The process of converting information into a digital format
The state distributes grants, and professional pitchers emerge whose main product is not software but applications. It creates tax incentives for IT, and holdings register "pocket" departments for offshore purposes. It funds courses, and schools produce quantity over quality. It orders tenders, and contractors build software systems that live from one report to the next.
In Kazakhstan, over four years, the number of AI courses has increased from 20 to 300. Venture capital has grown fivefold. The government has declared the Year of Digitalization. But behind these statistics are three-day marathons from people who, a year ago, were selling millionaire mindset courses.
The Kwakiutl Indians burned blankets and canoes to prove: we are the main ones here. Kazakh national companies and banks burn billions on LED screens, imported speakers, and tons of merchandise for exactly the same purpose. Digital Bridge, Digital Almaty, endless tech-days - these are not about innovation.
On April 1, 2025, eGov went down. The reason - parents were enrolling their children in school. The Vice Minister admitted: the portal operates on 2013 technology. Three months prior, the entire government service ecosystem was unavailable for 4.5 hours. These are not bugs. This is a system where the tender is won not by the one who writes the code, but by the one whose uncle signs the act.
How did one person transfer Kazakhstan's public services to a smartphone and launch 5G auctions worth 156 billion tenge? Bagdat Musin: from reforms in the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry to leading "Kazakhtelecom". An analysis of achievements, debates, and style - without emotions, with numbers.