Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - “COVID-19 Challenge 2020” is an online competition of innovative tools and solutions for mitigating the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, where innovators from all over Uzbekistan can collaborate and create innovations, combining knowledge, technology, entrepreneurial skills to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another.

Due to the restrictive measures taken by the government of Uzbekistan in order to combat the spread of the virus in the country, a large number of people were left without work. Now, assistance and support are needed as individual vulnerable categories of citizens, as well as individual communities and enterprises. With this in mind, this competition is an attempt to create an online platform where innovators can come up with, experiment and create technologies and digital solutions to help deal with this crisis.

The purpose of the competition is, through a networked and collaborative approach, to facilitate the mobilization, identification and deployment of technological solutions for critical tasks of minimizing and mitigating the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for everyone, and in particular, to protect vulnerable groups of the population. The competition seeks to find technological solutions that can be quickly deployed and potentially quickly scaled up at the national level.

The organizers of the competition are UNDP in Uzbekistan, IT Park, the Youth Union and the Academy of Youth under the Ministry of Innovative Development together with the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations, the Ministry of Health, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, the Center for Supporting the Development of Youth Entrepreneurship of Uzbekistan, the Digital Trust Foundation, the World Bank and OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan

The involved team of mentors will act as experts to assist in the direction of activities and feedback between several project teams. Their goal is to help teams create solutions that are both meaningful and translatable. For each direction, 4-5 mentors will be involved.

The competition will be held in 8 areas:

1-healthcare

2-assistance to vulnerable groups

3-support small business

4-community support

5-education

6-raising awareness and behaviors

7-leisure

8-everything else

The organizers invite the contest participants to propose solutions for any other topics that, in your opinion, are important and should be included. So, generate your ideas and feel free to think outside the box!

Any person has the right to participate. To participate in the competition, you need to register, submit the idea of the proposed technological solution and fill out an online form. After receiving applications, a review of projects will take place. Successful teams will be invited to an online interview. Innovators who have passed interviews will undergo mentoring (online moderation and brainstorming), as well as do preliminary defense of the project until the final selection and conclusion of the contract.

At least 5 projects will be supported by financial contributions of up to US$10,000 provided by partners for testing and further implementation of the proposed technological solutions.

The organizers will work with the Special Republican Commission to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 to ensure that the most effective solutions can receive further funding and implementation to achieve the maximum possible effect during the current crisis.