A digital platform for agriculture by a Kazakhstani company and an online education and communications solution by a Russian company win the EDB Fund for Digital Initiatives’ project competition
Moscow, 11 May 2023. Kazakhstan-based EGISTIC, which is developing a comprehensive super app for the agricultural sector, and Russia-based Esbord, which has created an endless online flipchart for business tasks and online education, won a project competition initiated by the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Fund for Digital Initiatives. The committee, chaired by Tigran Sargsyan, Vice Chairman of the Bank's Management Board and Fund Supervisor, made the decision to select these projects.
The application window for the competition was open from 28 November 2022 to 31 December 2023, during which more than 70 applications were received from all EDB member countries, including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, and 14 projects made it to the final round. These projects encompass solutions for tourism, healthcare, data circulation, public administration, education, agriculture, energy, and the environment.
Most of the participants were private companies, but the nominees also included projects by public organisations and governmental funds.
The winners of the competition will have the opportunity to participate in the Bank’s project cycle. Depending on the outcome of this cycle, funding may be provided under varying conditions.
EGISTIC, the winner from Kazakhstan, is developing the EGISTIC SUPERAPP, an ecosystem of interconnected services designed to address the daily challenges faced by agricultural producers and other stakeholders in the food market. The solution will provide the necessary advice and make it possible to hire staff, buy and sell products, search for rentals, and purchase equipment. The app also offers analytics based on satellite evaluation of cultivated areas and detailed analysis of machinery operation using onboard and GPS data. The development team is currently receiving feedback from large and medium-sized producers and suppliers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, who are asking to speed up the development as they are losing customers in the absence of such a sales channel and transparent procurement processes.
Another winning project, SBOARD by Russia-based Esbord, introduces an endless flipchart and online board for business tasks and teaching purposes where users can observe each other’s actions in real time. In addition to writing, drawing and sketching, the board displays complex mathematical formulas, including those prepared in the LaTeX editor or using a special keyboard, and can accommodate screenshots of tasks and educational materials. SBOARD provides a wide range of geometric primitives, including all kinds of lines, dashed lines, flat shapes, and more than 25 three-dimensional shapes that can be easily added to the board while similar offline actions take much longer. The board content can be saved as a PDF file. The platform can be accessed through a browser on any device without the need for additional software installation. The developers have designed a technology that allows any smartphone with an internet connection to function as a graphics tablet. This makes SBOARD an efficient tool, without the necessity of purchasing specialised equipment. Currently, the platform boasts over 150,000 users from all regions of Russia.
The winners of the EDB Fund for Digital Initiatives’ competition will showcase their innovations at the Eurasian Congress ’23, scheduled to take place in Sochi on 8–9 June 2023.
Additional Information:
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution investing in Eurasia. For more than 17 years, the Bank has worked to strengthen and expand economic ties and foster comprehensive development in its member countries – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia and Tajikistan. The EDB's charter capital totals US $7 billion. Its portfolio consists principally of projects with an integration effect in transport infrastructure, digital systems, green energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and mechanical engineering. The Bank’s operations are guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and ESG principles.
The EDB Fund for Digital Initiatives, which is supervised by Tigran Sargsyan, Vice Chairman of the EDB Management Board, was established in June 2020. Its objective is to assist the EDB member states in creating digital transformation tools and practices by integrating their information resources and participating in the development and financing of projects. The Fund’s flagship project is the COVID-19-Free Travel mobile app used in nine CIS countries.
The EDB Media Centre:
Aigerim Akhanova
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