pure metals abroad. Kazakhstan already excels in base metals such as copper, zinc and lead, but there is much to win in accessory metals that come as co-products from major mines, and in converting concentrates into finely refined metals. Belgium and Europe, he said, can offer a different model: technology, capacity building, long-term training and the tangible and intangible know-how needed to produce metals on a commercial scale.

He was candid about the limits. Europe cannot offer large funding, as research, education and industrial budgets are being cut. The EU’s roughly €10bn for critical raw materials sounds large, but one new mine can cost a billion. Public money must therefore trigger private investment, which requires trust. What Belgium can offer, he said, is technology transfer, expertise and passion for metals.

On the environment, he highlighted zero-waste metallurgy: recovering indium and germanium from zinc streams, and turning slags into low-carbon cements, geopolymers and concrete. With Kazakhstan’s construction boom and the heavy CO2 footprint of Portland cement, this could cut emissions, provided tailings are located close to urban centres and transport costs stay reasonable.

Concretely, KU Leuven is setting up a joint research centre with East Kazakhstan Technical University (EKTU) on mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy and building materials, aiming at contract research with Kazatomprom and a metallurgical plant, with Kazakh students learning on real cases. It builds on momentum from the Kazakh-Belgian rectors’ forum on 13 October, attended by Tokayev and the royal couple, where universities from both countries signed a series of agreements and memoranda. Funding for equipment and operations remains an open question, and Jones expects it to come from both government and companies. His advice to the Ministry of Education: create industrial research managers, as in Belgium, to connect professors with companies. Forty such managers, he said, can make more difference than an average professor.

Separately, the ministry has reported a Regional Research Centre for Rare Earth Metals involving EU institutions. The EBRD has supported preparation of a preliminary feasibility study. With European Commission support, construction of a complex of geochemical, umpire-assay and scientific metallurgical laboratories is planned to begin in 2027, with commissioning in 2028. These dates remain planned milestones, and the ministry’s account does not establish that this is the same initiative as the KU Leuven–EKTU centre described by Jones.

Hydrometal: critical metals from industrial leftovers

Philippe Henry, chief executive of JGI-Hydrometal, offered a concrete example of circular metallurgy. The group runs four industrial plants worldwide. Hydrometal in Belgium produces zinc sulphate and zinc salts while valorising by-products of the non-ferrous industry in Belgium, Germany and France. In Thailand the group recovers lead, tin and antimony and is a world leader in low-alpha tin for electronics. In Dunkirk it produces zinc oxide for the tyre industry from copper-industry residues, using a distinctive hydrochloric acid chemistry, and in Germany, with a Mexican partner, it recycles electric arc furnace dust.

Zinc is the core product but also a carrier of copper, lead, tin and minor metals such as indium and germanium, which the company recovers as critical metals. A Kazakh delegation visited Hydrometal three weeks before the seminar and appreciated this recovery.

Henry sees by-products as the key opportunity: some 36,000 tonnes a year in Kazakhstan, small next to 300,000 tonnes of primary material, but rich in resources. The challenge today is to stimulate a joint decision on prioritising them. He agreed that logistics is the main practical obstacle, and said the Belgian side wants to play a role in unlocking this potential.

Belgium’s lasting asset, he said, is expertise, from its non-ferrous industry to its universities and technology centres, which can help extract the last units of value. It may take two years instead of one, as in China or the U.S., but the result will be robust and long-term.

Why Brussels is listening

For Europe, the strategic context extends beyond individual contracts. The EU Critical Raw Materials Act sets 2030 benchmarks for domestic capacity equivalent to 10% of annual consumption of strategic raw materials in extraction, 40% in processing and 25% in recycling. It also seeks to limit dependence on any single third country to 65% for each strategic raw material at any relevant processing stage. These objectives give Brussels an incentive to diversify supply chains. For Kazakhstan, the negotiating question is how much processing, technical expertise and industrial value will remain in the country.

The next measure of progress will therefore be project maturity. Tokayev has said he will personally oversee the implementation of promising projects, and the ministry expects a list of joint projects with identified partners and initial technical steps, from exchanging samples and conducting tests to preparing feasibility studies. Announced capacity, promising exploration sites and memoranda should be assessed separately from financed plants, confirmed production and long-term purchase contracts.

The bottom line

For Kazakhstan, the royal state visit has delivered what money alone cannot buy: the attention of Brussels, home to the EU’s institutions and NATO’s headquarters, and a joint statement that puts critical minerals on the bilateral agenda. What it has not yet delivered is a plant. Molymet’s existing contracts, Hydrometal’s experience in recovering metals from by-products and the planned KU Leuven–EKTU research centre provide a foundation, but turning it into long-lasting value will require viable projects, private investment and the development of local skills. The seminar’s motto set the bar; the shovels will show whether it was met.

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In energy and infrastructure, major losses rarely begin with a single obvious failure. More often, they emerge from a combination of factors: uneven electrical loads, aging equipment, inefficient operating modes, heat loss, or technical documentation that no longer reflects the actual condition of a facility. Engineer Ilyas Batyrov has built much of his career around precisely these kinds of problems — situations in which identifying the symptom is not enough; the underlying cause must be measured, isolated, and translated into a practical solution.

His professional experience spans electrical power systems, automated metering, energy auditing, technical operation of large commercial facilities, and telecommunications infrastructure. Although the industries and equipment have changed, the core method has remained consistent: establish the facts through measurement, analyze the cause, implement the appropriate technical response, and verify the result.

Energy Auditing: Finding the Cause Behind the Consumption

A significant stage in Batyrov’s professional development was his work in energy auditing. His responsibilities included analyzing electrical and thermal loads, evaluating energy losses, examining transformer substations, conducting thermal-imaging assessments, and contributing to technical reports with recommendations for improving efficiency.

For an industrial or commercial facility, the total amount of energy consumed tells only part of the story. The engineering question begins when consumption is higher than expected: Why is it happening? Where are the losses occurring? Which corrective measures are technically justified, and which will produce a measurable result? Answering those questions requires comparing calculations with actual operating conditions, equipment performance, and instrument-based observations.

Batyrov’s approach treats energy efficiency not as a one-time cost-cutting exercise, but as an engineering process that depends on reliable data, disciplined diagnostics, and follow-through. Calculations are most useful when they are connected to what is actually happening in the field.

Engineering a Facility That Operates Around the Clock

That practical perspective became especially important during Batyrov’s work at Magnum Cash & Carry, where he was involved in the technical operation of a large retail facility running around the clock. His responsibilities covered ventilation, lighting, HVAC, water and sewer systems, refrigeration and commercial equipment, as well as the site’s electrical infrastructure, including transformer substations, switching operations, automatic transfer systems, and scheduled maintenance.

One of the notable projects during this period was a large-scale lighting modernization involving approximately 6,000 fixtures converted to LED technology. The challenge was not simply selecting more efficient lighting. In an operating commercial facility, modernization had to be coordinated with day-to-day operations while accounting for electrical loads, lighting requirements, maintenance needs, and the reliability of the overall system.

The experience reinforced an important principle in Batyrov’s work: an engineering solution must be not only technically correct on paper, but workable in real operating conditions. A design that complicates maintenance, introduces new failure points, or ignores how a facility is actually used may lose much of its expected value.

From Aging Paper Drawings to a Digital Network Map

Earlier in his career, at the Aktau Electrical Networks Administration, Batyrov encountered another common infrastructure challenge: outdated documentation for underground cable routes. During emergency restoration work, incomplete or inaccurate drawings can slow the search for damaged lines and make field decisions more difficult.

