MindTitan held a workshop for public sector actors in Uzbekistan

Irina Kolesnikova
November 22nd, 2021

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MindTitan team with Uzbekistan public sector actors

The purpose of the Workshop on Digital Transformation, E-Government Ranking and Artificial Intelligence in Uzbekistan was to empower and straighten the technical and human capacity of national project partners and key stakeholders in understanding and implementing inclusive and user-centric digitalization. The MindTitan team held a 2-day workshop with decision-makers, problem owners, project managers, and technical stakeholders from the Government of Uzbekistan. The event occurred at Amity University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the 15th and 16th of November, and was held under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

AI explanation

“We took part in the event because we believe that Uzbekistan has great potential to implement AI solutions that will make the life of the citizens much better and organizations more efficient. It enables machines to do what was previously thought impossible, increases business efficiency, and allows people to focus on where they can create the most value. AI is the new electricity and data is the new oil when it comes to powering progress.”

Konstantin Sadekov, Head of growth and marketing, MindTitan

Day 1: Theory

The first day of the workshop was all about the theoretical part of AI. Often, when people think of AI, they imagine some kind of machine that can be asked anything and solve any problem. “To have more answers, just feed it with more data!”, people think. Alas, there is no clear indication of when that kind of AI will appear, or even if it might happen at all. 

Contemporary AI systems are focused on narrow and specific tasks, solving exact problems. Algorithms cannot answer the question of how to improve the tax system, but they can point auditors to those who don’t pay taxes. Therefore, it was important to give an overview of what is AI, the different types of AI technologies and the way they work, and where AI can and should be used. 

An indispensable part of the workshop was devoted to the ethical and legal aspects of projects related to AI, and the forming of ideas for these projects. 

Audience listening to the MindTitan team

Day 2: Practice

The second day of the workshop gave the participants insight into the management of AI projects and the four roles required for its execution. The business leader understands business value, sets goals, and holds communication between parties. The problem owner is in sync both with the business, and the end customers as well as their problem, therefore, is validating results. The data scientist prepares and mines the data, creates AI models, and then evaluates and visualizes the results. The data engineer provides data accessibility, quality, and usability.

Next, it was explained how the tender procedure should be organized, and how to manage data. Speakers then shared their experience with the public sector in Estonia to give some ideas on where AI can be implemented in the public sector. Based on those examples, participants were focused on the discussion and development of AI strategy for the most crucial AI use cases in Uzbekistan during the last part of the workshop. Lecturers helped to evaluate the ideas, technical feasibility and gave feedback on the next steps.

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AI use cases in government

Uzbekistan Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshops were extremely fruitful for all the participants. 

Decision-makers had a high-level overview of AI and insights into recognizing AI opportunities and taking steps to get them to the development stage. Problem owners learned how to put together AI projects from idea to execution. Project managers were informed of the peculiarities of executing AI projects compared to other software development projects. Finally, technical stakeholders saw boosters, limitations, and other factors to consider when executing AI projects.

The MindTitan team suggested the idea to hold the next seminars in the format of a deep dive talk, where two to three ideas could be discussed and evaluated from a business and technical point of view. If it is implemented, it would be the base for the tender procedures and input to potential pilot projects. 

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