Guest of Honor TechTalk: Abdulakhad Kuchkarov (UIST, August 2026)

The August edition of the Guest of Honor TechTalk Series, run by the Uzbek International Science & Technology Association (UIST), features Abdulakhad Kuchkarov — advisor and former CEO of IT Park Uzbekistan. Topic: how the global Uzbek scientific diaspora can help build the country's next innovation ecosystem. On the agenda

• Diaspora engagement strategies for Uzbekistan's tech sector
• Lessons from scaling technology businesses in Central Asia
• Working with international venture capital
• The role of young professionals in Uzbekistan's digital transformation
• Live Q&A with the speaker

About the speaker Abdulakhad Kuchkarov is a technology policymaker, venture investor and startup-ecosystem builder with over 12 years of work on Central Asia's digital transformation. He rose from Startup Director to CEO of IT Park Uzbekistan, sits on the investment boards of three venture capital firms, and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council. Format and access Online via Zoom, 20:00–22:00 Tashkent time on Sunday 16 August 2026 (08:00 PST / 11:00 EST / 17:00 CET). Attendance is free; registration is through the Zoom link on the event page.

National AI Hackathon 2026 - Qarshi Stage

The Qarshi stage of Uzbekistan's National AI Hackathon runs 15-18 August 2026 at the Youth Centre of Qarshi State University (Olimlar Street 17A, Qarshi, Kashkadarya Region). Participation is free. Over four days, teams build applied artificial intelligence projects with mentor support, workshops and checkpoint reviews, finishing with finalist pitches in front of an expert panel. Tracks

• Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
• Education
• Entrepreneurship
• Additional tracks announced by the organisers

Prizes

• 1st place: Apple MacBook Air
• 2nd place: 20,000,000 UZS
• 3rd place: 10,000,000 UZS
• Special awards for the best presentation and the most relevant social project

Who can take part Registration is individual and subject to organiser approval. Participants must be 16 or older, hold a passport or ID card, and be residents of Kashkadarya Region. Anyone who has already competed in another regional stage is not eligible. Registration closes on 13 August at 23:59. Winning teams from the regional stages advance to the National AI Hackathon grand final in Tashkent in December 2026.

IT Park Uzbekistan Corporate Ideathon 2026

IT Park Uzbekistan ran its first internal corporate ideathon in Tashkent, closing with pitches and judging on 15 August 2026. Around 100 IT Park employees formed 24 teams and worked through a structured problem-discovery, hypothesis-testing and solution-design cycle over several days, timed to mark 35 years of Uzbekistan's independence. Each team had three minutes to pitch plus five minutes of Q&A. The jury combined IT Park management with external evaluators from Astana Hub, CS Angels Club and IT Park Ventures, scoring on practical significance, relevance and development potential. Winners by category

• One Employee — One AI Company: Nexus
• Venture Investments and Alternative Financing: Joinme
• Expanding Startups into International Markets: ITPMS
• A New Export Niche — $5 Billion by 2030: HELPS

IT Park said it will now look at folding the winning ideas into its actual processes and turning them into working internal products. Note: this edition was an internal, employee-only event rather than an open public competition.

NEXUS30 Hackathon 2026

NEXUS30 is a three-day product hackathon running in Tashkent on 14-16 August 2026, starting at 09:00 at 13 Ziyolilar Street in the Mirzo Ulugbek district. Teams build a working prototype in 72 hours and pitch it to a jury at the end of the weekend. Format

• 40 teams of 3 people, 8 teams per track
• Ages 16-30
• Open to developers, designers, product-minded builders and aspiring founders
• Participation is free

Tracks (5)

1. Healthcare
2. Education
3. Tourism
4. Public administration
5. Fintech

Participants get access to resources from international technology partners, including Yandex Cloud and Render, for the duration of the build. Applications close on 7 August 2026 at 23:59, with selection results announced on 8 August. The speaker line-up and the detailed programme are published closer to the event; accepted teams receive the full materials after registration. The hackathon is organised by NEXT US LLC with the support of the Mirzo Ulugbek District Administration of Tashkent.

National AI Hackathon 2026 — Navoi Stage

The National AI Hackathon continues its tour of Uzbekistan's regions with a four-day stage in Navoi, 10–13 August 2026, held at the Shirin Culture Palace (Shirin Madaniyat saroyi), 4A Memorlar Street. Tracks. Teams build AI solutions to real problems in three directions: healthcare and pharmaceuticals, education, and entrepreneurship. Participants work alongside mentors and experienced specialists, then pitch their prototypes to a panel of experts. Who can join. Open to AI enthusiasts aged 16 and over with a valid ID. Registration is individual and subject to approval by the organisers. This stage is reserved for residents of the Navoi region, and applicants who already took part in another regional stage are not eligible. Cost and prizes. Participation is free. Winners receive prizes including an Apple MacBook Air and cash awards; the strongest teams from every regional stage advance towards the National AI Hackathon grand final in Tashkent in December 2026. Deadline. Applications close 8 August 2026 at 23:59. Organised by the AI Alliance NGO as part of the nationwide National AI Hackathon programme, which has already run stages in Samarkand, Bukhara and Fergana.

