In order to empower and develop skills of innovative entrepreneurship of the youth, 3 March 2020, the Ministry of employment and labour relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the framework of a joint project with the UN Development Programme and the Trust Fund of the Russian Federation "Promotion of youth employment in Uzbekistan" is implementing its fourth Programme cycle of support to youth innovative ideas and startup projects "Startup-initiative" (hereinafter – the Program).

The 4th cycle of the program covered all regions of Uzbekistan and received a record number of applications. Out of the 648 applications received, the 179 projects selected to participate in the Program and 27 of them successfully passed the final 4th cycle and, at the end of "Demo Day" the best five will receive a cash reward in the form of repayable investments to develop their startups.

The 4th cycle presents projects in the field of online education, medicine, tourism services, employment promotion, artificial intelligence, household services and robotics.

The startup projects presented at Demo Day are the result of long-term work of the Program participants. For three months, leaders and team members under the guidance of trackers (individual mentors) studied the needs and problems of the target audience, tested their hypotheses, created working models, tested them in practice, tested the first "manual" sale, analyzed the shortcomings of projects and improved them.

During the implementation of the Program, the teams took part in a practical seminar aimed at explaining the methodology of lean startup, studying the basics of developing a startup and turning it into a successful business. Seminars were held in Ferghana, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khorezm regions and in Tashkent with the invitation of teams of selected projects from neighboring regions.

Additionally, master classes and consultations were held with the participation of highly qualified experts and successful entrepreneurs on the implementation of startup projects, including the preparation and holding of presentations.

The event was attended by first Deputy adviser to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for youth issues, science, education, health, culture and sports – Chairman of the Central Council of the Union of youth of Uzbekistan – A. Sadullaev, Deputy Minister of employment and labour relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan B. Umurzakov, UNDP resident representative in Uzbekistan – M. Dimovska, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Uzbekistan V. Mitrofanov, Chairman of the chamber of Commerce and industry of Uzbekistan – A. Ikramov, Director of the technological Park of software products and information technologies-F.Ibragimov, Director of the digital economy development support Fund "Digital trust" - B. Bekov, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps, international organizations, ministries, departments and higher educational institutions.