Musin: The current level of specialists produced by universities is not of high enough quality for our field.

On October 29, a live broadcast took place on the information platform of the Central Communications Service, discussing the national project “Technological Leap through Digitalization, Science, and Innovation.” We had already written in detail about this national project, so we listened to the briefing with interest and selected the most key points for you.

If you need to refresh your memory and speak briefly, the main points are as follows:

▫️The implementation of the project is scheduled from 2021 to 2025;

▫️The national project includes 10 areas and 211 activities;

▫️6 areas involve digital transformation, and 4 areas focus on science;

▫️The budget of the national project amounts to 2.2 trillion tenge: 1.4 trillion tenge from the state budget and 800.2 billion tenge from private investments.

If you examine the project in more detail, you should pay attention to the following:

Services in 5 Minutes

As part of the implementation of this area, digital reengineering of processes and functions will be carried out, followed by their organization in an online format. This marks a transition to a proactive format for providing state services, meaning 100% of state services will be available on smartphones.

Development of the IT Industry

As Bagdat Musin noted, the development of the IT industry consists of three main elements: human capital development, project acceleration, and necessary financing. Therefore, the industry will develop through the creation of 20 innovative programming schools, which will prepare high-class specialists within two years. The minister noted that the current level of specialists graduating from universities in the IT field is not of high quality.

An Attentive and Efficient State

Platforms such as e-Petitions and e-Complaints are expected to appear for direct dialogue with citizens, where the performance of state bodies will be evaluated using smartphones. It is planned that document flow will decrease by 50%, and customs and tax control will be 100% digital.

Digital Tools for a Comfortable Life

The plan is for every citizen to have all information available in state databases on their smartphone. At the same time, 10% of remote diagnostics will be carried out using smart devices.

Development of Technological and Innovative Business

100% of subsidies will be transparent, the transport and construction sectors will undergo digitalization, and digital environmental monitoring and oil accounting will be implemented. This will also allow all industry data to be obtained online from enterprises.

Quality Internet and Information Security

It is necessary to ensure internet access speeds of 10 Mbps in cities and 5 Mbps in rural areas. By 2025, 5G technology will be implemented in the capital, cities of republican significance, and regional centers, and 617 sparsely populated and remote villages will be provided with internet via low-orbit satellite systems.

During the briefing, Bagdat Musin also touched upon the memorandum with Sber regarding loan funds. It turned out that the memorandum stipulates that Kazakhstan can take a credit line, but it will not belong to the Republic of Kazakhstan, but to JSC “NIT” for the implementation of the transition to a platform model. However, this is merely an opportunity.

The minister noted that corrupt practices were identified at the specialized Population Service Center in Nur-Sultan: obtaining driver’s licenses without theoretical and practical exams. Therefore, exams will be tightened, for example, through the installation of biometric identification.