CYBERKENT 4.0 — National Cybersecurity Competition Final

Uzbekistan's largest live-fire cybersecurity competition reaches its final. CYBERKENT 4.0 closes its fourth season on 5-6 October 2026 at Yoshlar Ijod Saroyi (Youth Creativity Palace) in Tashkent, organised by the state institution Kiberxavfsizlik Markazi (Cybersecurity Center). How the field was decided. Over 300 teams entered the online qualifiers: the Blue Team qualifier ran on 15 September and the Red Team qualifier on 22 September 2026 (10:00-19:00 Tashkent time, with the scoreboard frozen at 18:30). The top 10 teams in each track advance, filling 20 slots in the offline final. The two tracks, both running 48 hours:

• Red Team — offensive operations against production-grade infrastructure. The qualifier covered web exploitation, binary exploitation, cryptography, network analysis and steganography, with a dynamic scoring system and Dockerised challenges reached over VPN.
• Blue Team — defensive operations on assigned systems: SIEM work, log analysis and incident response.

Alongside the two main tracks the final runs a CTF competition and the CyberMergan and CyberQuiz interactive zones. Prize pool: 270 million UZS, split evenly — 90M UZS to the Red Team track, 90M UZS to the Blue Team track, and 90M UZS across the side competitions. Teams are 3-5 operators. Registration for the qualifiers ran from 24 August to 20 September through the track portals (red.cyberkent.uz, blue.cyberkent.uz, ctf.cyberkent.uz); the full regulations are published as a PDF on the Red Team site. Contact: info@cyberkent.uz. Worth knowing: the entry route for this year has already closed — the October dates are the final for teams that came through the September qualifiers. If you want a slot next season, the pattern across four years has been a late-August registration opening with qualifiers in mid-September, so the window to watch is roughly eleven months out. What makes CYBERKENT unusual for the region is that it is not purely a jeopardy CTF: putting a defending Blue Team track on equal prize footing with the attacking Red Team is closer to how a real SOC is tested, and it is the reason the event draws sponsorship and attention from Uzbekistan's national cybersecurity apparatus rather than just the student CTF scene.

Women Cup 2026 Final

Women Cup 2026 is an accelerator and pitch competition for women-led creative and digital businesses in Uzbekistan, run by the U-Enter Innovation Centre together with the international Virtual Accelerate platform and financed by the Government of Switzerland. The programme opened in mid-July 2026 and closed with a final demo day in Tashkent on 1 October 2026.

Scope

• More than 120 applications were submitted from across Uzbekistan.
• Over 30 women-led projects were selected into the programme.
• 12 finalists pitched on stage at the closing event.

Covered sectors included design, fashion, textiles, architecture, art, media, digital production and crafts.

Programme

Participants went through 14 training sessions on product development, customer research, financial management, branding and sales, plus one-to-one mentorship from international experts, business tours and an introduction to 3D technologies.

Winners

1. Shami — a fragrance and souvenir brand producing handmade candles, diffusers and ceramic items.
2. Evoke Bureau — a visual communications studio working with fashion brands.
3. Mimoram AI — an AI platform that turns photos into 3D renovation models with cost estimates.

Winners received the opportunity to take part in Dubai Design Week.

AI Teams & Smart Capital: Workshop with International Experts

A hands-on workshop for founders and tech leads held at School 21 in Tashkent as part of the ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 programme. The session focuses on two themes:

• Building teams that work effectively with AI — role distribution in small teams, and how AI changes the shape of an engineering organisation. Led by Julian Gilliam (Meta).
• Smart capital and strategic partnerships — how to pick investors and partners who add more than money. Led by John Paul Isham (Xsolla).

The programme closes with a fireside chat featuring Antony Doeh and Jahongir Normatov on how founder priorities shift as a company grows and moves into new markets. Starts at 11:00. Free registration via StartupBase.

Techstars Startup Weekend Tashkent 2026

The Tashkent edition of Techstars Startup Weekend runs 25-27 September 2026, one week after the Andijan stage, closing out Techstars Uzbekistan's autumn regional series. Over 54 hours, participants take an idea through the full early-stage cycle: open-mic pitching, team formation, customer validation, prototype development and a closing demo in front of judges drawn from the local and international startup ecosystem. Format highlights:

• Friday: open pitches, voting, teams assembled around the winning ideas
• Saturday: customer discovery, business model work, prototype build
• Sunday: final build, rehearsal and demo day judging

Startup Weekend has run in Tashkent since 2018 and has since expanded into Uzbekistan's regions. The programme is operated by Hackonnect under the Techstars Uzbekistan startup community partnership, alongside UzVC. The weekend is open to developers, designers, marketers, analysts and aspiring founders; teams are formed on site, so individual participants are welcome.

