OySyn — the first Kazakhstani system for confirming originality

Temirlan Mukataev, city — Astana, co-founder, Chief Technology Officer, Instagram

Zhana Akzhanova, city — Astana, Director, Founder of OySyn, Instagram

How It All Began

Temirlan. I am a professional in information security and have been engaged in programming and web development for over five years. I have always paid great attention to education, which is why I wanted to create a significant project in the EdTech sector.

In the summer of 2024, I met Zhana Akzhanova. By then, she had already been working for two years on creating an anti-plagiarism system. We discussed the existing problems in this field, our values, and the solution we envisioned.

The Team

Zhana. I am a specialist in finance and crisis management. I have worked in senior management positions in the banking sector for over 15 years. Our team consists not only of IT specialists but also of researchers and mathematicians. At the very first stage, the project was based on our mathematical solution, which was presented at an international exhibition in Dubai.

Temirlan. Our startup, OySyn, is the first Kazakhstani system for confirming originality. On the market, it is better known as a plagiarism or similarity detection system. Anyone who has ever written an article, thesis, or scientific paper understands what anti-plagiarism is.

Target Audience

Temirlan. Our OySyn system is useful not only to large educational and scientific organizations but also to individual researchers, students, and teachers. Large organizations value our solution because it allows them to ensure academic integrity and maintain a high reputation. With OySyn, they can systematically check student papers and scientific publications for originality, thereby preventing plagiarism and simplifying the content quality control process.

For private users, students, postgraduates, and teachers, OySyn serves as a convenient and accessible tool that helps quickly and effectively check texts before submission to a university or publication.

Thus, we simplify the preparation of works and protect authors' rights to their intellectual property. Thanks to our algorithm, students and scientists can be sure that their works truly reflect their own ideas and developments, and are not mere compilations of existing research.

18 universities are registered in the OySyn system, with whom we have conducted pilot projects. To date, we already have five memorandums with various organizations and three commercial contracts with universities. As for private individuals, 384 users are registered in the system.

Incubation Programs

Temirlan. In 2024, we participated in the Scalerator 2.0 acceleration program at Astana Hub. This program helped us dive deeper into startup culture. The main focus of the program is directed at the international market. During the program, we managed to interest an investment company from the UAE. They even visited us, and we met in our office. However, unfortunately, the deal was not completed due to legal aspects.

We also established contacts with representatives of universities in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and signed a Memorandum with the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences.

Challenges

Temirlan. One of the main difficulties we faced at the start was the lack of trust in a local solution in the field of plagiarism detection. Many universities were initially accustomed to using foreign systems and viewed the domestic product with suspicion. We had to conduct numerous meetings, demonstrations, and pilot projects to show that our technologies not only match but often surpass imported analogs in accuracy and flexibility.

It was also not easy to assemble a strong team of developers and experts: on the IT market, there are not many specialists who deeply understand machine learning, linguistics, and mathematical statistics simultaneously. But, as our experience has shown, the main thing is a motivated and professional team that believes in the idea.

Zhana. An important challenge is the lack of a document and work base. For the system to work, full-text works are needed to form indexes. These works have been collected for years by foreign analogs and accumulated in their systems.

For those just starting their startup journey, I advise not to be afraid to seek mentors and partners. They help you get feedback faster, understand which processes need to be optimized, and provide valuable recommendations. And, of course, you need to communicate a lot with potential clients and always test hypotheses on real cases.

Achievements

Temirlan. One of the key achievements is that we became the first system for confirming originality in Kazakhstan developed "from scratch." To date, we have already collaborated with 18 universities, some of which have fully switched to our system and integrated it into their educational processes.

Our system is considered innovative, changing the approach in the field of education by stimulating originality and writing works using one's own mind. Our system has passed verification for compliance with the information security requirements of the Committee for Information Security of the MCRIAP. Moreover, we are included in the Registry of Trusted Domestic Software.

We are also proud that we signed a memorandum with a foreign organization and reached the international level. This indicates that our solution is recognized not only in Kazakhstan but also abroad. OySyn meets all the requirements of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

We would like to say a big thank you to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for supporting the domestic product and to the Association of Higher Educational Institutions.

Plans

Temirlan. By the end of the year, we plan to expand the number of partner universities. Work is already underway to improve our algorithm to better detect similarities. One of the main tasks is to increase indexes and the work database. We are already working in this direction with the largest libraries in Astana and Almaty.

Zhana. We are also considering opportunities to localize the system for Central Asian markets and plan to enter the markets of neighboring countries. In the near future, we plan to integrate with scientific journals and online libraries. At the same time, we are working to attract additional investments for active scaling.