Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation has prepared a draft reform of the support system for innovative startups. The document has been published on the portal for discussing draft regulatory legal acts.
The draft proposes changes to approaches to selecting and financing startups, including evaluating projects according to international criteria and introducing incubation and acceleration programs based on international experience.
The government proposes to provide funding annually to at least 50 startups in an amount starting from 40 billion soums. In addition, the plan calls for attracting US$500,000 annually from private investors, companies and venture capital funds.
Starting from 1 January 2027, procedures for submitting, sorting and financing startup projects are proposed to be fully digitized. To this end, a dedicated platform for working with innovative startups and a register of legal entities engaged in scientific and innovation activities are planned to be launched.
Only startups that have completed incubation or acceleration programs will be eligible for government funding. The Innovation Development Agency will accept project proposals and place them in the relevant programs for participation.
To expand funding sources, the platform is also planned to include a crowdfunding function.
The proposed funding amounts would be linked to the project’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL), based on ISO criteria. Organizers of incubators and accelerators would be able to receive up to 30 basic calculation units per startup for projects with TRL levels from 1 to 3, up to 50 basic calculation units for TRL levels from 4 to 6, and up to 70 basic calculation units for TRL levels from 7 to 9. The draft lists these amounts as 13.2 million, 22 million and 30.8 million soums, respectively.
Startups with TRL levels from 4 to 6 that are deemed effective following the programs would be eligible for funding of up to 485 basic calculation units, or 213.4 million soums. For projects with a TRL of 7 and above, the proposed maximum funding amount is 4,500 basic calculation units, or 1.98 billion soums.
At the same time, government funding would be provided on the condition that the startup founder attracts private investment.
Approval of budget funding is proposed to be assigned to the Council for Integration of Innovation and Industry. Its composition would be approved by the head of the Presidential Administration.
The Startup Support Center would assist funded projects that have completed incubation or acceleration programs with advertising and marketing. In addition, at least twice a year, the center would submit proposals to government agencies and industry enterprises on implementing innovative developments.
The draft resolution will remain open for public discussion until 2 October.