TAQDIMOT 2026 - Startup Show & Pitch Battle

TAQDIMOT (Startup Show & Pitch Battle) closes the four-day startup and investment agenda of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. Selected technology startups take the stage for short presentations and live pitch battles. Founders present their product and business model, get direct feedback from the panel, and meet investors and potential partners in the room. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 25 September 2026

IGNYTE AI Challenge 2026

The IGNYTE AI Challenge 2026 is the closing-day startup competition of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026, held in Hall 3 of the CAEx exhibition centre in Tashkent on 25 September. Five shortlisted finalist teams pitch their solutions to a panel of international experts across dedicated challenge tracks focused on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, followed by recognition of leading talent in AI and security. The session is open to ICT Week attendees, who can watch founders present live, track emerging AI products from the region, and meet the teams behind them. It runs alongside AWS Community Day Uzbekistan and the TAQDIMOT startup show on the same day, closing out the four-day ICT Week programme.

IT Park GovTech AI Challenge 2026

IT Park Uzbekistan's GovTech AI Challenge invites regional and global startups to bring AI solutions that make public services faster, cheaper, and easier to reach. Applications closed on 23 July 2026; the shortlisted teams pitch at the Demo Day held during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 at CAEx Tashkent (Milliy bog' street 1) on 25 September. Focus areas

• Automating public-sector workflows — applications, document verification, translation
• Predictive, data-driven governance
• Citizen engagement through multilingual chatbots
• Optimising state-owned enterprises
• Closing accessibility gaps for low-digital-access users

Format and prize Three to five finalists compete at the Demo Day. One winner takes US$10,000 and a route into piloting with Uzbek government platforms. Requirements Solutions must be market-ready or close to it, support Uzbek and Russian, comply with Uzbekistan's digital security regulations, and offer an API-first architecture suitable for integration with national platforms. The challenge is administered on the Ignyte platform and appears in the ICT Week programme as the "Ignyte Challenge by IT Park".

Central Asia Fintech Forum at ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026

A fintech forum organised with the Central Asian Fintech Association on the closing day of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The session brings together banks, payment companies, regulators and fintech startups from across Central Asia to discuss cross-border payments, regional regulation and the practical steps behind Uzbekistan's National FinTech Strategy for 2026-2030. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Hall 2, Tashkent When: 25 September 2026, 10:00-12:00

GameGap 2026 - Uzbekistan Game Industry Showcase

GameGap is the game development track of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. Uzbek game studios present their projects to publishers and investors, with sessions on funding, publishing deals and taking local titles to international markets. The showcase follows IT Park Uzbekistan's delegation of Uzbek studios to Gamescom 2026 in August and the 39 games built at the 35 LVL Game Jam. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 25 September 2026

AWS Community Day Central Asia 2026 - Tashkent

AWS Community Day Central Asia 2026 comes to Tashkent on 25 September 2026, hosted at CAEx (Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan), Main Hall 1, Milliy bog' street 1. It is organised by the AWS User Group Tashkent and closes out ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 (22-25 September), which runs at the same venue. What it is: AWS Community Days are one-day, community-led conferences where the content is owned and delivered by community speakers, leaders and volunteers rather than by AWS itself. The Central Asia edition is run jointly by the AWS user group communities of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Programme: technical sessions, hands-on labs and networking, covering serverless, AI/ML, containers, security, DevOps and cloud architecture. Three session formats are on the agenda - short talks (~25 minutes), full talks (~45 minutes) and workshops (~2 hours). Sessions are delivered in English. Call for speakers: the CFP is open at awsug.uz/cfp and closes on 25 August 2026, with speaker notifications to follow. Organisers say they are looking in particular for sessions with practical value - ideas, approaches and insights attendees can apply directly at work. Supporters listed by the organisers include AWS, IT Park Uzbekistan, EPAM and Startup Choyxona. The detailed agenda and attendee registration have not been published yet; the start and end times above are indicative pending the official schedule. Contact and updates: awsug.uz, hello@awsug.uz.

Practical Workshop for Founders Entering the U.S. Market

A 90-minute practical workshop at Founders Hub, Tashkent, held during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026, aimed at startup founders and C-level executives planning a move into the United States. Topics covered:

• Visa routes for founders — the practical differences between O-1A, L-1A and L-1B, and which profile fits which route.
• Relocating startup employees to the U.S. and the paperwork that comes with it.
• Expansion planning — what to put in place before the first U.S. entity, hire or customer.

