Yandex Qazaqstan announces the launch of the Technology Center for Society — a new initiative aimed at supporting socially significant projects in Kazakhstan. The Center will bring together representatives from the Kazakhstani research community with the technologies and expertise of Yandex Cloud to address important societal issues more quickly and effectively.
The Technology Center for Society supports projects in four areas: science and education, healthcare, ecology, and culture. Applications for participation are accepted from research organizations, universities, research teams, students in technical fields, developers, and businesses. The Center provides expert assistance to projects, access to Yandex Cloud's cloud technologies and machine learning tools, as well as resources for promoting solutions.
The Center prioritizes projects that can enhance the quality of life in Kazakhstan and have the potential for scaling. The Center's team possesses experience and expertise in implementing such projects. Among these is a project for recognizing snow leopards using neural networks, which simplifies the work of scientists and allows for the development of more effective measures to protect the population, as well as a technology for monitoring harmful substance emissions into the atmosphere, which helps industrial enterprises control emissions of technical gases and respond more quickly in case of accidents and leaks. Among the healthcare projects is a neural network for detecting the rare condition spina bifida in early pregnancy.
“At Yandex, we believe that technology can provide solutions for socially significant challenges. Our goal is to make technology more accessible to everyone who shares our values and also strives to address social issues. By open-sourcing some projects, we create opportunities for their use by other teams,” comments Arystanbek Joldasbekov, General Director of Yandex Cloud in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. “The Center can support projects at any stage — from idea to prototype. If your project aligns with our focus areas and can be scaled, submit an application — together we will find a solution!”
Projects are selected based on criteria such as social significance, scientific justification, and the feasibility of technological implementation. A complete list of participation criteria and the application form are available on the website of the Technology Center for Society .