After beginning as an electrical fitter and later moving into the production and technical department, Batyrov took part in systematizing and digitizing cable-network diagrams for the district. Underground cable locating equipment was used to clarify routes, while updated information was transferred into AutoCAD and tied to identifiable surface reference points.

The result was more than a cleaner drawing. Fragmented and aging documentation was converted into a practical digital tool that could support maintenance and emergency work. The project reflects a recurring theme in Batyrov’s engineering approach: technology creates value when it reduces uncertainty for the people who must make decisions in the field.

Automated Metering: Better Decisions Begin with Better Data

Batyrov’s experience at Energomera added another layer to this approach through work with automated resource-metering systems. He participated in the assembly, installation, and commissioning of systems used to measure electricity and heat consumption, including meters, modems, concentrators, and data transmission to dispatch systems.

Reliable measurement is fundamental to effective energy management. Without trustworthy data, it is difficult to distinguish a genuine efficiency improvement from seasonal load changes, operational variation, or a localized technical problem. For Batyrov, measurement therefore became not a separate task, but the starting point for meaningful diagnostics.

Applying the Same Diagnostic Logic to Telecommunications

Batyrov later continued his professional work in the United States in telecommunications infrastructure. The equipment changed, but the diagnostic logic did not. Complex network failures also require engineers and field technicians to test multiple possible causes, compare system alarms and measurements with the physical configuration, and confirm that the corrective action has resolved the underlying issue.

His work in cellular-network troubleshooting has included radio-frequency equipment, fiber connections, radio units, antenna systems, and related infrastructure. In his current work, his two-person crew has completed more than 365 service tickets; according to internal performance records, approximately 89.6 percent were resolved on the first site visit.

The connection between energy engineering and telecommunications, in Batyrov’s view, lies in the method. Replacing the first component that appears suspicious does not necessarily solve a complex problem. The more reliable approach is to build a sequence of tests, isolate the source of the failure, make the correction, and verify that the root cause — rather than only the visible symptom — has been eliminated.

Engineering Without Universal Solutions

Batyrov’s experience across different technical environments illustrates why infrastructure efficiency is rarely achieved through a single technology. LED lighting, automated metering, thermal imaging, digital network drawings, and modern diagnostic tools are valuable only when they are part of a disciplined process: establish the baseline, identify the cause, select the technical response, and verify the outcome.

That practical method connects the different stages of his career, from electrical networks and energy auditing to commercial-facility operations and telecommunications systems. The common denominator is not a particular type of equipment, but the ability to turn technical information into decisions that work under real-world conditions.

As energy costs, infrastructure reliability, and the speed of failure recovery become increasingly important to businesses and public systems, engineering work extends beyond simply maintaining equipment. It increasingly involves interpreting data, managing technical risk, and identifying losses that may not be immediately visible. That intersection of measurement, diagnostics, and practical implementation is where Batyrov sees the greatest value of engineering.

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On October 3, the AI & Digital Bridge 2026 international technology forum concluded in Astana. The final day featured a technology exhibition, sessions on human capital and creative industries, the signing of memoranda, the Astana Hub Battle final, and the award ceremony for the winners of the AI & Digital Bridge Awards 2026.

The forum’s key positioning this year—Kazakhstan is the Eurasian AI Hub—reflects the country’s focus on developing its own technology ecosystem, attracting international expertise and investment, training specialists, and creating conditions for the growth of AI companies.

AI & Digital Bridge 2026 took place from October 1 to 3 at the EXPO International Exhibition Centre in Astana. The forum brought together representatives of government agencies, international technology companies, investors, startups, universities, and research centres to discuss the development of artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

One of the key events of the final day was a plenary session featuring Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov. During his address, he emphasized the importance of further scaling technologies that have already proven their effectiveness.

“At the opening of the forum, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized that the development of new technologies has become an integral part of a rapidly changing era. Kazakhstan has already established the necessary legal framework for the widespread adoption of AI. Digital infrastructure is developing at an accelerated pace. The Data Center Valley megaproject is currently under active construction—Central Asia’s largest campus, with an energy capacity of up to 1 GW. These data centers will serve as the foundation for the development of artificial intelligence, cloud services, scientific research, and new digital industries. We are open to cooperation with global technology companies,” Olzhas Bektenov noted.

The plenary session also featured Sebastian Kurz, President of DREAM; Timur Turlov, CEO of Freedom Holding Corp.; Jamie Beaton, Founder of Crimson Education; and Alexander Mashrabov, CEO of Higgsfield AI.

The final day’s business program focused on human capital development, artificial intelligence in education, technology entrepreneurship, global startup scaling, and the application of AI in creative industries.

One of the key sessions of the third day was “AI-Sana as a Driver of Transformation: From Competencies to AI Products.” The session was moderated by Pavel Kokyshev, Co-Founder and CEO of MOST Holding. The panel discussion brought together Kuanyshbek Yessekeyev, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Nhi Le, Partner at Alpha Intelligence Capital and Founding Partner at Mariton Partners; Nariman Mukushev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Halyk Bank; and Beibitkul Karimova, Chairwoman of the Management Board and Rector of the Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University.

The role of a new generation of scientists, engineers, and technology entrepreneurs in shaping the economy of the future was the focus of the session “Talent Economy 2035: Who Will Build New Industries?”. The discussion featured Pegor Papazian, Development Director at TUMO Center for Creative Technologies; Anna Fokina, General Manager and CFO of Firebird in Kazakhstan; and Alex Mashrabov, Co-Founder and CEO of Higgsfield AI.

The international scaling of technology companies was the focus of the session “How Can AI Startups from Central Eurasia Move from Local Validation to Global Enterprise Growth?”. The session was moderated by Asset Abdualiyev, Founder and CEO of Silkroad Innovation Hub. The panel discussion brought together Chris Joannou, Vice President of Venture Ecosystem at Draper University; Ian Bergman, CEO of Alchemist Accelerator; Sanzhar Rakhmetzhanov, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Armeta; Ivan Belokhvostikov, Founder and CEO of Cybernet AI; and Darsh Singh Mann, Head of Business Development and Partnerships at StartX.

A separate block of the third day was dedicated to the application of artificial intelligence in film and the creative industries.

Participants in the session “The Future of Live: Music, Concerts, and AI” discussed the intersection of music, concert formats, and artificial intelligence, viewing AI not as a replacement for humans, but as a tool and creative partner. The session was moderated by Azat Abyken, Producer and CEO of Green Case Group. The speakers included Sandugash Rakhimzhanova, Director of TV+ Kazakhtelecom; Konstantin Golovin, General Producer of Pantograph and The Spirit of Tengri; Dulat Mukhamedkaliev, member of the Ninety One group, Founder of the ArtJaq creative agency, producer, and songwriter; and Aidyn Aidyngali, CPO of Freedom Music.

At the session “AAIFF – The Future of AI Filmmaking,” participants discussed the capabilities of AI and traditional approaches to filmmaking, as well as their respective advantages and features. The session was moderated by Aizat Kussainov, Co-Founder and Creative Director of the AAIFF Foundation. The speakers included Ping Ma, Dean of the AI Research Institute at China Film Group; Almas Zhali, Founder and Chairman of the AAIFF Foundation; Audrey Azoulay, former Minister of Culture of France and former Director-General of UNESCO; and Robert Gaudette, AAIFF finalist, AI creator, and director.