Speaker: Daniyar Yerdenov, CFO at Alma.

SABRIYA: Women in Digital Economy 2026

SABRIYA is the women-in-tech track of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026, running on 24 September at CAEx (Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan), Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent. The programme is built around women's entrepreneurship and technology leadership: keynotes, interactive sessions and open discussion on the role of women in the digital economy, how to grow a technology company from Uzbekistan, and the practical routes into launching your own project. The day closes with Leadership Awards. It shares a venue and a day with the Startup World Cup regional final and the Uzbekistan – Middle East Tech Summit, so anyone already on site for the pitch programme can move between halls. Format: in-person, open to individual participants. Registration runs through the ICT Week platform.

Uzum Forum: From Industry to Platforms 2026

Uzum Forum: "From Industry to Platforms" is a dedicated business session hosted by Uzum — Uzbekistan's largest technology group — inside the official programme of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The forum runs on 24 September 2026, 10:00–12:00, in Hall 2 at CAEx (Central Asia Expo), Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent. It sits on the same day as the Startup World Cup Uzbekistan regional final and the GCC / Uzbekistan–Middle East Tech Summit, so attendees can move between tracks. Theme. The session looks at how traditional industries in Uzbekistan turn into platform businesses — marketplaces, fintech, logistics and delivery networks built on top of shared digital infrastructure. Uzum founder and CEO Djasur Djumaev is among the confirmed ICT Week speakers. Who it is for. Founders, product and platform teams, retail and logistics operators, banks and fintech companies, and investors looking at consumer-internet plays in Central Asia. Access. The forum is part of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 (22–25 September); visitor registration for the week is free via the official site. ICT Week 2026 expects 25,000+ visitors and 300+ exhibiting companies from more than 50 countries.

AI NATIVE: Ideas to Innovation 2026

AI NATIVE: Ideas to Innovation is IT Park Uzbekistan's AI showcase session at ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The programme features live demonstrations of large language models and robotics, plus practical sessions on AI career pathways for developers and students moving into AI-native engineering roles. It runs the same day as the Startup World Cup Uzbekistan regional stage. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Hall 3, Tashkent When: 24 September 2026, 10:00-12:00

Uzbekistan-Middle East Tech Summit 2026

A summit connecting Uzbek technology companies and startups with investors and buyers from the Middle East, held during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The agenda covers investment into Uzbek tech, market-entry routes into Gulf markets, and partnership models for companies expanding in both directions. It follows a year of growing Gulf engagement with Uzbekistan's digital infrastructure and startup ecosystem. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 24 September 2026

National AI Hackathon 2026 — Namangan Stage

The Namangan stage of Uzbekistan's National AI Hackathon, run by the AI Alliance NGO as part of the nationwide programme that tours every region of the country and ends with a grand final in Tashkent in December 2026. Over four days, young people from the Namangan region turn their AI knowledge and ideas into a working project, guided by mentors from leading IT companies and evaluated by an expert panel. Tracks

• Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
• Education
• Entrepreneurship
• Cybersecurity

Key details

• Dates: 24–27 September 2026
• Venue: Yoshlar ziyo maskani library, 101 Islam Karimov avenue, Namangan
• Eligibility: age 16+, valid ID, resident of the Namangan region, not previously registered at another stage of the hackathon
• Participation: free of charge
• Registration closes: 16 September 2026

Prizes

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

The strongest teams from each regional stage move on to the National AI Hackathon grand final in Tashkent.

Startup World Cup 2026 — Uzbekistan Regional Final (Tashkent)

The Startup World Cup holds its first-ever Uzbekistan regional final in Tashkent on 24 September 2026, at CAEx (Central Asia Expo) as part of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. Powered by Silicon Valley's Pegasus Tech Ventures and organised locally by Don'tSettle, the regional final puts founders on a 950-seat main stage alongside keynotes, investor matchmaking and panel discussions. Prize The regional winner receives airfare and entry to the Startup World Cup Grand Finale in San Francisco on 6 November 2026, where startups compete for a $1,000,000 investment prize. Additional partner awards are also available. Who can apply

• Incorporated tech startups from pre-seed to Series A, from any country and any vertical
• At least one team member able to pitch in fluent English
• Global expansion ambitions

Applications close 31 August 2026. Participation and attendance are free. Startup World Cup has run more than 100 regional events across six continents, each feeding a single Grand Finale.

