{"id":7774,"date":"2020-02-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/hackathons-and-competitions\/startup-kyrgyzstan-the-first-national-competition-320-applications-30-teams\/"},"modified":"2020-02-18T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T12:00:00","slug":"startup-kyrgyzstan-the-first-national-competition-320-applications-30-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/startup-kyrgyzstan-the-first-national-competition-320-applications-30-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Kyrgyzstan: The First National Competition, 320 Applications, 30 Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Startup Kyrgyzstan: The First National Competition, 320 Applications, 30 Teams<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In August 2019, Kyrgyzpatent \u2014 the State Service for Intellectual Property and Innovations under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic \u2014 announced a national startup competition with the title «\u0421\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u043f \u041a\u044b\u0440\u0433\u044b\u0437\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d» (Startup Kyrgyzstan). It was the first time a Kyrgyz government body had organised a competition of this kind at the national level and run it through the regions. KG Labs joined as co-organiser. Applications were accepted in Russian and Kyrgyz from entrepreneurs and startup teams across the country, with a prize fund beginning at 500,000 soms, alongside cash grants for project implementation and preferential terms for accelerator access from programme partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the application window closed, 320 submissions had come in from all regions of the republic. The scale was notable: for a competition with no established precedent at the national level, 320 distinct startup applications across a country where the formal startup infrastructure is concentrated heavily in Bishkek represented a wider geographic reach than most programmes of this type had previously achieved. The composition of the incoming applications also provided the first structured dataset on regional startup activity in Kyrgyzstan \u2014 information that the committee noted could be prepared as analytical material broken down by sector and region for the development of the startup ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \"Selection\n
Selection committee, Startup Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, February 2020. Source: KG Labs archive.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Selection: 30 Teams from 320 Applications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The selection committee that reviewed the applications included experienced entrepreneurs, IT sector representatives, business figures, and donor organisation representatives. Aziz Soltobaev was elected as chair of the committee. Thirty projects were selected for the acceleration programme from the first round \u2014 a programme designed around intensive development through mentorship, structured training, and expert support over a period running from February 22 to April 10, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gender breakdown of the selected cohort: 19 applications from men, 11 from women. The committee, reviewing the process after selection, noted the transparency and objectivity of the evaluation as a design feature \u2014 structured to allow for sectoral and regional analytical reporting, not just a ranking output. This framing of the selection process as a data-collection exercise as well as a competition was consistent with Kyrgyzpatent’s stated interest in building a fuller picture of the national innovation landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \"Startup\n
Application review session, Startup Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, February 2020. Source: KG Labs archive.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Acceleration Programme: Seven Weeks, Free Training<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 30 selected teams entered a seven-week acceleration programme running from February 22 to April 10. Training covered business planning, marketing, pitching, and MVP construction \u2014 a standard early-stage curriculum, offered at no cost to participants. The format combined regular training sessions with mentorship in a structured sequence, with the explicit goal of preparing teams for the final competitive stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee emphasised the collaborative framing of the programme: the joint work of a government body and a public organisation (KG Labs) in supporting innovation entrepreneurship initiatives, with the first national state competition explicitly cited as a signal of Kyrgyzpatent’s institutional commitment to promoting innovation. For a government agency whose primary mandate centres on intellectual property registration and protection, the pivot to active startup ecosystem participation through this competition was a meaningful institutional step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \"Startup\n
Committee session, Startup Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, February 2020. Source: KG Labs archive.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The final was planned for April 21, 2020 \u2014 World Innovation Day \u2014 where the 30 accelerated teams would present their projects before an independent jury. The jury composition was designed to include business representatives, donor organisations, successful entrepreneurs, technical experts, and invited international partners from Georgia, Estonia, and Russia, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Competition Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
Competition<\/td>\n \u0421\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u043f \u041a\u044b\u0440\u0433\u044b\u0437\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d \/ Startup Kyrgyzstan<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Organiser<\/td>\n Kyrgyzpatent (State Service for Intellectual Property and Innovations under the Government of KR)<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Co-organiser<\/td>\n KG Labs Public Foundation<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Competition launch<\/td>\n August 2019<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Applications received<\/td>\n 320 (from all regions of Kyrgyzstan)<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Teams selected<\/td>\n 30 (from first round)<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Cohort gender split<\/td>\n 19 male \/ 11 female<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Selection committee chair<\/td>\n Aziz Soltobaev (KG Labs)<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Acceleration period<\/td>\n February 22 \u2013 April 10, 2020<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Training topics<\/td>\n Business planning, marketing, pitching, MVP construction<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Prize fund<\/td>\n From 500,000 KGS; plus cash grants + preferential accelerator terms from partners<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Final (planned)<\/td>\n April 21, 2020 (World Innovation Day)<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n
Source: WP posts p2907 (Aug 30, 2019) and p7005 (Feb 18, 2020) \u2014 2020-02 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u043f \u043a\u044b\u0440\u0433\u044b\u0437\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\/ archive.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Startup Kyrgyzstan: The First National Competition, 320 Applications, 30 Teams In August 2019, Kyrgyzpatent \u2014 the State Service for Intellectual Property and Innovations under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic \u2014 announced a national startup competition with the title «\u0421\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u043f \u041a\u044b\u0440\u0433\u044b\u0437\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d» (Startup Kyrgyzstan). It was the first time a Kyrgyz government body had organised a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[320,333],"tags":[432,430,624,676,433,639,434,406,201,431,429],"class_list":["post-7774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hackathons-and-competitions","category-startup-ecosystem","tag-432","tag-acceleration-program","tag-geo-bishkek","tag-op-ecosystem-activation","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-format-event-record","tag-innovation","tag-kg-labs","tag-kyrgyzpatent","tag-startup-competition","tag-startup-kyrgyzstan"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"ru","enabled_languages":["en","ru"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kglabs.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}