The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed a decree approving the National Strategy for Large-scale Digitalization and the Introduction of Artificial Intelligence Technologies "Digital Qazaqstan" until 2029.
The strategy will become the main
guiding document for the country's technological development in the coming
years and defines a new stage of deep modernization of the state, economy and
society in the context of global digital transformation.
The strategic document defines the
country's path towards building a technological nation, offering a clear plan
and completing the formation of the entire cycle of institutional documents
that henceforth determine the strategic course and key areas of the state's
work in this field.
Digital Qazaqstan represents a
fundamental transition of Kazakhstan to a new model of development, where data,
artificial intelligence and modern technologies become the foundation of public
administration and transform the country's digital ecosystem - from automation
of individual services to integrated, data-driven governance.
Today, Kazakhstan ranks first in the
region according to the government readiness index for artificial intelligence
and is among the world leaders in e-government development. In recent years,
the country has already built a solid foundation for a digital state, and today
it is opening a new chapter of its development, setting itself an ambitious
goal - not just to adapt to global changes, but to shape them independently, as
in modern practice, the states that lead are those introducing AI across all spheres
of life faster than others.
The new Strategy aims to systematize
this experience and scale it across all key industries. It is expected that the
comprehensive introduction of AI and the digitalization of industry, subsoil
use, logistics and energy will contribute an additional 1.5 percentage points
per year to GDP on average by the end of 2029, and the projected volume of
comparable market investments over a three-year period will range from USD 10.5
to 16.5 billion.
By 2029, Kazakhstan plans to become
one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, significantly
strengthening its position in international rankings of digital
competitiveness.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of
Kazakhstan Jaslan Madiyev noted that the Head of State
set a strategic goal: to turn Kazakhstan into a fully-fledged digital country
within three years. The approval of the nationwide Digital Qazaqstan Strategy
marks the starting point of a large-scale transformation affecting all key
areas of the country's life.
"We are talking about the
transition to a new model of development, where data, artificial intelligence
and modern technologies become the foundation of public administration,
economics and social policy. We are moving from the digitalization of individual
services and processes to the creation of an integrated digital architecture of
the country.
For citizens, this means a more
convenient, proactive and personalized state. For businesses - productivity
growth, cost reduction and new development opportunities. For the economy - the
emergence of new industries, attraction of investment and strengthening of
Kazakhstan's competitiveness.
Today, the leaders are countries
that are building a complete AI ecosystem - from energy and computing power to
national language models and applied services for citizens and businesses. This
architecture is called the AI Economy Stack and includes five levels: energy
and infrastructure, computing power, data and large language models, digital
platforms, and applied AI services. It is precisely this kind of system that
the Digital Qazaqstan Strategy is designed to create."
As part of the Strategy, digital
transformation will encompass three key areas.
The human being is at the center of
all transformations within the first direction - digitalization in the
interests of citizens. The strategy envisions a continuous, life-stage service
model in which public services are tailored to the individual needs of each
Kazakhstani citizen, regardless of their region of residence. Proactive support
mechanisms will be introduced in the social sphere, eliminating the need to
collect additional documents, and key tools - from social benefits to
predictive analytics in healthcare and pharmaceutical supply management - will
be consolidated within the "Social Wallet" ecosystem. In education,
personalized AI development pathways for children from an early age will be
launched to help unlock student potential and build advanced digital skills for
the next generation. Large-scale AI workforce training will cover both the
academic environment and regional IT schools, and the level of generative AI
literacy among the population is expected to reach at least 20%.
In the second direction - serving
business and the new economy - a managed digital architecture with mandatory
instrumentation is being built across the real sector. The strategy provides
for deep digital transformation of all core economic sectors: agro-industrial
complex, construction, the financial sector, the oil and gas industry and small
businesses. The introduction of artificial intelligence, digital twins and
intelligent platforms will significantly increase labor productivity, reduce
costs and ensure the global competitiveness of domestic businesses. At the same
time, conditions are being created for the accelerated development of future
industries - robotics, unmanned systems, digital assets and space technologies.
The flagship project of this direction will be the creation of a sovereign
"AI Hub," designed as a full-fledged "Data Center Valley."
This hub will serve as the key infrastructure platform in the macroregion,
bringing together advanced computing power, research institutes and leading
technology companies. An ecosystem for the development and testing of
breakthrough solutions in machine learning and big data analytics will be
deployed on the basis of the AI Hub. The design capacity of its computing
centers will be scaled to 1 GW. Implementation will be carried out through a
strategic partnership between government and business. The strategy calls for
the active involvement of private investment, international technology
companies, development institutions and leading global experts. This synergy of
infrastructure and talent is intended to attract major international investors
and vendors, at least double the export of Kazakhstani IT services, and bring
at least three homegrown unicorn companies to the global market.
In the interests of the state
apparatus, deep governance reform is envisioned along with a complete departure
from fragmented departmental decision-making. Government agencies are
transitioning to a service model of operation, where key public services are
delivered exclusively in a proactive manner - seamlessly and without burden on
the applicant. The introduction of AI will automate routine administrative
processes and fully eliminate duplicated departmental functions. Government
decision-making and regulatory modeling are being transferred to rigorous big
data analysis (data-driven governance), minimizing the human factor and
eliminating managerial errors. In addition, algorithm-driven approaches will be
applied to budget planning and allocation: an end-to-end digital oversight
system will ensure the transparency and targeted effectiveness of every tenge
spent.
The Strategy also places significant
emphasis on cybersecurity and the protection of the national information space
in the era of active AI development. The document provides for the creation of
a resilient digital infrastructure, the introduction of advanced encryption
standards and the protection of critical facilities from external threats.
Considerable attention has also been
paid to the development of safe urban environments: smart city standards will
cover at least 70% of the urban population, shifting public safety to a
proactive model. Through AI and behavioral video analytics, incident response
times will be reduced by one third, and together with end-to-end protection
systems, a national ecosystem for protecting citizens from online fraud will be
deployed.
The Digital Qazaqstan Strategy thus
represents Kazakhstan's strategic commitment to technology, knowledge and
innovation. It not only ensures the Republic's confident transition to digital
governance maturity, but also creates a solid foundation for long-term economic
growth, improved quality of life for citizens, and strengthened global
competitiveness of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the age of artificial
intelligence.
Source: https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/maidd/press/news/details/1238140?lang=en