One of the notable events of AI & Digital Bridge 2026 was the Astana AI Film Festival, the first international competition for films created using artificial intelligence. The competition received more than 8,000 entries from 125 countries, with participants from the United States, India, China, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, France, and other countries presenting their works.

Exhibition: From Robots to an AI University

The exhibition program was one of the central elements of AI & Digital Bridge 2026. It featured more than 90 startups in Startup Alley, 49 IT companies, and 50 individual booths and pavilions. The exhibition was divided into four thematic zones—Robotics, Art, GameDev, and Vibe Coding—while Startup Alley served as a dedicated platform for showcasing startup products and developments.

As part of the final day of AI & Digital Bridge 2026, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov was presented with Qazaq AI Research University’s (QAIRU) AI solution for video and audio analytics of the educational process, an AI tutor, and tools for analyzing educational progress. In the financial sector, the products presented included the Kasper AI assistant, Halyk Bank’s AI model, and Freedom Holding’s AI-Compliance platform. In the industrial sector, these included KMG’s digital twin and KTZ’s SMART diagnostics using artificial intelligence technologies from the Samruk-Kazyna group of companies. Other digital products for various sectors were also presented, including Alem AI Platform, QazBot Technologies, Trusted Kazakhstan, and QazEta.

Additionally, on October 3, 21 memoranda and agreements were signed at the forum in the fields of technology, investment, education, and international cooperation.

These included agreements and memoranda between Astana Hub and United Ventures, Kazpost JSC and Ailat Holding, Alem.ai Endowment and ChangeSchool, Kazakhtelecom JSC and Network School, and Qazaq AI Research University and the Til-Kazyna National Scientific and Practical Center, as well as agreements on technology transfer, healthcare digitalization, cybersecurity, environmental monitoring, sports, and artificial intelligence.

As part of the third day of AI & Digital Bridge 2026, a workshop for journalists was held on the use of artificial intelligence in daily newsroom operations—from information retrieval and document analysis to content preparation and editing.

Competitions and Awards

On the final day of the forum, the winners of the annual AI & Digital Bridge Awards 2026 were announced. The awards recognize projects, companies, and teams that have contributed to the development of artificial intelligence, digital technologies, and digital transformation.

The awards were presented to the winners by Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov.

In 2026, awards were presented in seven categories:

• GovTech Project of the Year — eGov.GPT, National Information Technologies JSC;
• EdTech Project of the Year — GoPrep, Aleem Labs LLP;
• Startup of the Year — Rette (Defect AI);
• Corporate AI – Transformation of the Year — Aventa, QazCode;
• International Breakthrough of the Year — Higgsfield AI, Higgsfield Ltd.;
• VC of the Year — MA7 Ventures;
• Creative Industry Project of the Year — ōzen, OZEN XO LLP.

Additionally, the final day of the forum hosted the Astana Hub Battle 2026 final. The final jury included Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Alex Mashrabov, CEO of Higgsfield AI; Bagdat Mussin, Chairman of the Management Board of Kazakhtelecom JSC; Shervin Pishevar, Investor in SpaceX and Founder of Sofreh Capital; and Murat Abdrakhmanov, Founder of the MA7 Ventures venture ecosystem.

Four startups won the competition, each receiving $25,000:

• CYBERPACK.AI won in the Impact Maker category;
• NCSpeech won in the Market Shaper category;
• Astana Dynamics won in the Growth Engine category;
• Aman – won in the Investor’s Choice.

In addition, Aman received an additional grant of $200,000 from MA7 Ventures. Furthermore, competition partners provided technology resources to individual teams: Pulsar AI received cloud resources worth KZT 10 million from Yandex Kazakhstan, while M3TRIQ received GPU resources worth $25,000 from Kazakhtelecom.

The forum concluded with performances by special guests: Kazakh artist and songwriter Sadraddin, known for his signature style blending modern sound with elements of Kazakh musical culture, and Kazakh artist and Ninety One group member ZAQ (Dulat Mukhametkaliev).

About AI & Digital Bridge 2026

The forum is organized by the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana Hub, and the Akimat of Astana.

AI & Digital Bridge 2026 is made possible through the support of the forum’s partners and sponsors. All forum expenses are covered by sponsorship funds. Gold Partners: Freedom Bank, Kaspi Bank, Samruk-Kazyna JSC, and Kazakhtelecom JSC. Silver Partner: Halyk Bank. Business Partner: Beeline Kazakhstan. Bronze Partner: Yandex Qazaqstan. Technology Partner: Transtelecom JSC. Official Airline Partner: Air Astana.

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photo: AIFC Press Office

Global Capital in Astana: AFD 2026 Brings Together Asset Managers with   US $26 Trillion Under Management

Astana Finance Days brings together representatives of the world’s leading financial institutions, including BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with more than US$15 trillion in assets under management, also Goldman Sachs, Capital Group, Brookfield, E Fund Management, Rothschild & Co., IFC Asset Management Company, Hong Kong Investment Corporation and other global financial organisations. The companies represented at the forum collectively manage over US$26 trillion in assets.

On September 9 and 10, the Astana International Financial Centre is hosting the 9th financial forum, Astana Finance Days 2026: Delivering Impact. Capital in Action.  It brings together investors, representatives of the financial and technology sectors, regulators, government and quasi-government institutions, and international businesses. The forum attracted 8000 participants from 90 countries. 

The forum’s programme focuses on capital markets and investment products, regulation and the legal environment, institutional-scale innovation, financing of the real sector of the economy, as well as regional and cross-border cooperation.

“Today’s competition for capital requires not only attractive terms but also the ability to transform opportunities into real projects and investments. This is the essence of Astana Finance Days 2026: Delivering Impact. Capital in Action. We bring together investors, regulators, and businesses to transform ideas into practical solutions, investment projects, and long-term partnerships,” noted Renat Bekturov, Governor of the AIFC.

The first day’s business programme begins with sessions on the role of sovereign and institutional capital in economic growth, the future of financial infrastructure, the tokenisation of real-world assets, investor protection, sustainable finance and the development of real-sector projects.

The day’s central event will be the plenary session, “Rewiring the Architecture of Finance”. Speakers will include Timur Suleimenov, Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan;

Renat Bekturov, Governor of the AIFC; Timur Turlov, Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Holding Corp.; Balaji Srinivasan, founder of Network School and bestselling author of The Network State; and Sergio Mello, Global Head of Stablecoin Solutions at Anchorage Digital. The session will be moderated by Sallianne Taylor, Head of Government Relations for EMEA at Bloomberg. Participants will discuss how technology, regulation and new models of capital movement are reshaping financial markets. The global financial system is entering a new era in which digital assets are becoming an integral part of public policy, while artificial intelligence is beginning to manage capital flows. The digital tenge, crypto reserves, AI regulation and decentralised finance are no longer abstract concepts but part of national agendas and business strategies. How do national regulators, development institutions and global technology companies envision the future of the global financial system and the evolving map of capital flows? The session will bring together key architects of the emerging financial order to discuss the transformation of financial infrastructure and the future of digital assets.

Ben Powell, Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist for the Middle East and APAC — BlackRock Investment Institute, will offer a distinct perspective on the new capital markets cycle.

During the session “Sovereign and Institutional Capital as Catalysts for Growth and Strategic Transformation,” participants will discuss how sovereign and institutional investors can support long-term development, structural transformation and the implementation of large-scale projects. The discussion will feature representatives of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation, Fitch Ratings and other financial institutions.

