The Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry has announced that the Digital Bridge 2025 international forum, Central Asia’s largest event focused on digital technologies, startups, and artificial intelligence (AI), is set to take place in Astana from October 2 to 4.
This year’s theme, Generative Nation, highlights Kazakhstan’s strategic transition from technology consumption toward innovation, creation, and scaling on the global stage, The Caspian Post reports per Kazakh media.
It reflects the country’s vision of fostering a knowledge-based society grounded in advanced technologies, AI, and human capital development.
Key features of the forum include keynote speeches by global AI experts, the launch of the International Center for AI alem.ai, the Generative Nation Pitch final competition, the Astana Hub Battle startup contest, the Startup Alley tech exhibition, the Digital Bridge Awards ceremony, as well as interactive zones, thematic panels, and in-depth tech discussions.
Preceding the forum, AI Week will run from September 29 to October 4 in Astana, offering masterclasses, public lectures, tech meetups, workshops, and cultural activities. The event aims to engage students, young researchers, and startups in building Kazakhstan’s AI ecosystem and nurturing future technology leaders.
The Generative Nation Pitch invites schoolchildren, university students, startups with MVPs, and research teams to compete across four categories. Entries will be judged on originality, ethics, AI application, scalability, team strength, and presentation quality.
The Astana Hub Battle will feature over 100 startups from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries, with semifinals on October 3 and finals on October 4, where the top 10 teams will showcase their projects on the main stage.
The Digital Bridge Awards 2025 will recognize exceptional achievements in Kazakhstan’s IT sector across eight categories, including Export Excellence, Tech Leadership Laureate, AI Solution of the Year, EdTech of the Year, GovTech Innovation, Tech Media Excellence, Social Impact Project, and Breakthrough Startup.
Startup Alley will present cutting-edge solutions in fintech, EdTech, GovTech, Big Data, AR/VR, sustainability, eco-technologies, and cybersecurity from both domestic and international innovators, alongside exhibitions from leading IT companies.
Since its inception, Digital Bridge has grown into a premier technological forum in the Eurasian region, attracting over 67,000 participants from more than 100 countries, featuring 1,000 speakers, and hosting 550 government and international organization representatives. The business program has engaged over 500 startups and nearly 500 investors.