VC Party Tashkent 2026

VC Party Tashkent returns on 23 September 2026 as Central Asia's informal venture networking evening, bringing together startup founders, investors, entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the wider region. Unlike a conference, there are no pitches or panels. The format is deliberately casual: welcome drinks, open networking, a DJ set and group photos. It is designed as an after-hours continuation of the week's business programme, giving founders a relaxed setting to meet investors, and professionals a chance to explore partnerships and collaborations. Details

• Date: 23 September 2026, 19:00
• Venue: MOST C-Space Hub, 20A Ahmad Donish Street, Tashkent
• Organisers: MOST Club Limited and MOST HAMKOR
• Tickets: approx. 380,000 UZS; price rises after 14 September

Registration and payment are handled through the organiser's page.

Global Startup Ecosystem Awards 2026 (Tashkent)

Global Startup Ecosystem Awards 2026

StartupBlink and IT Park Uzbekistan stage the Global Startup Ecosystem Awards in Tashkent on 23 September 2026, inside the Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit track of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The ceremony recognises the cities, countries and regions that performed strongest in StartupBlink's Global Startup Ecosystem Index. Uzbekistan itself is a subject of the story this year: in the 2026 index the country climbed 19 places to 79th globally, posted the world's fastest annual increase in ecosystem score, and was named Country of the Year 2026. Programme

• Awards ceremony for top-performing ecosystems in the StartupBlink global rankings
• Panel discussion "Best Practices in Startup Ecosystem Development", where representatives of leading ecosystems discuss growth drivers, where to concentrate resources, and which practices emerging tech markets can realistically adopt

When & where

• 23 September 2026, morning session
• CAEx (Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan), Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent
• Part of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 (22–25 September); a single free ICT Week visitor badge grants access

Who should attend Founders, investors, ecosystem builders, policy makers and anyone working on startup-ecosystem development in Central Asia.

OTS Technology Forum 2026 (ICT Week Uzbekistan)

A forum of the Organization of Turkic States held as part of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. Delegations from the Turkic States discuss cross-border innovation, shared digital infrastructure and how to connect the region's startup ecosystems into a single market. Sessions cover joint R&D, regulatory alignment and technology transfer between member countries. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 23 September 2026

Tech & Service Outsourcing Conference 2026

A conference on IT and business process outsourcing held during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The agenda covers Uzbekistan's positioning as an outsourcing destination: talent supply and training pipelines, delivery quality, data protection and compliance requirements for international clients, and the practicalities of setting up delivery centres in Tashkent and the regions. IT Park residents exported IT services to more than 90 countries, and the conference is aimed at buyers and providers of those services. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 23 September 2026

International Expert Conference on AI and Ethics 2026

Updated from the official ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 programme, where this session is listed as the AI Ethics Forum under the auspices of UNESCO: Shaping the Future of Responsible AI. Confirmed schedule: 23 September 2026, 10:00–11:30, Hall 2 of the CAEx (Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan) complex, Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent. The forum runs under UNESCO auspices and gathers policymakers, researchers and industry representatives around responsible AI: ethical frameworks for deployment, technology regulation, and the governance questions raised as Uzbekistan scales its national AI programmes. It is one of several AI-focused forums in the ICT Week 2026 programme, which is dedicated this year to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, and takes place the same morning as the Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit and the Future Intelligence Forum.

Future Intelligence Forum on the Digital Economy 2026

A forum on the digital economy held in Hall 3 during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. Speakers look at how intelligent systems reshape economic policy, productivity and public services, and at what Uzbekistan's digital economy needs in order to keep growing: data infrastructure, skills and regulation. The session sits alongside the Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit on the same morning. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Hall 3, Tashkent When: 23 September 2026, 10:00-12:00

Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit 2026

The Enterprise Uzbekistan Summit takes place on day two of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 in Main Hall 1 at CAEx (Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan, Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent). The summit is dedicated to Enterprise Uzbekistan — the special technology jurisdiction established by constitutional law in August 2026, which grants long-term legal guarantees to technology companies operating in the country. It brings together enterprise IT buyers, international vendors, policy makers and investors to discuss what the new regime means in practice for building and scaling technology businesses in Uzbekistan. Expected topics:

• Legal and tax guarantees under the Enterprise Uzbekistan framework
• Enterprise digital transformation across finance, industry and the public sector
• International vendor entry and joint-venture models
• Investment and infrastructure commitments

ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 runs 22–25 September and is supported by the Ministry of Digital Technologies, with 300+ exhibitors from 51 countries and 200+ speakers expected.