The technology track will continue with the sessions “The Future of Financial Infrastructure” and “Capital Beyond Borders: Tokenisation and the New Financial Infrastructure.” Representatives of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, the National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan, Mastercard, Janus Henderson Investors, Bir Ecosystem, Phillip Securities, Solana, The Open Platform and Commodity Chain will discuss the development of payment infrastructure, digital assets and new mechanisms for capital movement.

One of the key industry topics on the first day will be the financing of junior exploration companies and early-stage mining projects. The session “Financing Junior Mining Projects: Challenges and Opportunities” will feature representatives of Solidcore, Alphamar, Elistra Advisory and Aurora Minerals Group.

The programme will continue with keynote presentations by representatives of KAZ Minerals, Solidcore Resources, AGS, Zubr Capital, Freedom Holding Corp. and BI Group, focusing on the technological transformation of the economy, investment in AI infrastructure and computing capacity, the development of innovation clusters, attracting international capital, and the commercial real estate market. The programme will also feature project pitches and investor matchmaking sessions with potential investors. In April this year, the AIFC launched the Junior Mining Platform to attract investment into early-stage exploration projects and opened applications for junior companies. The AIFC platform connects junior companies with domestic and international investors. Of the 48 projects submitted, 23 were selected and will be presented to investors during a pitching session at the forum.

The forum will also feature the second annual meeting of the Turkic Green Finance Council, bringing together representatives of financial regulators, government bodies and development institutions from across the Turkic region. Participants will include Kubanychbek Omuraliev, Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States; Baghdad Amreyev, President of the Turkic Investment Fund; and representatives of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange, the Hungarian National Bank, the AIFC Green Finance Centre and other organisations.

Also on the first day, a closed meeting of the AIFC Islamic Finance Advisory Board will be held.

Financial security will be addressed during the session “Financial Intelligence in the Digital Age: From Virtual Assets to Artificial Intelligence.” Representatives of the Egmont Group, Sherlocq, Eurasian Bank and the Astana Financial Services Authority will discuss how the development of digital technologies is changing approaches to identifying financial risks and interactions between the public and private sectors. 

A separate track will focus on the AIFC’s legal infrastructure. The session “Capital in Action: How the AIFC Court and IAC Protect Investor Rights” will feature Chief Justice of the AIFC Court, the Chairman of the International Arbitration Centre and other speakers. The session will examine how the AIFC Court and IAC protect investor rights through effective international dispute resolution and digital innovation. Participants will also discuss institutional dispute-resolution strategies aimed at increasing transparency, strengthening investor confidence and supporting sustainable investment in Kazakhstan.

At the forum, the AIFC will also debut AIDA — the AIFC Intelligent Digital Assistant AIDA is a multilingual intelligent assistant designed to support clients and help them navigate the Centre’s services. It processes text and voice queries, provides information about AIFC registration, applicable requirements, procedures and services, and, where necessary, directs users to the appropriate department or specialist. Forum participants will be able to test the system in different languages in real time.

The first day’s regional track will continue with the AFSA roundtable “From Fragmentation to Integration: Regional Cooperation to Strengthen Financial Markets.” It will bring together representatives of financial regulators from Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as international financial organisations and development institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Representatives of Bloomberg and stock exchanges from Central Asia and the South Caucasus will also participate. The roundtable will address key barriers to cross-border capital flows and practical measures to expand access to financial markets, facilitate mutual recognition and information exchange, and strengthen supervisory cooperation.

During the day, several agreements are expected to be signed. These include a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Bank of Georgia and the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) to facilitate access and recognition in the financial services sector, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding between AFSA and the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) to strengthen regulatory cooperation and deepen the partnership.

As part of the AIFC grain tokenisation initiative, Tech Hub Limited is also expected to sign separate Memoranda of Understanding with Concordia Group Ltd. and Aitas Agro Ltd. to advance technological solutions and develop new instruments for the agricultural market.

An important component of the forum will be the AFD Exhibition Hub, an exhibition platform bringing together financial institutions, banks, investment and asset management companies, and fintech and technology projects. Participants will present their products, solutions and achievements while establishing direct contacts with potential partners and investors.

Astana Finance Days 2026 is being held with the support of its partners. Freedom is the forum’s Gold Partner; Solidcore Resources, KAZ Minerals and ITS are Silver Partners; LMAX Group and Teniz Capital Investment Banking are Bronze Partners; Allur is the Industry Partner; Binance is the Crypto Partner; Mastercard is the Fintech Partner; Air Astana is the Official Airline; Euronews and SCMP as the International Media Partners. Other partners include Orient Capital Management, Dana Capital Limited, BI Group, CICC, Roemer Capital (Europe), Masdar, E Fund Management (Hong Kong), Abylai Global Solutions, Symphony Digital Assets, Fitch Ratings, AmCham Kazakhstan, Solana, Halyk Finance, MYD Production, Atlas Capital, PwC, Anchorage Digital, Alif, Jupiter Jet, RCS Group, Zubr Capital, Vitis Capital, Amicorp, Code Coin and others.

The post World’s Largest Asset Managers BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Capital Group and Brookfield Gather in Astana appeared first on Новости IT и бизнеса.

photo: Ramina Ashim, Comic Con Astana press office

As part of Comic Con Astana 2026, Central Asia’s largest contemporary pop culture festival, headline guest Nikolaj Coster-Waldau—the Danish actor best known for portraying Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones—answered the questions from the press representatives. He is also recognized for his roles in Black Hawk Down, Oblivion, and Gods of Egypt. 

The actor shared his first impressions of Kazakhstan, joking that he had eaten more meat in just over a day in Astana than he had over the previous three years. 

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau also spoke about visiting Baiterek Monument, where he placed his hand on the famous golden handprint and made a wish.

“You know you’re not supposed to tell anyone what you wished for… But I’ll make an exception. I wished that I’d get to come back here again,” the actor said.

Journalists also asked where Kazakhstan might fit within the geography of Game of Thrones. The actor suggested it would be a place of diplomacy.

“If we’re thinking in Game of Thrones categories, Kazakhstan would probably be kind of in the middle between two very powerful neighbours. So it would kinda be somewhere between the Lannisters and the Dothraki lands, like very diplomatic. And making each side believe that they are their best friends,” the festival headliner said.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau also answered questions about his acting career, spoke about his interest in discovering Kazakh cinema, and praised the breathtaking landscapes of the Mangystau region.

This year’s festival features hundreds of events, dozens of special guests, and two major large-scale venues—Barys Arena and Alau Ice Palace.

Over four days, attendees can enjoy appearances by internationally renowned film and television stars, the International Cosplay Contest with a prize pool of 20 million KZT, concerts, K-pop performances, gaming tournaments, workshops, and many other activities.

Joining Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as festival headliners are Paul Anderson, best known for playing Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders, along with Iñaki Godoy and Taz Skylar, stars of Netflix’s One Piece.

Meanwhile, the Alau Stage will host daily amateur cosplay contests for both adults and children, award ceremonies, themed performances, and live entertainment. In addition to the international headliners, the festival welcomes dozens of popular bloggers, artists, cosplayers, and content creators.

Comic Con Astana 2026 runs in Kazakhstan’s capital from August 6 to 9, bringing together fans of film, television, comics, animation, video games, and cosplay.

