Almaty has wrapped up its first-ever science grant competition, awarding support to 23 projects worth a total of 348 million tenge. Certificates were presented to the authors of the top innovations on November 11 at a meeting of the Science and Technology Council under the Almaty akimat, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to the city's youth policy department, the competition was held for the first time as part of efforts to develop science and introduce innovation. A total of 229 applications were submitted, of which 191 projects passed preliminary screening and advanced to the next stage. The authors completed a five-week acceleration program, refined their proposals and presented them to an expert commission. As a result, 23 projects received funding.
Among the winners are an early earthquake detection system and technologies for cleaning up vehicle and industrial emissions and for digitally monitoring air, water and soil quality. Scientists also proposed using special gliders to clean up water bodies and recycling ash and slag waste from CHPP-2 and CHPP-3 to 3D-print small architectural forms.
For urban landscaping, environmentally friendly long-acting formulations have been developed. Another project involves a monitoring system for allergenic plants, complete with a pollen calendar and alerts to residents about potential risks.
In the transport sector, support went to the SmartFlow system for adaptive traffic control at intersections. Other developments include FaceAlert Almaty, which uses video analytics to find missing people, a digital platform for monitoring elevator safety, and projects in the healthcare field.
The winners were selected by a competition commission that included deputies of the city maslikhat, representatives of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the scientific community and the public. The selection criteria included the novelty of the research, its practical significance and its potential application in the urban economy.
The Science and Technology Council meeting also examined ways to further implement the developments. Participants discussed providing sites for pilot testing, involving businesses in co-financing and supporting promising research that did not make the list of winners.
Support for scientific development is being carried out under the instructions of Kazakhstan President Qasym-Jomart Toqaev to advance science and bring innovation into the economy.
Recall that the Science and Technology Council, which brings together representatives of the scientific community, government agencies and the expert community, was established under the Almaty akimat in 2024.