International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2026 — Tashkent

Uzbekistan hosts the 38th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI 2026) in Tashkent from 9 to 16 August 2026 — the world's most prestigious competitive-programming contest for secondary-school students, and one of the five major international science olympiads. Scale. IOI 2026 sets a record for the competition's history: 386 contestants from 97 countries, accompanied by around 300 international team leaders, deputy leaders and IOI Committee members, plus representatives of major global IT companies. Venue. The official competition venue is the Central Asian Expo (CAEx) Uzbekistan International Exhibition Center in Tashkent; delegations are accommodated at the New Uzbekistan Hotel Village, with the host committee covering local expenses, full catering and domestic transfers for contestants and leaders from 9 to 16 August. Format. Contestants compete individually over two five-hour competition days, solving algorithmic problems judged automatically. Between competition days the programme includes excursions and cultural events across Tashkent. Why it matters. Uzbekistan becomes only the second Central Asian country to host the IOI, after Kazakhstan in 2015. The national team, which took silver and bronze at IOI 2025 in Bolivia, competes on home ground. Participation is by national delegation only — countries register through the official IOI 2026 host organising committee at ioi2026.uz.

National Transport Hackathon 2026

Uzbekistan's first National Transport Hackathon brought teams to the Radisson Blu Hotel in Tashkent for a 72-hour offline sprint on digital services and artificial intelligence for the transport sector. Organizers and partners

• Organizer: Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan
• Official partner: Yandex Uzbekistan
• Technical partners: Ministry of Digital Technologies, IT Park Uzbekistan, AI Alliance Uzbekistan
• Co-organizer: Center for Digital Transport

Tracks

1. Services and applications that improve mobility for the population
2. Introducing artificial intelligence into the Ministry of Transport's information systems
3. Analysis of large-scale transport data

Details

• Format: 72-hour offline hackathon
• Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel, Tashkent
• Participation: free of charge
• Prize fund: 320 million UZS

Teams worked on projects spanning aviation, rail and road transport, with mentoring from experts in transport, AI, data analytics and digital products. Minister of Transport Ilkhom Makhkamov said digitalizing transport remains a key reform priority and that the ministry intends to make the hackathon a regular event. According to First Deputy Minister Mamanbiy Omarov, the ministry runs more than 40 digital projects and its information systems are used by around 5 million people each month.

IT Park Code Cup 2026

IT Park Code Cup 2026 was a team competitive-programming contest organised by IT Park Uzbekistan. After an online qualifying round, the offline final stage was held on 1 August 2026 at Tashkent University of Information Technologies (TUIT), where eight teams of three competed head-to-head. Teams were judged on their command of algorithms and competitive programming, analytical thinking, the efficiency of their solutions to complex problems, and teamwork under time pressure. Results

• 1st place — TUIT: Davlatbek Mirokilov, Azizbek Marufjonov, Shokhrukh Rakhmatillayev
• 2nd place — New Uzbekistan University: Mardon Khazratov, Muhammadayubkhon Erkinov, Khusanboy Mansuralliev
• 3rd place — Moscow State University, Tashkent branch: Svyatoslav Kim, Kirill Rezontov, Rodion Sofienkov

The winning teams earned places at the International Competitive Programming Training Camp in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Global Business Services Forum (GBSF) 2026

The Global Business Services Forum (GBSF) 2026 is a two-day international forum on outsourcing and digital services, organized by IT Park Uzbekistan together with global partners. It takes place on 24-25 July 2026 at the IT Park Complex, Muminov Street 4, Tashkent. The forum brings together international and local IT companies, business services centers, investors and industry experts to discuss the development of global business services, digital outsourcing and export-oriented IT services. Agenda topics include the impact of artificial intelligence on the services market, trends in relocating operational processes, and the growth of Uzbekistan's digital services sector. Program structure:

• Day 1 (24 July) - Strategic Vision: keynotes, market-entry insights for Central Asia, and site visits.
• Day 2 (25 July) - Practical Execution: hands-on workshops and roundtables covering company setup, government incentives, legal frameworks, and visits to local unicorn companies.

All sessions are conducted in English. Registration is open via Luma at https://luma.com/qw5d41g3.

AI in FinTech Meetup 2026 - GDG Tashkent

AI in FinTech Meetup 2026 was a free in-person tech talk hosted by GDG Tashkent on 9 July 2026 at the IMPACT.T technology hub, 186 Bogiboston Street, Tashkent. GDG Tashkent partnered with two leading Uzbek FinTech companies - Salmon and Uzum - to show how they apply AI in production systems. Talks:

• "Letting an AI Touch Production Data (Without Losing Sleep)" - Lookuut Struchkov, Head of Data Platform at Salmon.
• "How to transform a team's experience into skills for an AI agent and achieve predictable results" - Sergey Chamkin, Senior Backend Developer at Uzum FinTech.