Over the years, the festival has grown into a recognized international brand, attracting some of the entertainment industry’s biggest stars, tens of thousands of visitors, and extensive coverage from international media each year.

Previous headline guests have included Mads Mikkelsen, Andy Serkis, Pilou Asbæk, Scott Adkins, Esai Morales, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Percy Hynes White, and Alexander Kuznetsov.

Today, Comic Con Astana not only shapes the region’s contemporary cultural landscape but also contributes to the development of tourism, the creative economy, entrepreneurship, youth initiatives, and Kazakhstan’s international profile.

The post Comic Con Astana 2026: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Calls Kazakhstan a “Diplomatic Territory” on the Game of Thrones Map appeared first on Новости IT и бизнеса.

Nurzhan Nogerbek is a Team Lead, Tech Lead, and software engineer with extensive professional experience. Throughout his career in IT, he has worked across FinTech, e-commerce, retail, logistics, telecommunications, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Today, he works in the innovation technology department of one of Kazakhstan’s largest commercial banks, whose services are used by millions of people every day, and is responsible for developing its BaaS platform.

Kazakhstan has already demonstrated to the international community that it can be Central Asia’s technology leader. But the next question is more challenging. Can the country convert its digital leadership into sustainable economic growth? This was the central topic of our conversation with Nurzhan, although it was far from the only one.

 Banking as a Service

“BaaS stands for Banking as a Service. Put simply, it is a model in which a bank provides its infrastructure, licence, payment gateways, and regulatory framework through APIs. A partner — a FinTech company, marketplace, retailer, or another type of business — can then build its own product on top of this infrastructure without becoming a bank,” Nurzhan explains.

 In practice, this is what is commonly known as embedded finance, where banking products are integrated directly into a partner’s application.

 “The end user does not distinguish between where the partner’s application ends and the banking service begins. From the user’s perspective, it is one seamless experience. They can apply for an installment plan, open an account, or make a card payment without leaving the interface they are already familiar with.”

 According to Nurzhan, competition in financial services is no longer limited to individual banking products. Entire ecosystems are now competing with one another. A large bank has millions of customers, established infrastructure, and the trust of regulators. Small and medium-sized businesses, meanwhile, have speed, niche expertise, and flexibility. BaaS connects these two worlds.

 To illustrate how this works, Nurzhan provides a straightforward example:

“Imagine a start-up that wants to issue debit cards for its audience. To do this independently, it would need to obtain a banking licence, complete numerous audits, establish payment processing, anti-fraud and compliance systems, and integrate with payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard. This would require years of work and enormous investment. Through a bank’s BaaS platform, however, the start-up can connect via API in as little as one day. Everything related to regulatory requirements and core banking processes remains the bank’s responsibility. As a result, everyone benefits. The bank gains a new monetisation channel and access to a new audience. The partner primarily benefits from a faster time to market. For us as software engineers and technology specialists, it is a high-load distributed system in which the cost of an error is measured not only in negative customer comments on Threads, but also in real money.”

 High-Load Systems

 In some industries, peak demand can be predicted. In e-commerce, for example, it may coincide with Black Friday, a major advertising campaign, or a seasonal surge in users. FinTech is different.

 “In FinTech projects, transactions take place continuously — day and night, on weekdays and public holidays. Every request represents the movement of real money and may involve scoring parameters, anti-fraud checks, and compliance procedures. When a new partner connects to a BaaS platform, the load can increase immediately. A single request made by an end user in a partner’s mobile application may pass through a chain of dozens of services within the bank’s BaaS platform. Without a complete view of the system, it is impossible to understand exactly where that chain breaks when an incident or anomaly occurs,” Nurzhan says.

 This challenge became his starting point. To give the team and stakeholders a complete view of the system rather than a collection of disconnected components, one of the first things he did after joining the project was build its monitoring and observability capabilities almost from scratch.

 “A unified Grafana dashboard answers three fundamental questions for every stakeholder: what failed, where it failed, and why it failed.”

 Teams need specific facts that allow them to quickly assess the scale of a problem and make an immediate decision. Nurzhan therefore established a core set of metrics, beginning with RPS — the number of requests per second.

 “If the platform normally processes approximately 500 requests per second and that number increases to 2,000 after a new partner is connected, it immediately becomes clear that the traffic pattern has changed. The next step is to determine exactly where the system begins to struggle.”

 Traffic volume alone, however, does not indicate whether the system is healthy. The second major group of metrics Nurzhan introduced was a breakdown of HTTP requests by status: successful responses, client-side application errors, and server errors.

 “Suppose that out of 10,000 requests per minute, 9,700 are processed successfully, 200 return client application errors, and 100 return server errors. That already represents a server failure rate of 1%. In FinTech, that level is a signal for immediate action. The dashboard shows not only that errors are occurring, but also which specific services are producing them.”

 Even when the number of errors is low, the system may still be unhealthy in another way: requests may be completed, but far too slowly. This is why the third key metric was response time, or latency. Average values are not enough here. The most important measurements are percentiles such as p50, p90, and p99.

 “Imagine that 99 requests are completed in 100 milliseconds, while one request takes 10 seconds. The average response time would be approximately 200 milliseconds. On paper, everything appears normal. However, if the service must respond within 500 milliseconds under the SLA and the p99 latency has already reached four seconds, it means that every hundredth user is waiting many times longer than expected. In FinTech, that is already a serious problem. Timeouts increase, the customer experience deteriorates, and the partner begins to perceive the platform as unstable.”

 To connect these anomalies with specific product changes, the fourth metric Nurzhan introduced was the proportion of unsuccessful requests — the error rate.

 “If the error rate increases from 0.1% to 2% immediately after a new version of a service is deployed, the most recent release is almost always the first place to investigate. The team can then take preventive action quickly—for example, by temporarily rolling back that particular release.”

 Metrics alone are still insufficient. They show what is happening, but they do not always explain where a specific request is failing within a complex chain of services. Nurzhan’s next step was therefore to introduce distributed tracing using OpenTelemetry and Grafana Tempo.

 “Every request is assigned a trace identifier. Each service in the chain records its own segment of the operation, including its execution time. You can open a single trace and see the entire picture. The first service took 12 milliseconds, the second took 45 milliseconds, and the third required 7,800 milliseconds to execute its business logic. It immediately becomes clear where the bottleneck is located.”

 To add further detail to this picture, logs are collected through Filebeat and Logstash, normalised into a consistent format, and stored in OpenSearch. Each log entry contains the service name, error level, request path, processing time, and trace identifier.

 “In practice, it looks like this. The dashboard shows that the error rate has increased from 0.2% to 3%. You inspect the HTTP statuses and discover that server errors are coming from one particular service. You then open the trace for a failed request. Of the ten seconds of total processing time, seven seconds are being consumed by one section of the code. Using the trace identifier, you move to the logs and find a timeout during an external call. The entire diagnostic process takes two or three minutes instead of two hours of analysis and endless calls with colleagues.”

 According to Nurzhan, this is where the main benefit becomes clear:

“When you know exactly where an error is occurring, you are no longer guessing. You fix a specific service or a specific section of code. Alternatively, you identify an anomaly before users notice it and take preventive action. Partners expect predictability. If the platform is expected to operate continuously, the team must be able to detect problems through metrics, numbers, and data within minutes.”

 Where FinTech Is Heading

 The conversation then turned to the market as a whole. Where is FinTech in Kazakhstan heading, and what role will BaaS platforms play in its development?

