On 2 and 3 February 2023, the 5th International Digital Forum “Digital Almaty: Digital Partnership in the New Reality” was held in Almaty. The main theme of the Forum was the modern global challenges in the development of innovative technologies. Another important theme of the Forum was dedicated to the creation of the best digital services by integrating the efforts of the state and private companies.
The Forum programme included 29 panel discussions with more than 150 speakers from the international and Kazakhstani IT communities. More than 17,000 visitors were counted on the first day of the Forum.
The Forum included the Industry 4.0 Exhibition, the Higher Education Exhibition, the Astana Hub Battle, a technological marathon, a startup exhibition, an international championship in children’s robotics, an IT award, Digital Almaty Awards, Tech Garden Awards, and a digital enterprise development competition.
The Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI) participated in the universities’ exhibition and represented Nazarbayev University together with the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences (SEDS). In addition, ISSAI and SEDS researcher Tolegen Akhmetov presented his project “Industrial Safety using AR” in the Forum’s Innovation Zone, where projects related to digital technologies for manufacturing were exhibited. ISSAI members spoke about the Institute’s scientific projects and developments, such as AI projects for Kazakh and Turkic languages.
The ISSAI projects attracted the attention of many young people interested in big data, data science, and AI. In addition, several well-known bloggers recorded videos about the Institute’s projects. The Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Sayasat Nurbek, visited the ISSAI stand and asked questions about the Institute’s latest projects.
At the opening ceremony of the Forum, the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, Bagdat Mussin, and the Akim of Almaty Yerbolat Dosaev gave welcoming speeches.
“Digital Almaty has already become a unique platform where business representatives, international experts, and the IT community meet. One of our key priorities is the development of the information technology industry. The Kazakhstani IT market already includes more than 10 thousand companies and 150 thousand employees in the industry. One person working in the IT industry creates three jobs in related industries,” said Mr. Mussin.
On the first day, participants of the sessions discussed the digital mining industry in Kazakhstan, digital transformation of public administration, prospects for the development of crypto exchanges, cybersecurity issues, and technologies in the field of education.
The second day of the Forum began with a plenary session attended by the heads of government of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries. During the panel sessions, the Forum participants discussed the development of technological parks, corporate innovation trends, data regulation issues in digital markets, the creative industries and digitalisation for the public good.