On January 20, the opening ceremony of another stage of the National AI Hackathon took place in Samarkand. Around 400 young specialists are participating in the Samarkand stage. Over the course of three days, participants will work in teams under the guidance of mentors from leading IT companies and other relevant organizations in the country, developing AI projects for key sectors of the economy and the social sphere.

A welcoming speech was delivered by Rustam Kobilov, Deputy Hokim of Samarkand Region, who emphasized the importance of holding the hackathon in the region:

— We strive to combine Samarkand’s historical heritage with modern technologies. Our region is proud not only of its great past, but also of its youth—thousands of active and educated young people. The Second National Artificial Intelligence Hackathon will become an important step in the development of Samarkand and will set a promising direction for specialists in the IT sector.

Sarvar Muminov, Deputy Head of the Information Technologies Department of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, stressed that the hackathon is part of systematic efforts to introduce artificial intelligence technologies into the educational process and the activities of institutions.

According to Hasanxon Yusufkhodjaev, Advisor to the Director of the Youth Affairs Agency on Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence Technologies, participants who demonstrate strong results will have the opportunity to further develop their projects and attract investment for their startups.

— Uzbekistan holds leading positions in Central Asia in the field of artificial intelligence and is gradually strengthening its standing at the global level. Moreover, in the near future Uzbekistan plans to launch an artificial intelligence infrastructure that will be the largest in Central Asia in terms of potential and scale, Yusufkhodjaev noted.

The general sponsor and partner of the hackathon is the national digital ecosystem Uzum. The project is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Youth Affairs Agency, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the Cybersecurity Center, IT Park Uzbekistan, Uzinfocom, UNICON, and the AI Alliance. AICA and ML Community also joined as organizational partners of the hackathon.

Hackathon participants will work on projects in areas such as healthcare, cybersecurity, education, entrepreneurship, and the control of illicit substances using AI technologies, receiving support from experts from leading IT companies in the country. In addition, masterclasses and seminars with IT experts are planned for participants.

The first stage of the National AI Hackathon was launched in October 2025 and will be implemented across all regions of the republic by the end of the current year. The final of the hackathon will take place in December 2026 in Tashkent, where the best teams from across the country will present their artificial intelligence solutions.