 “Today, it is difficult for Kazakhstani FinTech start-ups to compete directly with banks. Banks already have millions of customers, payment infrastructure, regulatory trust, and substantial capital. For many teams that want to succeed in FinTech, the most realistic strategy is therefore not to fight the banks, but to partner with them. BaaS platforms are becoming the bridge that enables this partnership,” Nurzhan believes.

 At the same time, competition is increasingly shifting towards data and artificial intelligence. For many years, banks in Kazakhstan have been developing ecosystems that combine a wide range of digital products, including installment financing, marketplaces, lifestyle services, business products, and integrations with eGov.

 “If a start-up has AI-based technology that provides a more accurate recommendation system, automates processes, solves a specific problem, and delivers a measurable business impact, the bank no longer sees it as a competitor. It becomes a partner — or, in some cases, an asset that can be integrated into the bank’s ecosystem.”

 To make this idea more concrete, Nurzhan outlines several practical scenarios. The first example is intelligent lending.

 “A customer may frequently shop on the same marketplace, regularly use small installment plans, and consistently repay them on time. Based on this history, a machine-learning model can offer the customer a credit limit in advance — before they even click the button to place an order using installment financing. For the customer, it creates the impression that the product understands their needs. For the FinTech product and the bank, it means more approved installment plans and a higher conversion rate.”

 The second example is fraud detection.

 “If a person usually makes daytime payments from Almaty and a large transaction suddenly appears at night from another country, the system must react within seconds. Machine-learning models can detect anomalies in behavioural patterns by analysing geolocation, transaction amounts, frequency of operations, devices, and time of day. The more high-quality historical data the system has, the fewer legitimate transactions it blocks and the better it becomes at protecting customers from actual fraud.”

 The third area highlighted by Nurzhan is intelligent recommendation systems.

 “Not every customer should be shown the same digital or financial product. One person may need a card with travel cashback, another may be interested in a deposit, while a small business owner may need working-capital financing within a trading platform. AI helps create a customer profile and offer the right product at the right moment. This is especially important in a BaaS model because the financial service can appear directly inside a partner’s application rather than only within the bank’s own app.”

 The role of large language models is also growing.

 “LLMs are already being actively used in practical FinTech scenarios. One example is an AI support assistant. A customer wrote in a chat, ‘Why was my payment unsuccessful?’ and the system uses the transaction context and status to explain the reason in straightforward language. Another example is an internal assistant for employees. It can quickly analyse a typical incident, suggest the next step, or generate a concise summary of a case. This accelerates the work of teams and reduces the amount of time spent on routine tasks.”

Nurzhan emphasises, however, that none of this will produce meaningful results without following the correct sequence: “First, data must be collected, cleaned, and structured. Machine-learning models can then be trained on that data. Only after this stage does it make sense to introduce LLMs and more advanced automation. When the data is complete and properly structured, AI begins to generate measurable value: it accelerates decision-making, improves risk predictions, increases conversion, and reduces the amount of manual work.”

 How to Enter the IT Industry Today

 At the end of the conversation, we asked Nurzhan what advice he would give to people who are only beginning their journey into IT. His answer starts with an honest assessment of the market.

 “In recent years, I have seen competition in IT increase significantly, while the number of junior-level vacancies has declined. Students and recent university graduates often contact me on LinkedIn asking for referrals or internship opportunities. Entering the profession has become more difficult, and people are looking for any possible way to break through and find their place in the industry.”

 Against this background, the traditional approach of submitting a CV through a company website and waiting for a response is no longer sufficient. Most corporate career websites now use an Applicant Tracking System, or ATS, to automate recruitment. This is the first filter candidates encounter before their CV is reviewed by a person. Like any automated system, an ATS searches for keywords and can make mistakes. A strong candidate may be removed from the recruitment funnel simply because the wording in their CV does not match the filters used for a particular vacancy. For this reason, Nurzhan believes that early-career specialists need to take a comprehensive and proactive approach.

 “It is better not to rely on luck. Take the initiative and contact employees at the companies you are interested in. They may be able to recommend you or at least tell you who the right person is to approach. It also makes sense to join Telegram groups where unadvertised vacancies in different areas of IT are shared. More importantly, you need to become part of the professional community. Attend meetups as a guest, participate in hackathons, find communities that match your interests, and, ideally, join them as a volunteer. This is networking, something many people underestimate. Someone may notice you, invite you to an interview, or offer you an internship.”

 Nurzhan himself has been actively involved in Kazakhstan’s IT community for more than ten years. He is a member of the core team of Qazaq IT Community, one of the country’s largest IT communities.

 “At Qazaq IT Community, we organise meetups on a wide variety of topics, and representatives of different companies regularly attend them. They often come to these events looking for new talent. They pay attention to who asks questions, who helps at the venue, who is already contributing as a volunteer, and who might be a good candidate for an internship.”

 The same philosophy led to the creation of the Volunteer Passport project, which Qazaq IT Community launched in July of 2026. Nurzhan participated in testing the project and defining its functional and non-functional requirements.

 “Essentially, it is a platform where volunteers can register for events they are interested in and receive a letter of appreciation after the event. Organisers, meanwhile, receive a digitised process for preparing and running events. From a single interface, they can see how many people registered and how many actually attended using QR-code check-in at the entrance. They can assign tasks to volunteers, keep records of participation, collect feedback after the event, evaluate attendance, and identify which areas of the venue required additional support.”

 For Nurzhan, the project is a strong example of how volunteering can benefit early-career specialists — and not only them — in two ways at once. On the one hand, a person contributes to the IT community. On the other hand, they gain practical experience, strengthen their personal brand, and build professional connections. The subject is particularly relevant now, as the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2026 the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development. The initiative was adopted following a proposal by Kazakhstan, which had previously declared 2020 the national Year of the Volunteer.

 Nurzhan’s final advice is therefore straightforward:

“If you want to enter the IT industry, learn the technologies, build a portfolio of different personal projects, and engage with people at the same time. In a changing market, the person who succeeds is often not the one who simply waits for an interview invitation, but the one who takes the initiative and knocks on the door.”

The post How BaaS, Big Data, and AI Are Transforming Banking Products in Kazakhstan appeared first on Новости IT и бизнеса.

This is the place where participants find co-investors, originate and structure deals, form funds and syndicates, and launch educational and investment initiatives.

The 2026 focus is Smart Capital — a sustainable, structured, and professional approach to investing in AI, fintech, and deep tech in the context of a new global reality.

As part of the forum:

1. Startup Alley – a direct access zone to early-stage projects.
2. MOST Investable Battle – a competitive investment stage where startups pitch to venture funds and private investors.
3. Closed Investor Sessions – private networking, GP–LP meetings, and roundtables on fund creation and capital structuring.
4. VC Party – Continue networking after the forum at the official afterparty.
5. CEVF Retreat – A closed outdoor event for a selected group of participants.

Among the forum speakers: one of the largest and most active venture investors in Central Asia Murat Abdrakhmanov; Aynur Zhanturina, CEO of RISE Research; venture investor Yerlan Issekeshev; Abay Absamet, Co-Founder of Silkroad Angels; as well as Baurzhan Kankin, Alexander Zemlyak, and Ivan Belokhvostikov.

Choose direct flights to Tashkent with Air Astana — the Official Airline Partner of CEVF 2026.

Promo code ALEM15 gives you 15% off all forum ticket categories.

Activate your promo code at:
 https://ventureforum.asia

The post Central Eurasian Venture Forum 2026: Where Deals Are Made and Regional Capital Is Formed appeared first on Новости IT и бизнеса.

