AIFC Tech Hub, Plug and Play and GenerationS prepares the report «CorpUp Kazakhstan 2021»

AIFC Tech Hub in partnership with the world’s largest innovation platform Plug and Play and the Russian platform for corporate innovations development GenerationS conducted the first analytical report of Kazakhstan’s corporate innovation market «CorpUp Kazakhstan 2021». The corporate partners of the report were Beeline Kazakhstan and BTS Digital.

The purpose of the report is to provide companies with practical guidance on the introduction of corporate innovation tools, taking into account the realities of the Kazakhstan market, as well as to acquaint the market with the best practices of international and Kazakhstani corporations.

The report was based on interviews with representatives of the largest Kazakhstani companies and experts on corporate innovation, online surveys of more than 70 respondents among Kazakhstani startups and IT companies, analysis of innovation implementation strategies from open sources.

As part of the report, a rating of the top 10 innovative corporations was compiled, as well as the top 10 corporations in Kazakhstan, the most open and attractive for working with external innovations, according to the assessment of the local startup ecosystem. At the same time, experts and representatives of small technology teams shared their views on the difficulties and barriers that corporations and startups face in cooperation.

Readers will be able to get acquainted with the cases of introducing corporate innovations and cooperation with startups in such companies as Beeline Kazakhstan, BTS Digital, BI Group, Halyk Bank, ChocoFamily, Alfa Bank Kazakhstan, Sberbank Kazakhstan, Metro Cash & Carry, PepsiCo, MTC, LENTA, and also with advice and tools for systematic work with innovations based on world experience.

Asel Abdrakhmanova, head of Corporate Innovation at AIFC Tech Hub highlighted: «Kazakhstan has a developed corporate sector and a growing market of B2B startups ready to offer innovative solutions, non-standard ideas, speed, flexibility and high team motivation to solve technological problems of companies. We hope that «CorpUp Kazakhstan will become a kind of traditional platform for constructive dialogue between corporations and startups to develop the practice of open innovation in Kazakhstan». 

Ekaterina Petrova, managing director of GenerationS noted: «The flourishing of innovative activity after the pandemic is largely due not only to the desire of corporations to be leaders in their industries, using innovations, but to obtain unique technologies that can optimize and improve existing processes. We presented the cases of our corporate partners, for whom working with startups is an integral part of their business. And it’s not just about finding technologies, but about larger-scale processes within the corporation – innovation strategy, culture, the whole ecosystem, where every employee is involved. It is these components that determine the level of innovative maturity of a particular company, and hence its readiness to work with startups».

Alexey Sharavar, director of Change and Information Technologies of Beeline Kazakhstan said: «Beeline Kazakhstan provides digital transformation most of all, in which all employees are involved – the transition from a traditional “telecom operator” to a technology company that uses many digital options. We have a story to tell and something to share in the development of corporate innovations. We hope that our experience will be useful for companies that want to quickly embark on the path of innovative development». 

Nurtai Abilgaliev, CEO of BTS Digital noted: «The mission of our company is to create digital solutions that change people’s lives for the better. To do this, at BTS Digital, we not only launch products and services ourselves. We are pleased to share our experience and support for CorpUp Kazakhstan’s initiative to develop corporate innovation in Kazakhstan».

AIFC Tech Hub announced it will hold an official presentation of the report on November 25, 2021 with inviting partners, report participants and experts.

The report «CorpUp Kazakhstan 2021» are available at the link: https://corpfintech.aifc.kz/corpup 

Reference:

Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) created by the initiative of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The constitutional law on the establishment of the AIFC signed on December 7, 2015. The purpose of AIFC is the formation of a leading centre of financial services on the international level. AIFC’s tasks are to assist in attracting investments to the country’s economy by creating an attractive environment for investing in financial services, developing the securities market of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ensuring its integration with international capital markets. www.aifc.kz 

AIFC Tech Hub is the meeting point for global start-ups, entrepreneurs, corporations, investors, experts, and specialists in the field of innovation. Technology development in the AIFC includes programs to support startups, corporate innovations, the venture capital market, specially developed rules and a regulator that allow testing products and solutions in the field of technology.

Plug and Play is the world’s largest open & corporate innovation platform in the world. We are also one of the most active early stage investors. Today we run over 60+ programs 36+ cities across the globe. We match large corporations with the brightest startups to help increase operational efficiencies, lower costs, find new product lines and digitally transform your business.

GenerationS is a platform for corporate innovations development; it is the largest corporate accelerator across Russia and CIS. Since 2021 together with is a part of Russian Direct Investment Fund. GenerationS implements comprehensive corporation development programs including in-house programs for intrapreneurship development, acceleration programs for scouting and external project acceleration, and international programs for staff training in innovations development and management methods based on international leading corporations. 

Beeline Kazakhstan is the leader in terms of the number of subscribers. It is part of the VEON group of companies (Netherlands / Amsterdam) – a global telecommunications and Internet service provider, whose shares are traded on NASDAQ and Euronext Amsterdam. In addition to the standard list of services, Beeline provides a large number of digital options: mobile finance, multimedia services, converged services, big data products, lending, Internet of Things NB-IOT, Machine-to-Machine (M2M), Mobile Device Management (MDM) and E2E -solutions.

BTS Digital is a Kazakhstani digital company that creates an ecosystem of new products and services in the field of e-commerce, communications, fintech, and artificial intelligence. We believe that digital technologies will make life for each of us better, easier and more convenient. BTS Digital is part of the Aitu ecosystem, which includes Aitu – Payment Solutions, BTS Education, Aitu-Dala, Aitu-Sauda, Smart Cities, Impact Lab, and Salem Social Media.