Since 2017, CLIENT II has launched 15 joint projects with the countries of Central Asia and Mongolia to develop solutions for the climate, environment, resources and energy sectors. The project results have the potential to make an important contribution to overcoming regional challenges. A prerequisite for the successful and sustainable implementation of the projects is an awareness of the exploitation potential in the region as well as trusting contacts between the project managers and relevant regional stakeholders. The conference contributed to this goal.

Concept

Representatives of all partner countries (Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Germany) were invited to Almaty in order to ensure that the event had an impact on the entire Central Asia funding region, including Mongolia, and to enable relevant regional stakeholders to share their experiences across national borders. The German side was represented by the German Consulate in Almaty, selected German CLIENT II project partners, the project executing agency DLR-PT and a selection of important German organizations active in Central Asia (Annex - List of participants).

The following event blocks were designed to achieve the general objective:

Session 1: CLIENT II in Central Asia

• Introduction to the project and the project managers
• Presentation of concrete CLIENT II project results with particular regional potential

Session 2: Bridging Gaps - Networking and transfer activities to promote sustainable innovation

• Informing about the possibilities and initiatives to promote regional intersectoral knowledge exchange
• Providing information on opportunities to participate in regional platforms to support synergy effects and sustainable implementation approaches

Session 3: Survey and panel discussion

• Survey of the participants: on the contribution of CLIENT II to sustainable development in the region, on the impact of the funding projects on the 3 pillars of sustainability, on the success factors in the areas of project preparation, project implementation and project commercialization as well as on recommendations for future funding measures
• Panel discussion on the topic of knowledge and technology transfer with special consideration of the survey results presented

Finally, the “Wrap-up and key take-aways” slot was set up to work out the particularly relevant results in relation to the objectives of the event together with the audience.

Realization

The event was implemented successfully in its entirety. An important basis for this was the participation of 63 registered guests from 6 countries in the event. In line with the CLIENT II approach, this enabled a regional view of the opportunities for sustainable development and an intensive regional exchange between stakeholders from science, society/politics and business.

The wrap-up conference was opened by Wolfgang Faust, Department for Press, Culture and Economy, of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Almaty. In his speech, he emphasized Germany's interest in global cooperation as a high-tech country with a broad-based research landscape. According to the representative of the German Consulate General, Central Asia is one of Germany's most important partner regions.

In the first session “CLIENT II in Central Asia”, the auditorium was introduced to the broad technical spectrum and great application potential of the CLIENT II projects in Central Asia through the presentation of the LINOKAS, KAZHEMP, KendyrTEX, ReKKS, LocustTEC, SUFACHAIN and TERESA projects. The presentations focused on concrete results and possible utilization approaches.

Photo 1: Auditorium (© CASIB)

Photo 2: Evaluation of the audience survey in the run-up to the panel discussion (© CASIB)

Photo 3: Participants of the CLIENT II Wrap-up Conference Central Asia 2024 (© CASIB)

Results and Outcomes

The most important results of the conference are listed below:

• Contribution to strengthening the visibility of the German scientific landscape in Central Asia, in particular of CLIENT II activities
• Highlighting the importance of intersectoral cooperation (science - society / politics - economy) for sustainable regional development and demonstrating practicable approaches
• Supporting the exchange of knowledge with relevant regional stakeholders
• Promoting awareness of the exploitation potential of project results in the funding region
• Generating information on the regional perspective on the CLIENT II program (impact of the measure, success factors) as well as suggestions for new funding measures based on the results of the survey and panel discussion