In particular:

56 scientific solutions have been implemented in production;

over 60,000 young people have been engaged in innovation activities through technoparks;

9 digital platforms have been launched;

735 research projects worth 1.2 trillion soums have been funded.

Despite these positive results, systemic problems related to efficiency and governance remain. In particular:

-long-term sectoral strategies have not been sufficiently developed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation;

-the regulatory framework has not been adequately improved;

-commercialization financing and public-private partnership mechanisms remain underdeveloped;

-cooperation between universities and industry is not institutionalized;

-Uzbekistan ranked 79th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025 (target: 62nd);

-there is a lack of transparency in the selection of research projects.

During the audit, particular attention was paid to a number of errors and shortcomings in the sector.

In particular:

-failure to comply with established deadlines in selection processes, delays in expert reviews, and in some cases issuance of positive conclusions without proper examination;

-conflicts of interest and approval of projects with high levels of plagiarism, significantly reducing the quality of scientific competitions;

-no startup competitions were announced in 2024–2025, leading to a sharp decline in activity, and 44.2% of 95 enterprises created from startups funded in 2023 are currently inactive or not generating economic results;

-although a limit of 2 projects per participant is set, in 65 cases participants were involved in 4 or more projects simultaneously;

-similar issues are observed in commercialization projects, indicating inefficiency in converting scientific results into economic value.

Additionally, due to poor organization of technical expertise by the Scientific and Technical Council, 13.3 billion soums were allocated to 10 projects with identical topics and expected results.

To address these systemic issues, the Accounts Chamber issued the following recommendations:

– develop long-term strategies;

– expand private sector participation;

– fully digitalize project selection and evaluation processes;

– strengthen commercialization mechanisms;

– adopt international best practices;

– create a unified integrated digital platform.

Implementation of these recommendations will increase the share of innovation in the economy, ensure effective application of scientific results, and improve the country’s position in global innovation rankings.

Following the audit, discussions were held with responsible officials, practical recommendations were issued, and a 34-point action plan was developed.