“Over the past three years, PR room Awards has grown into a respected national platform, bringing together more than 120 projects. This experience has given us a deep and practical understanding of what truly effective, results-driven communications look like in Kazakhstan.
Today, we are taking the next step — moving onto the international stage. Our goal is to connect projects that operate across multiple markets, position Kazakhstan as a strategic hub, attract investment, and develop export-ready ideas, products, and communication practices. PRroom Awards: global and Central Asia Cross-Markets is designed to become a catalyst for these cross-border collaborations” – Ainur Jumadilova, Chair of the Jury.

Application period: February 1 to November 23.
Winners announcement: by November 27.
Please follow updates on our website.

Don’t Miss Our Early Bird Submission Opportunity!
Submit your entry by September 30 to take full advantage of early bird benefits – 100 $

Submissions after this date will be accepted at the standard fee – 150 $. You can request an invoice by sending an email.

Submissions are accepted via the email address info@prroom.org  and ensure that aleminform@gmail.com is included in copy

PR room Awards – 2025

Panel of Judges

Ainur Jumadilova is a PR and GR professional with extensive experience in public-sector and financial communications. She currently serves as Deputy Director of Communications at the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Chair of the Committee on Professional Status Development at the Association of Media Professionals (APRM).
Ainur is an active member of the PR room professional community and the Chair of the Jury of the annual PR room Awards. In this role, she contributes to the advancement of industry standards, transparency, and cross-market PR practices in Kazakhstan and across the region.

Costinela Drăgan is Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Director at Rompetrol Group, with over 20 years of experience in the energy sector. She leads the Group’s sustainability strategy and transition agenda, with a strong focus on environmental performance, emissions management, stakeholder engagement and community investment. In this role, she also oversees and coordinates the CSR campaigns and social investment programs across the Group, ensuring alignment with business priorities and societal needs.

She has also acted as a sustainability consultant for KMG NC, supporting the company in the preparation of its first sustainability report, contributing to the development of reporting structures, materiality assessment and alignment with international sustainability standards.

In addition to her corporate role, Costinela has been actively involved in the development and implementation of social impact initiatives, collaborating with a wide range of non-governmental organisations operating in areas such as education, health, social inclusion, culture and environmental protection.

Costinela holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Bucharest and an Executive Master of Management in Energy from BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo.

Between 2017 and 2019, Costinela served as President of Global Compact Network Romania, the local network of the United Nations Global Compact, promoting the UN principles on human rights, environmental protection and responsible governance within the business community.

Aigerim Omarbekova (Dubai) serves as a Marketing Director at Fasset, the first Islamic Digital Bank Onchain. Targeting 3 billion people from Morocco to Malaysia, it provides full banking, investment and payments services for retail and institutions.

She is a Web3 pioneer with hands-on experience building startups from the ground up: 100K+ community members, organic coverage in tier-1 media like TechCrunch, viral campaigns with 1M+ views.

Aigerim has a diverse background of working across 3 continents for companies in Astana and New York, and is currently based in Dubai.

She holds a Master of Science degree from New York University and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Kamilla Zhalilova (Dubai), co-founder and CEO of Women in Modern Industries and a Consulting Growth Team Leader at one of the Global largest ‘Big 4’ companies
Kamilla Zhalilova is a co-founder and CEO of an international NGO promoting professional development and leadership of women in Energy and Resources industries. With more than 10 years of working with companies in these industries, Kamilla possesses an extensive 18 years experience in international management consulting bringing her knowledge and skillset to further grow and run the Women in Modern Industries community and promote the Award the NGO has established more than five years ago across the world. The award is aimed to recognize achievements of each woman in the industry whose efforts made significant impact on company and industry development. “The award itself and the contest is a great tool for both women participants and companies to assess talents and recognize best professionals on an international level. I am proud the number of participants is growing each year and has trippled since the first launch year!”

Kamila Kaliyeva (Dubai) is a marketing expert and consultant with over 10 years of international experience in marketing, branding, and CRM strategy.

She is currently based in Dubai and works at Majid Al Futtaim, where she is involved in the development of customer strategies, integrated marketing campaigns, and performance-driven initiatives for major international brands across the fashion, retail, and lifestyle sectors. Her experience spans regional and global markets in the Middle East and CIS, including the execution of 360° campaigns, end-to-end customer journey design, marketing automation, and brand growth in highly competitive environments.

Alongside her corporate role, Kamila develops her own consulting projects, supporting companies and personal brands in defining clear positioning, strengthening communications, and building long-term value for their audiences.

Zhamila Pak, Client Service Director, in Amplify Marketing Agency Dubai. Previously worked as Director of Marketing, Communications & PR in KIMEP University.

Assel Kozhakova

Since 2024 Assel is an Official Representative of Euronews in Kazakhstan.

DipM FCIM, Chartered Marketer, is a recognized expert in marketing, PR, and strategic communications, with extensive leadership experience at international companies. She played a key role in the international promotion of EXPO 2017 Astana, having authored the communications strategy and later served as PR and Marketing Director of the project. Her boutique agency, Red Point Kazakhstan with 10-year history, has successfully delivered over 80 projects for international organizations, major economic forums, and world-class cultural events.
Assel is a recipient of multiple national and international awards, including “Talent of the Future” in 2017 and “Best PR Leader Asia-Pacific” in 2022 and recognition by the World Communications Forum in Davos.
In addition to consulting, she is actively engaged in education and media as a bestselling author, “Smart People” podcast host, guest lecturer, mentor.

Zhanar Bekbassova, Founder & CEO of the international communications agency “Turan Business Development” (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, USA), Representative of Al Jazeera Media Network in Central Asia and the Caucasus

Strategic communications expert with 18 years of experience in both government and private sectors. Political scientist, EMBA, ICBT

She has held positions such as Communications Advisor to the Office of the Vice-Prime Minister of Kazakhstan and Head of PR departments in both international and national companies. Zhanar has extensive practical experience in developing and implementing communication strategies for government bodies, multinational corporations, and major local businesses.

Co-author and trainer of:

Mini MBA “Effective PR Strategies: From Writing to Implementation”

Mini MBA “Strategic Communications in Business & Government Relations”

Zangar Boztayev is CEO at Genesis CSP – an official YouTube partner, providing YouTube promotion services. Company is operating in 30+ countries, including USA, Canada, Asian region, etc.

Valentina Butnik, Сhief External Communications and Reputation Management, Beeline Uzbekistan (VEON Group)

Valentina Butnik is a recognized expert in public relations and reputation management with more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Since 2021, she has led external communications and reputation management at Beeline Uzbekistan.
She has expertise in strategic, international, cross-cultural, and crisis communications, as well as in information risk management and executive positioning. Valentina began her PR career in Russia and, in 2014, was appointed Director of Public Relations at MegaFon Tajikistan. Under her leadership, major national and international projects were implemented, gaining support from government bodies and diplomatic missions, reaching the international level, and earning prestigious professional awards.
At Beeline Uzbekistan, Valentina combines corporate standards with local cultural codes, introducing innovative approaches to communications. In 2023, she launched the PRO TALKS discussion platform — a community for professionals in communications (PR, GR, IR, marketing, and more).
In addition, Valentina heads the Public Relations and Strategic Communications Committee at the Europe-Uzbekistan Association for Economic Cooperation (EUROUZ), where she drives initiatives aimed at strengthening Uzbekistan’s image on the international stage.
She graduated from Khakass State University named after N. F. Katanov with dual degrees in History, Social Studies and Law and Economics and Enterprise Management. She is also a graduate of the Independent Director, Board of Directors program at TEAM Executive Education, which focuses on corporate governance and strategic responsibility.

