Final stage of the “45 Minutes Startup” Olympiad held at “INNOLAND”
The final stage of the “45 Minutes Startup” Olympiad, organized jointly by the “INNOLAND” Incubation and Acceleration Center and “Taskool” for 8th–11th grade students, has been successfully held.
The final took place within the framework of the “Startup School” program by “Taskool,” a resident of “INNOLAND.” In 2025, out of 147 applications submitted to the “Startup School” program, 110 participants started the training, and 58 successfully completed it, forming 13 teams across 7 main fields.
The program, aimed at developing entrepreneurship skills and financial literacy at a global level, engaged participants in working on real business ideas and presenting their startup projects. With the support of experienced mentors, the projects covered areas such as Artificial Intelligence, FinTech, GreenTech, HealthTech, AgriTech, Gaming, and E-commerce.
In the final stage, 13 teams captured the jury’s attention with their innovative ideas, creative approaches, and presentation skills. As a result, the startup projects of the “Speacdeaf,” “Tutor AI,” and “Mindmark” teams were highly evaluated and declared winners. All participants who successfully completed the program received certificates.
The “Startup School” program builds a strong foundation for Azerbaijan’s future startup leaders and promotes innovation culture across the country.
Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and the Fastest Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan signed a cooperation agreement with the INNOLAND Incubation and Acceleration Center of the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan.
At the official signing ceremony, held on December 20th at the INNOLAND Incubation and Acceleration Center, Bakcell CEO Nikolai Beckers has pointed out that application of innovations and supporting startups is one of the main priorities of Bakcell strategy: “It is a known fact that Bakcell is one of the first companies in the country to support various projects aimed at development of startups. Our “AppLab” incubation center is one of the rare environments where some of the country’s most interesting projects are accumulated. I’m confident that our cooperation with the newly opened INNOLAND center will contribute largely to development of the country’s entire startup ecosystem and will become one of the most successful partnerships in the area of innovations”.
Director of the "Innovation Center” Tagi Taghi-Zade spoke about the importance of this cooperation, being a public-private partnership. It was noted that the main goal of this partnership is to support entrepreneurship ecosystems for technology startups in our country and to implement high-level cooperation that serves the needs of emerging technology entrepreneurs. Cooperation between parties will have a great significance in terms of establishing a startup culture in Azerbaijan, developing a spirit of innovative entrepreneurship and startup ecosystems, supporting existing initiatives, creating conditions for the application of innovative initiatives in the current economic processes of the country, forming a motivating factor for the development and creation of various discoveries and other innovations.
It should be noted that INNOLAND is an incubation, acceleration and research center created to develop the private sector, promote innovation and expand the startup movement both in Azerbaijan and beyond its borders. INNOLAND consists of the Co-working, Incubation, Acceleration and IT Training and Education Center.
The AppLab program of Bakcell will from now on function as an Acceleration Center to continue supporting the startup project in a broader format. Since the year 2014, local startups and developers engaged in creation of various hardware and software receive support from Bakcell for implementation of their ideas.
Being a known leader in innovation, Bakcell constantly supports the local startups, as well as project implemented in the area of education, science and technology.
At the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University (ASPU), a series of educational sessions were organized by the "INNOLAND" Incubation and Acceleration Center in collaboration with the ADPU ENACTUS team to familiarize students with modern educational approaches and foster their innovative thinking.
During these sessions, renowned experts shared detailed insights on the application of new methods and tools in the teaching process, the role of project-based and game-based learning in education, as well as the prospects of using digital platforms.
On May 16, the session titled "Online Education Platform" featured an opening speech by Professor Asaf Zamanov, Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation at ASPU. During the session, Könül Guliyeva, founder of the "Safavy" platform, delivered a presentation on the development dynamics and application opportunities of online education.
On May 19, the session "Future of Education: Transition to Project-Based Learning" was held, where Nariman Garayev, founder of the "Taskool" platform, discussed the essence and effectiveness of project-based education through practical examples. The session was opened by Shahin Mammadli, Head of the ADPU ENACTUS team, and the presentation part was conducted by Aytac Abbasova.
On May 20, the session titled "Ways of Using Interactive Games in Schools" was opened by the team’s coordinator Zenfira Seyidova. Aynur Huseynova, a teacher at the "Bilim Baku" center, shared practical recommendations on applying game methodologies in teaching and increasing student motivation.
The sessions attracted great interest from students, and all three events were held in an interactive format with discussions and Q&A sessions.
Polygraf AI, which has grown through INNOLAND, has achieved a remarkable success!
Selected as the winner of the “Road to TechCrunch Battlefield 200” competition organized by the Silkroad Innovation Center, Polygraf AI stood out among more than 400 startups from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Turkey, earning a direct ticket to the TechCrunch 2025 finals!
This achievement continues the company’s streak of successes. Previously, Polygraf AI had also won the SXSW Pitch and SummerFest Tech competitions held in the USA.
The platform protects organizations’ data security, detects deepfake audio and fake content, and prevents confidential information from leaking into AI tools.
We sincerely congratulate the team and wish them even greater victories in the future!