Global Startup Ecosystem Awards 2026

Date corrected to 23 September 2026 following the official ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 programme announcement. StartupBlink, in partnership with IT Park Uzbekistan, holds the Global Startup Ecosystem Awards in Tashkent for the first time. The ceremony recognises cities, countries and regions with strong results in the StartupBlink global rankings, and is followed by a panel on best practices in startup ecosystem development. Uzbekistan was named StartupBlink's Country of the Year 2026, climbing 19 places to 79th globally, while Tashkent rose 121 positions to become Central Asia's highest-ranked startup city. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 23 September 2026

Startup & Venture Summit 2026 (ICT Week Uzbekistan)

The Startup & Venture Summit opened the startup and investment programme of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 on 22 September, 14:00–17:10, in Main Hall 1 at CAEx, Tashkent. It is the entry point to the four-day startup track: founders, venture funds, angel investors and ecosystem leaders from Uzbekistan and abroad, working through startup growth, fundraising, international expansion, and how public and private capital are splitting the job of financing innovation in Central Asia. Everything downstream in the week — the Startup World Cup regional final on 24 September, the IGNYTE AI Challenge and TAQDIMOT pitch battle on 25 September — runs off the network formed here. Format: in-person, aimed at startups, funds and corporate partners.

Startup & Venture Summit 2026

The Startup & Venture Summit opens ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 on the main stage at CAEx (Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan, Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent). Organised by IT Park Uzbekistan, the summit is the country's flagship gathering for founders, venture funds, accelerators and government agencies working on the Uzbek startup ecosystem. The 2025 edition drew more than 500 participants and speakers from Dealroom.co, Plug and Play Tech Center, Purple Ventures, StartX and Doha Tech Angels. Programme format:

• Keynotes on scaling startups out of Central Asia
• Panel discussions on venture development and investor appetite in the region
• Founder case studies and fundraising stories
• B2B matchmaking and networking with funds and accelerators

The summit runs in Main Hall 1 on the opening day of ICT Week, immediately after the official opening ceremony and the VIP exhibition tour.

Uzbek–Japan Digital Community Forum 2026

The Uzbek–Japan Digital Community Forum ran on 22 September 2026 at CAEx, Tashkent, as part of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. The forum brought together Rustam Karimjonov (Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies), Kenji Hirata (Ambassador of Japan to Uzbekistan), Hideo Fuseda (Vice Minister, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications), Yuta Ichinose (Director, JETRO Tashkent), Kazuhiro Oyoshi (Headline Asia) and Kawashima Takeru (01Booster). Concrete outcomes: membership of the Tokyo Innovation Base, and a development programme for five Uzbek ventures delivered with 01Booster. The backdrop is a partnership that has moved quickly — Japanese companies resident in IT Park grew from 2 to 25 in roughly two years, around 100 joint ventures operate in the country, and the Japanese project portfolio in Uzbekistan now exceeds $12 billion. Format: in-person, aimed at companies, investors and government delegations.

Uzbek-Japan Digital Community Forum 2026

A bilateral forum inside ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 dedicated to Uzbek-Japanese cooperation in ICT. The session brings together Uzbek and Japanese companies, agencies and investors around joint ICT projects, investment opportunities and the creative industries. It runs on the opening day of ICT Week at the Central Asian Expo (CAEx) in Tashkent, alongside the Startup & Venture Summit. Where: CAEx Uzbekistan, Tashkent When: 22 September 2026

TLDCON 2026 — 19th International Conference for ccTLD Registries and Registrars

TLDCON comes to Tashkent for its 19th edition, gathering country-code top-level domain registries, registrars, regulators and internet-infrastructure engineers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the PANARAMS Tashkent Hotel (Boykurgon str. 2) on 22–23 September 2026. The host organisation is UZINFOCOM, the operator of the .UZ zone, together with the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and the Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN). Programme topics

• Applying AI to domain abuse detection and domain defence
• DNS infrastructure performance and optimisation
• Domain-name regulation and internet governance policy
• Registrar marketing, sales and the domain aftermarket
• Building and retaining the workforce that runs national internet infrastructure

Sessions run roughly 10:00–19:00 on both days. The conference is held on site in Tashkent with a parallel broadcast, and participation is free after registration at https://registrationform.ru/tldcon2026/register/participant?lang=en For Uzbekistan the event lands in the middle of a busy tech September and puts the country's domain and DNS community in front of the regional registry ecosystem.

ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026

ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026 is one of Central Asia's largest technology, telecom, AI, and digital transformation platforms, held annually since 2004 and dedicated this year to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation. The event brings together government institutions, technology companies, international organizations, startups, investors, and industry experts for exhibitions, strategic forums, startup showcases, and networking. When: September 22-25, 2026 Where: "CAEx" Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan, Milliy bog' street 1, Tashkent Highlights:

• 15,000 m² of exhibition space
• 25,000+ expected visitors
• 300+ exhibitors and 200 speakers
• Participants from 51 countries

Supported by the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Registration is open for visitors, exhibitors, speakers, startups, media, and investors.

Digital Bridge: Russia-Uzbekistan IT Business Mission 2026

Digital Bridge is a four-day Russia-Uzbekistan IT business mission taking place in Tashkent on 21-24 September 2026, timed to coincide with ICT Week Uzbekistan. The programme is built around direct contact between technology vendors and their prospective customers: live solution demonstrations, bilateral B2B meetings, and working sessions that produce implementation roadmaps for industry, public administration, and private business. Who takes part

• Russian IT companies looking to enter the Uzbek market
• Uzbek government agencies and sector regulators
• Executives from large technology and industrial enterprises

Organisers The mission is run by the ROSUE Association, VIFORUM, and the Academy of Information Systems, with support from Russia's Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the International Center for Regional Integration. The stated goal is to establish a durable mechanism for transferring advanced technologies between the two countries and to seed joint ventures.

Techstars Startup Weekend Andijan 2026

Techstars Uzbekistan brings its Startup Weekend format to Andijan on 18-20 September 2026, opening the platform's autumn regional season. Startup Weekend is a 54-hour intensive: participants pitch raw ideas on Friday evening, form teams around the strongest concepts, then spend the weekend validating the idea, building a prototype and preparing a final pitch for a panel of expert judges. What participants do:

• Pitch and select ideas, then self-organise into cross-functional teams
• Validate demand and test assumptions with real customers
• Build a working prototype or MVP under strict time pressure
• Present to judges from the local and international startup ecosystem

The programme is aimed at developers, designers, product people, students and first-time founders. No prior startup experience is required - teams are formed on site. The event is run by Hackonnect, the Tashkent-based programme operator behind Techstars Uzbekistan, which has hosted Startup Weekends in Uzbekistan for seven years. Techstars Uzbekistan positions itself as an innovation-development platform rather than a recruiting channel, using the weekend format to surface talent that a CV cannot show.

TechnoWomen Hackathon 2026 — Nukus

TechnoWomen Hackathon is a three-day women's hackathon hosted by the Karakalpakstan branch of IT Park Uzbekistan in Nukus, focused on EdTech — digital solutions for pressing problems in education and the social sector. The event brings together women and girls interested in technology, innovation, education and entrepreneurship. Teams of 3–4 participants build a working prototype across the three days with support from mentors, then present their projects to a panel of expert judges. Key details

• Dates: 17–19 September 2026
• Venue: IT Park Karakalpakstan, 92 Aymkhan Shamuratova street, Nukus
• Track: EdTech and social-impact solutions
• Team size: 3–4 people
• Participation: free of charge
• Registration closes: 16 September 2026

Awards: the top 5 teams advance to the Grand Final, and organisers and partners provide prizes and gifts for the strongest projects.

National AI Hackathon 2026 — Khorezm Stage

The National AI Hackathon continues its tour of Uzbekistan's regions with a four-day stage in Khorezm, 17–20 September 2026, hosted at Ma'mun University in Urgench (9 Sanoatchilar Street). Organised by the AI Alliance NGO, the regional stages are the qualifying route into the grand final in Tashkent in December, where the strongest teams from across the country present their work. Earlier stops this summer ran in Navoi (10–13 August) and Qarshi (15–18 August). Tracks

• Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
• Education
• Entrepreneurship

Format Four days of building with mentors and workshops from practising AI specialists, closing with a jury presentation. Registration is individual — teams are formed on site at the start of the event, so participants do not need to arrive with a group. Prizes

• 1st place — Apple MacBook Air
• 2nd place — 20,000,000 UZS
• 3rd place — 10,000,000 UZS
• Special awards for best presentation and for social impact

Who can take part Open to participants aged 16 and over who have not previously competed in this regional stage. Participation is free. Applications close on 15 September at 23:59.

GEOMIN AI Labs 2026

GEOMIN AI Labs 2026 was an applied AI and Data Science hackathon held in Tashkent on 13 September 2026 as part of the international GEOMIN 2026 mineral exploration and mining conference (14-16 September, Hilton Tashkent City). The hackathon challenged students and young professionals to apply machine learning to real problems in geology, mineral exploration and mining. Participants worked through four practical machine-learning tasks built on industry data.

