The Information and Communications Technology week, ICTWeek Uzbekistan 2026, has begun in Tashkent. According to a report by Sputnik Uzbekistan correspondent, the event is taking place at the CAEx exhibition center with the participation of ministries and departments, as well as local and foreign technology companies and representatives from IT and business.
ICTWeek includes conferences, exhibitions, seminars, and business meetings where issues regarding the development of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, startups, investments, and the IT market are discussed. The week will run until September 25th.
During the event, Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov spoke about the construction of a data processing center in Karakalpakstan. He emphasized that this is not a 'pipe dream' but a real data processing center that will be available by the end of the year. The Minister noted that further expansion of similar infrastructure is planned, with the goal of achieving a total capacity of at least 300 MW of data centers across the country.
Special attention during ICTWeek was paid to attracting foreign technology companies to the Uzbek market. Bahodir Ayupov, Vice President of the International Center for Digital Technologies 'Enterprise Uzbekistan', stated that foreign companies make decisions considering geopolitical stability and security in the country, economic development, the state of the IT industry, the availability of qualified personnel, and the possibility of long-term business planning. In Ayupov's opinion, Uzbekistan meets all these criteria.
Ayupov also highlighted the need to train a sufficient number of specialists for the development of the IT market. He noted that it is impossible to talk about sector development while there is an insufficient number of qualified personnel. As an example, he cited the 'Million Uzbek Programmers' project, which involved over two million people. However, he clarified that it is not expected that all course participants will become IT specialists; even if 5% of them start professional activity in this field, it will provide a significant boost to the country's IT industry.