IT Event Calendar for the Week of August 10–16: Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Finals, IPAF 2026, and InkubasiaLAB Bootcamp

This week in IT: the finals of Central Eurasia’s largest startup competition, an international forum on distressed asset management in Astana, as well as hackathons and an AI bootcamp in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

IOI 2026 in Tashkent

Tashkent is hosting the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) for the first time in history. The IOI is the world’s oldest competition for young programmers, held annually since 1989. It is the largest and most prestigious global competition in competitive programming for high school students, bringing together top participants from more than 90 countries each year. The organizer is the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan.

When: August 9–16
Where: Tashkent

Founder's Series: Doszhan Zhusupov

An open conversation with Doszhan Zhusupov, founder and CEO of CerebraAI, about the startup’s journey from idea to scaling — early decisions, mistakes, finding product-market fit, and raising investment.

When: August 11
Where: Almaty

IPAF 2026

The Congress Center in Astana will host the IPAF 2026 Summit and International Conference — a forum on distressed asset management and financial stability in emerging markets. The agenda includes panel discussions on factors driving non-performing loans, the role of private capital in resolution, and the development of digital platforms for secondary markets.

When: August 12–14
Where: Astana

Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Finals

The Regional Final of Central Eurasia’s largest startup competition — Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026. The top 22 teams from national qualifying rounds will compete for a spot at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 in San Francisco. The three finalists will share a $100,000 prize pool: the winner receives $50,000, the second-place team gets $30,000, and the third-place team receives $20,000.

When: August 12 at 18:00
Where: The Tech YouTube channel

Cloud Native Community Day

An event for engineers, CTOs, and technology teams featuring practical case studies on Kubernetes, Platform Engineering, Service Mesh, observability, and DevSecOps. Organizers: QOSI, CORE 24/7, and Almaty Hub.

When: August 13 at 10:00
Where: Almaty

Live Stream: “Cloud Technologies for Business on the Pro-Data Platform”

Sergey Tikhomirov, Director of Cloud Platform Development at Pro-Data, will discuss how cloud technologies help companies scale, what services are available on the platform, how to ensure data security in the cloud, common mistakes businesses make when migrating to the cloud, and current trends shaping cloud infrastructure development.

When: August 13 at 18:00
Where: The Tech YouTube channel

Startup Quiz by Activat VC

A team quiz on startups, venture capital, and technology for those who want to test their knowledge and connect with entrepreneurs, investors, and business representatives. Participants can expect an informal atmosphere and networking opportunities with members of the venture ecosystem. Entry fee: 5,000 tenge; limited spots available.

When: August 13 at 19:00
Where: Astana

NEXUS30

A three-day hackathon for teams aged 16–30. Participants will present solutions in healthcare, education, tourism, public administration, and FinTech. Organizers will provide partner resources and credits worth over $100,000, and the top ten projects will receive referrals to startup programs.

When: August 14–16
Where: Tashkent, School 21

CABCC Case Competition 2026 

An online case competition where participants act as consultants for Togyz Aldym, one of Kazakhstan’s leading EdTech companies, and develop a strategy to scale the company from 3,000 to 100,000 students.

When: August 16
Where: Online