Format

• Organised by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) with the support of the Ministry of Mining Industry and Geology of the Republic of Uzbekistan
• Technology partner: SLB
• Around 60 applications from students and young specialists across Uzbekistan
• 10 finalists presented their projects to an expert jury

Prizes

• The top two finishers received paid internships at SLB plus participation in practical industry projects
• All three prize-winners received tickets to the GEOMIN 2026 conference
• All finalists received commemorative gifts

Results

1. Ziyoeda Minavarova — University of Geological Sciences
2. Diyora Karimova — MISIS University branch, Almalyk
3. Temirali Sadikov — Almalyk State Technical Institute

Agents, Everywhere: Bots, Channels & More — AI Tinkerers Tashkent Global Hackathon

AI Tinkerers Tashkent hosts the local build day of the global "Agents, Everywhere" hackathon on Saturday, 12 September 2026, 10:00–17:00 (GMT+5). The theme is AI agents that live where people already work — Slack, email, mobile apps, the browser, or physical interfaces — rather than in yet another standalone chat window. Teams spend the day shipping a working prototype and submit code, a video demo and documentation, which are then judged globally against builders from the other participating cities. Details

• Format: in-person build day in Tashkent; the venue is shared with accepted applicants
• Sponsors: OpenAI, CopilotKit and OpenRouter
• Attendance is by application only and places per city are limited
• Food and drinks are provided; bring a laptop

The Tashkent chapter is part of the AI Tinkerers network of 260+ cities and is aimed at engineers, founders and researchers who want live demos and technical discussion rather than pitching.

From Developer to AI-Powered Engineer — IT Park University Webinar

IT Park University runs a free one-hour online session on 11 September 2026, 16:00–17:00 (Asia/Tashkent), on moving from ad-hoc use of AI tools to a systematic AI-assisted engineering practice. The speaker is Ihar Rubanovich, Engineering Manager II and AI Ambassador at EPAM. Agenda

• Shifting from isolated AI tools to a systematic AI-assisted development approach
• How AI agents are reshaping software delivery workflows
• Embedding AI across development, testing and analysis
• The competencies engineers need to work effectively alongside AI

The webinar is pitched at an advanced level and is free for the ITPU community; registration is through the ITPU events platform, where 94 of 100 places remained at the time of listing.

AI Data Center Infra Central Asia 2026

AI Data Center Infra Central Asia 2026 is a two-day industry conference at the Hyatt Regency Tashkent focused on the data-center and AI-infrastructure build-out across Central Asia. The programme brings together operators, cloud providers, telecom companies, hyperscalers, energy and cooling vendors, regulators and investors to discuss what it takes to make the region AI-ready: modern data-center design, AI-optimised compute and networking, power and cooling constraints, connectivity and peering, cloud services, and the investment case for new capacity in Uzbekistan and its neighbours. The event lands at a moment when Uzbekistan has signed agreements to attract more than $6 billion in private AI investment by 2030 and is planning significant new data-center capacity, making Tashkent a natural host for the regional infrastructure conversation.

• Dates: 10–11 September 2026
• Venue: Hyatt Regency Tashkent, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• Format: In-person conference, English-language programme
• Audience: Data-center operators, telecom and cloud providers, infrastructure vendors, investors, and public-sector digital agencies

Digital Forensics: Tools, Law & Secrets of Digital Investigations — IT Park University Workshop

A free online workshop from IT Park University (ITPU) on how digital forensics is used to investigate cybercrime. What is covered

• The full digital investigation cycle, from first response to courtroom
• The tools forensic specialists actually use day to day
• How digital evidence is collected and preserved so it stays admissible
• The legal framework for handling digital data in an investigation
• Real-world case studies, including the Fitbit murder investigation

Speaker: Leonid Akinin, Security Architect I at EPAM. Details: Online, 4 September 2026, 17:00–18:00 (Asia/Tashkent). Advanced-level cybersecurity track. Free for the ITPU community; capacity is limited to 100 places.

Product Management in the Age of AI Growth — IT Park Webinar

IT Park Uzbekistan hosts a free online session on how artificial intelligence is reshaping the product management profession, on 26 August 2026 from 17:00 to 19:00 (GMT+5). Speaker: Mariia Shugurova, Senior Product Manager and Head of Product Management Education at EPAM. What is covered

• How AI tools are changing day-to-day product management work and team structures
• Which parts of the role AI can take over, and which human skills — user understanding, strategic thinking, judgement — stay essential
• Practical guidance for product managers adapting their workflow to AI-assisted development

The webinar is delivered in English and marked as advanced level, aimed at working product managers, founders and tech leads in Uzbekistan. Places are limited; free registration is required through the IT Park events platform.

