HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s Cyberport is looking to deepen its ties with Central Asia as technology hubs in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan seek to connect their startup ecosystems with international markets, investors and partners. In two separate interviews with The Astana Times on Nov. 4 as part of Cyberport Venture and Capital Forum, Eric Chan, Cyberport’s chief public mission officer, and Shakhzod Narzullaev, head of product-market fit at IT Park Uzbekistan, outlined complementary approaches: Hong Kong offers an established technology and financial ecosystem, while Central Asian partners can help startups move across neighboring markets and build a wider regional presence.
Chan, Cyberport’s chief public mission officer, said AI should be democratized for everyone. Photo credit: The Astana Times
Wholly owned by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, Cyberport is home to more than 2,400 companies, including 30 listed companies, 10 unicorns and more than 500 AI and data science startups. Companies in its ecosystem have expanded into 36 markets worldwide.
Chan said the regulatory environment should make room for experimentation, particularly when technology companies work with financial institutions. Rather than simply telling companies what they cannot do, regulators should create controlled environments in which businesses can test new solutions and develop them in cooperation with established financial institutions.
AI is now driving a larger share of the hub’s work. Chan said Cyberport initially supported companies using generative AI to develop and fine-tune large language models, but the focus is increasingly shifting toward redesigning business processes.
“What I can see is that people are getting a lot more serious and the scale of those projects is a lot bigger,” he said, explaining that companies are moving beyond testing individual applications toward integrating AI into their operations.
“It’s not a matter of whether we should do it. It’s a must, it’s an imperative now,” Chan said.
He also stressed that AI adoption cannot be separated from risk management, cybersecurity, governance and ethical considerations, adding that AI should be more accessible beyond the business community. Through its “AI for All” initiative, it plans to reach students, parents, older people and disadvantaged communities.
“AI should be democratized for everyone. It should not be concentrated for just a few who can afford it,” Chan said.
Talent is another part of Hong Kong’s proposition. Chan pointed to the city’s 12 universities and what he described as the “free flow of talent,” funding and data.
“At the end of the day, we are grooming talent for the globe, not just for Hong Kong or any other countries,” he said, noting that international exposure can benefit both companies and specialists who eventually return to their home markets.
Cyberport’s Central Asia strategy: partnerships before offices
Cyberport’s engagement with Central Asia has developed through visits to technology hubs in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Chan said. In June 2026, during Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee’svisitto Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Cyberportsignedmemorandums of understanding with Astana Hub and IT Park Uzbekistan. The agreementscovertechnology transfer and cooperation in AI, fintech, smart city solutions and Web3, alongside support for overseas expansion and international market access. IT Park Uzbekistan and Cyberport are also discussing exchanges of projects and potentially investments, although a detailed plan has yet to be finalized, according to Narzullaev.
Chan said Cyberport does not intend to establish a permanent office in every market, preferring to build relationships with established local organizations.
“Since we may not be able to afford to have people in every country, every jurisdiction, what we do is we find a good partner, a good strategy partner,” he said.
The model is intended to be reciprocal. Cyberport wants to help Central Asian startups find investors, customers and business partners in Hong Kong, while its partners can support Hong Kong companies entering their markets. He believes international expansion is essential even for companies operating in an established ecosystem such as Hong Kong.
“Anyone has the aspiration to become the next unicorn. Not just the unicorn from Hong Kong, but the unicorn of the world. They have to operate in multiple markets,” he said.
For head of product-market fit at IT Park Uzbekistan Narzullaev, regional cooperation starts with a question of scale. Individual Central Asian countries can compete with one another to attract investment, he said, but presenting themselves separately to global markets can limit their visibility.
Narzullaev, head of product-market fit at IT Park Uzbekistan said rather than treating Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as competing destinations, they should be viewed as interconnected markets. Photo credit: The Astana Times
“Why can’t we present ourselves as Central Asia when we go to the global market? And why don’t we do it together?” he said.
The Central Asian Innovation Hubs initiative, developed with Kazakhstan, gives the countries a shared brand at international events, where they present startups together rather than compete for visibility. Narzullaev said Tajikistan was now joining the initiative. The partners have also developed a shared hub in China where founders can work, hold meetings and connect with local businesses. For startups entering an unfamiliar market, he said, having a place and a network to turn to can make a significant difference.
Narzullaev also challenged the assumption that Silicon Valley should automatically be the first destination for every startup seeking venture capital. Deep-science projects requiring very large initial investments may need to look to the United States, he said, but companies seeking more modest early-stage funding could find opportunities closer to home.
“If your startup needs $500,000, up to $3 million to $5 million, you can easily find this money in our regions,” he said.
In his assessment, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan currently have more venture capital available than investment-ready projects, making the region an attractive option for founders who are prepared to develop their products and build teams before approaching investors.
He was also refreshingly blunt about the practical value of memorandums. IT Park Uzbekistan has signed about 70 memorandums with organizations in different countries, he said, many of which risk becoming little more than documents and photographs without concrete obligations.
“We want to remove it altogether,” he said, describing the need to move away from symbolic agreements toward partnerships with measurable results.
IT Park Uzbekistan is therefore working on a proposed Global Growth Alliance that would bring technology parks, investors and other startup-support organizations into a functioning international network. He said the initiative could develop into an annual forum, with the first global summit planned in Uzbekistan in May 2027.
Narzullaev described the idea of working with international partners such as Cyberport as creating an “IT embassy of Uzbekistan” in Hong Kong, allowing Uzbek startups to have a local base without requiring IT Park to establish a separate office and maintain its own staff and infrastructure.
“It is not logical to go to all the countries and open an office there. But Hong Kong is an interesting region for us and we can be part of it,” he said.
He said rather than treating Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as competing destinations, Narzullaev views them as interconnected markets within a wider regional opportunity.
“If Kazakhstan grows, Uzbekistan grows. If Uzbekistan grows, Kazakhstan grows,” he said.
For Narzullaev, that is ultimately the logic behind building partnerships across the region: a startup’s success in one Central Asian market can create opportunities in another, making the region more attractive to international companies and investors as a whole.
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