Shirin Dubanaeva, founder of the Communicators Club of Kyrgyzstan, PR of Wildberries in Kyrgyzstan

Shirin Dubanaeva is the founder of the Communicators Club of Kyrgyzstan and an expert in PR and e-commerce with over 13 years of professional experience. She has worked with commercial, governmental, and international organizations, and has consulted the press offices of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Ministry of Transport and Roads of the Kyrgyz Republic on communications and media relations. She currently serves as the PR of Wildberries in Kyrgyzstan.

Tagzhana Aidaralieva, PR Manager at Bank Kompanion (Kyrgyzstan)

I possess extensive professional experience in public relations spanning government, non-governmental, and private sectors. Core areas of expertise include: • designing and executing comprehensive PR strategies • managing institutional reputation and public image • building and maintaining effective media and stakeholder relations • fostering cross-sector partnerships and collaboration This background enables me to approach communications with a strategic, interdisciplinary, and systemic perspective. IVLP Alumna Hanns Seidel Foundation Alumna Author of the brochure “Your Own Press Secretary,” Bishkek, 2018

Ainur Mukanova
Business Development Director at Swiss Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship (Central Asia)
​Ainur Mukanova is a strategic leader and expert in international business development. Currently serving as the Director for Central Asia at SITE, she specializes in building cross-border professional ecosystems.
​As the Co-founder of Nomad Travel DMC and a Member of the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, Ainur bridges the gap between Kazakhstan and European markets. She is a renowned high-level networker and the creator of signature business tours across Europe, dedicated to fostering global partnerships and excellence in the event industry

Alexander Likhtman is the Founder and CEO of the international PR agency ITCOMMS, specializing in strategic communications for technology companies and venture-backed businesses.

With over 20 years of experience in sales, PR and marketing within the IT industry, Alexander has led cross-border communication projects across Central Asia, the Caucasus and the MENA region. He has advised international technology brands and high-growth startups on market entry strategies, investor communications and reputation management, including confidential global-scale projects under NDA.

Alexander mentors founders on marketing strategy and PR team development, helping early-stage and scaling companies align communications with business growth objectives. He is the author of a book and a lecturer on PR, strategic communications and artificial intelligence.

He teaches specialized courses at AlmaU, MACS and BHSAD and has previously spoken at major industry platforms including Digital Bridge, Digital Almaty, Tashkent Advertising Festival, Astana Hub and Plus Forum Tashkent.

Alexander has extensive expertise in working with the venture capital ecosystem, supporting startups in building investor-facing narratives and managing reputational risks in competitive international markets.

From Kazakhstan to the World. From the Region to Impact.
PR room International Awards
Concept: Regional Cross-Market Competition

PR room International Awards is a regional, cross-market competition designed to recognize communication teams and creators who operate simultaneously across multiple markets (Kazakhstan + Europe, Kazakhstan + USA / Canada, Kazakhstan + Central Asia/ Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and beyond)
This approach highlights mature regional projects and export-ready PR practices.

Application period: February 1 to November 23.
Winners announcement: by November 27.
Please follow updates on our website.

Don’t Miss Our Early Bird Submission Opportunity!
Submit your entry by September 30 to take full advantage of early bird benefits – 100 $

Submissions after this date will be accepted at the standard fee – 150 $

Submissions are accepted via the email address info@prroom.org  and ensure that aleminform@gmail.com is included in copy

Detailed competition terms and selection rules will be available via the link below

PDF

Idea and Positioning
PR room International Awards: Central Asia and International Cross-Markets recognize PR projects that:
• operate across two or more markets, requiring meaningful localization of narratives, channels, and stakeholder engagement;
• connect Kazakhstan with international markets (Europe, the USA) or with the Central Asian region (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), or with the Caucasus and Mongolia, or with the Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and beyond)
• demonstrate effectiveness not only through reach, but through reputation management, risk mitigation, compliance, and cultural fluency.

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This landmark partnership between SAP and Databricks marks a new era in enterprise data management, combining the efforts of two industry leaders to reimagine the principles of application and data platform interaction. The new solution natively integrates Databricks technologies for data engineering, machine learning, and artificial intelligence tasks.

“SAP Business Data Cloud unlocks the full potential of enterprise data for business AI,” said SAP CEO Christian Klein. “SAP Business Data Cloud combines SAP’s unique expertise in critical business processes and semantically rich data with Databricks’ global engineering standards, creating a revolutionary solution that helps organizations extract more value from their data than ever before.”

“Every company on the planet is striving to make the most of their data and ensure a high return on investment in artificial intelligence,” said Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks. “By joining forces with SAP, we are helping organizations integrate all their data, regardless of its format and location, for effective management, in-depth analysis, and the creation of specialized AI applications based on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.”

Introduction to the Data Economy

SAP Business Data Cloud also contributes to the development of the data economy by providing fully managed SAP data across all business processes – from finance, expenses, and supply chains in SAP S/4HANA and SAP Ariba to training and HR data in SAP SuccessFactors. These data products retain their original business context and semantics, providing instant access to high-quality data without costly extraction processes. For example, if a CFO needs to assess the impact of rising inflation on profitability, SAP Business Data Cloud integrates real-time external data, such as the consumer price index, with financial data, such as general ledger accounts or cost centers, to create a comprehensive financial picture.

SAP Business Data Cloud will also offer new capabilities called analytics applications that leverage data products and AI models connected to real-time data to provide enhanced analytics and planning across all areas of the business, including core enterprise analytics, finance, and human resources management.

“SAP Business Data Cloud will help us unlock the potential of our data and drive innovation in our business,” said Markus Hartmann, Vice President Corporate Solutions and Head of Business Technologies and Regions Europe, APAC and IMEA, at Henkel, an international chemical and consumer goods company. “Semantically rich data and deep integration with Databricks will expand our current capabilities and allow us to model scenarios and use AI-powered analytics, shaping a sustainable future for our data ecosystems.”

Realizing the Full Potential of AI Agents

SAP Business Data Cloud will enhance the ability of Joule, SAP’s generative AI assistant, to accelerate cross-functional workflows and optimize business solutions using AI agents. Thanks to the industry’s highest quality enterprise database and the SAP Knowledge Graph solution, which provides a business-friendly data model, Joule agents deeply understand end-to-end processes and can interact with various functions to solve complex business problems that no other out-of-the-box agent-building solution can do.

Highlighting the importance of the announcement and its significance for innovation in artificial intelligence, SAP also introduced a series of ready-to-use Joule agents for finance, services, sales, and other areas within the SAP Business Suite. For example, in finance, Joule agents will collaborate on various tasks, enabling accelerated claims processing and optimized cash flow. Joule agents for sales, in turn, will accelerate multi-stage business processes, contributing to faster dispute resolution and customer request processing.

SAP also introduced a new agent creation feature that allows customers to develop and deploy their own AI agents alongside SAP’s library of ready-to-deploy Joule agents. Decades of SAP’s business process experience are built into the instructable workflow so users can create their agents based on the most relevant data and business context.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP at @SAPNews.

SAP is a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI. For more than 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to manage their key business processes in finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer engagement. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Photo: SAP

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