Attendees gained practical insight into the engineering challenges of running AI against real financial data, plus networking with the local FinTech and developer community.

Build With AI: Harness AI Studio & ADK for Business - GDG Tashkent

Build With AI: Harness AI Studio & ADK for Business was a free in-person session by GDG Tashkent held on 26 May 2026 at the IMPACT.T Technology Hub coworking space, 186 Bogiboston Street, Tashkent. The session explored how to use Google AI Studio to prototype quickly and make data-driven business decisions, and how to move from a prototype to production-grade agents using the Agent Development Kit (ADK). Speakers:

• Ahmed Alolaywi - Research Development Process Engineer, Google Developer Expert in Machine Learning.
• Yusuf Abdullaev - serial EdTech entrepreneur.

The event is part of GDG Tashkent's ongoing Build with AI series, which also included the EdTech Ideathon, EdTech Hackathon and FinTech Hackathon earlier in 2026.

Build with AI: EdTech Hackathon - GDG Tashkent

Build with AI EdTech Hackathon by Google Developer Group Tashkent. Teams build AI-powered educational technology solutions during a hands-on hackathon, part of the global Build with AI series. Free community event in Tashkent.

Build with AI: EdTech Ideathon - GDG Tashkent

Build with AI EdTech Ideathon by Google Developer Group Tashkent. An ideation session where participants shape AI-driven educational technology concepts ahead of the EdTech Hackathon. Free community event in Tashkent.

Build with AI: Fintech Hackathon - GDG Tashkent

In-person fintech hackathon using Google AI tools (Gemini, Cloud) at New Uzbekistan University, ~480 RSVPs. Part of the Build with AI series.

Cursor AI Hackathon Tashkent 2026

Free 48-hour AI building hackathon for developers of all levels. Winning projects: an AI agent for marketplace sellers, an urban-pollution detection platform, and a real-time 3D brain-surgery simulation. Sponsored by Click.

National AI Hackathon 2026 - Bukhara Stage

Regional Bukhara stage of the National AI Hackathon. 15 finalists across Healthcare, Education and Entrepreneurship tracks; visited by the Presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan on April 11, 2026.

CBU Coding Hackathon 2026 - Code and Ideas Battle

Fintech hackathon by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan on Smart Banking and Fintech. Qualification ran Feb 16 to Mar 16 2026 with the final on Mar 27-28. Prize pool 350 million UZS.

CAU Tech Hackathon 2026

Large international student hackathon at Central Asian University with ~1,200 participants from 17 countries. Tracks: AI in Healthcare (48h), Cybersecurity CTF, and a Robotics Challenge. Supported by Cisco.

ActInSpace Uzbekistan 2026 - National Stage

National stage of the international ActInSpace hackathon led by CNES (France) and ESA, hosted at Tashkent University of Information Technologies together with the Uzbekspace Agency. Around 100 students from across Uzbekistan built projects on satellite data and space technology in a single day; the winning team advanced to represent Uzbekistan at the international finals in Bordeaux, France.

National AI Hackathon 2026 - Samarkand Stage

Second regional stage of Uzbekistan National AI Hackathon in Samarkand. ~400 specialists in teams built AI solutions for healthcare, cybersecurity, education and entrepreneurship.

AI500 Hackathon 2025

One of the largest AI hackathons in the history of Uzbekistan, organized by the IT Community of Uzbekistan together with Agrobank, with a prize fund of up to 500 million UZS. More than 2500 applications and 1345 teams competed; the 50 strongest projects reached the final in Tashkent on 13 December 2025. The grand prize of 200 million UZS went to team Apollo for an AI system that detects plant diseases from photos.

NASA Space Apps Challenge - Tashkent 2025

Tashkent local edition of the NASA Space Apps Challenge, the world largest annual hackathon, using open NASA data for space and earth science challenges.

Innovative AI Hackathon 2025

International AI hackathon organized by the International Coding Academy, the University of Munster (Germany), School21 and IT Park Uzbekistan. Held at the School21 Tashkent campus, it brought together participants from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Germany, Cyprus and other countries to apply artificial intelligence across the design-thinking process around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with international expert lectures and workshops.

International AI Forum & Hackathon Samarkand 2025

Hackathon alongside an international AI forum with CIS participation in Samarkand. 120+ participants in 24 teams built AI solutions for finance, education, social services and business.

Open Data Challenge (7th edition)

Seventh edition of the annual Open Data Challenge at New Uzbekistan University. 150+ participants in 60 teams built digital solutions on government open data; 8 teams reached the final.

Urban.Tech Uzbekistan 2024

48-hour hackathon held as part of Innoweek-2024 at UzExpoCenter (Pavilion 2) in Tashkent, hosted by Tashkent University of Information Technologies. Participants worked across four tracks - Social Tech, Enterprise Tech, Industry Tech and Health Tech - building projects, gaining skills and making connections.