NU Impact Foundation gave an interview to the Digital Business YouTube channel — Chairman of the Board Sayat Nyussupov spoke about why Kazakhstan still has few deep-tech startups, how scientists will help build the country’s new economy, and why big business will eventually turn toward venture investment.
Several promising deep-tech projects have already emerged from the Nazarbayev University ecosystem, including Mirai Tech, a biomechanics analysis platform for athletes, and Arlan Biotech, which develops generative AI models for accelerated antibody design and optimization.
Deep-tech startups remain scarce in Kazakhstan, but as the Foundation points out, this isn’t due to a lack of ideas or scientific research. The real issue lies elsewhere: scientists haven’t yet learned how to package and bring their research results to market — many don’t even know how to set up a company, let alone handle marketing or product development.
That’s why NU Impact Foundation, with the support of Nazarbayev University’s leadership, built an ecosystem to support scientists and launched the Founder’s School program — turning professors who are ready for it into startup founders.
Beyond business-skills training, the Foundation provides grants and venture investment to startups within the NU ecosystem. A partnership with Stanford University’s StartX accelerator gives professor-founders the chance to intern in Silicon Valley, receive mentorship from top experts, and absorb an entrepreneurial mindset.
The example of Mirai Tech founder Gulnur Kalimuldina who made the leap from professor to founder and is now scaling her project into European and US markets is inspiring younger faculty at the university. An added source of motivation: a significant share of key employees at Higgsfield AI, Kazakhstan’s first unicorn, are also NU alumni.
Interest in Founder’s School is clearly growing, and the Foundation expects this to translate into a wave of new deep-tech startups within a year or two with Kazakhstan’s own deep-tech unicorns following in the years ahead.
A strong scientific foundation makes a startup more resilient and harder to copy quickly a particularly valuable advantage in an era of rapid AI development.
More on this in the Digital Business podcast episode with Sayat Nyussupov, Chairman of the Board of NU Impact Foundation.
Source: Digital Business