SWITCH Girls Session 4

SWITCH Girls Session 4 is a two-day offline programme for girls in Uzbekistan who are curious about technology, digital careers and the future of the tech industry. It runs on 26-27 August 2026 at Webster University in Tashkent. Day 1 - Explore. Interactive discussions, group activities and a Q&A session with a guest speaker who works in the IT and tech industry, covering modern digital professions, personal branding and career paths. Day 2 - Apply. Hands-on activities, teamwork and problem-solving challenges where participants put what they learned on day one into practice. Participants get industry insight and career guidance from working IT professionals, networking with peers and mentors, certificates of participation, and prizes for the strongest performers.

• Venue: Webster University, Tashkent
• Organiser: SWITCH Community Uzbekistan (@switchuzbekistan)
• Participation fee: 20,000 UZS
• Registration: through the EventGO platform

Exact session start and end times are published by the organisers on the EventGO registration page.

Yandex Cloud On-Premises Partner Meetup Tashkent 2026

Yandex Cloud gathers current and prospective partners in Uzbekistan for a free in-person meetup at the Yandex Uzbekistan office in Tashkent (Mirabad district, Fidokor street 30) on 25 August 2026, starting at 14:00. The session is built around the new On-Premises direction, which lets Yandex Cloud products be deployed inside the customer's own infrastructure so that data stays under the customer's control and stricter information-security requirements can be met. Agenda highlights

• Partner programme terms and the three delivery models: cloud, On-Premises and hybrid
• Product walkthrough: DataLens, AI Studio, Stackland, YDB and SpeechSense
• Platform capabilities for development, infrastructure, machine-learning workloads and cybersecurity
• Networking with the Yandex Cloud team

Who it is for: IT companies, system integrators and solution providers working on infrastructure, data-warehouse, analytics and AI projects in Uzbekistan. Attendance is free, but registration on the event page is required.

Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum 2026

The inaugural Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum comes to Tashkent on 24-26 August 2026, co-hosted by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), the international non-profit established with the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. ANT International joins as a co-host. Sessions run across the Central Asian Expo Uzbekistan (CAEx) and the Islamic Civilization Centre in Tashkent. Programme pillars

• Zarkaynar — building the fintech ecosystem
• Silk Road Corridor — connecting Central Asia to the world
• Saroy — scaling digital finance through shared infrastructure
• Observatory — the new digital asset frontier
• Madrasah — supporting the next generation
• Azimuth — digital Islamic finance, Shariah governance and sovereign capital

The three-day agenda concentrates on open banking, digital assets and stablecoins, cross-border payments, Islamic finance, and innovation and investment. Expected attendees include central bank governors, government officials, development institutions, investment funds, technology firms and financial organisations from Central Asia, the Gulf, Europe and Asia. The forum is positioned around Uzbekistan's target of attracting $1 billion in fintech investment, training 5,000+ specialists and licensing 200+ market participants. Registration is open on the official site.

Agentic Football Cup Tashkent 2026

The Agentic Football Cup comes to Tashkent on 22 August 2026, hosted by the AWS User Group Tashkent at School 21 (Ziyolilar 13, Mirzo-Ulugbek district). Participants build a squad of AI agents, deploy them, and watch them compete against other teams in live-streamed 3D football matches. Strategy is iterated between matches, with AWS solutions architects on hand to help throughout the day. Key details

• Free participation, one-day format (10:30–16:00)
• Register solo or as a squad of three; capacity is capped at 32 teams (96 participants)
• No advanced coding experience and no football skills required
• Prizes include tech gadgets and AWS credits

The Tashkent round is part of the global Agentic Football Cup league, which has run 100+ events worldwide and sends group winners on to compete live at AWS re:Invent.

35 LVL Game Jam

35 LVL Game Jam is a three-day game development marathon held on 21-23 August 2026 at the School 21 campus in Tashkent, with an online participation track open to entrants from across Uzbekistan. The jam is organised jointly by IT Park Uzbekistan, School 21 and East Games. Participants have three days to take a raw game idea and turn it into a working playable prototype. The theme is announced at the opening of the event, so teams start from scratch on the day. Format

• Offline track at School 21, Tashkent
• Online track, open nationwide
• Teams build a game prototype in 3 days
• Theme revealed at the opening ceremony

Who should join Game developers, programmers, game designers, 2D/3D artists, sound designers and anyone who wants to ship a first game prototype in a supported, deadline-driven environment. Participation is free. Registration is handled through the Startup Base platform.

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.