Saule Bishimbayeva, National technical expert and project coordinator GCIP-Kazakhstan, NJSC "IGTIC", PhD in economics.

The "Global Program for Promoting Innovations in the Field of Clean technologies and entrepreneurship in SMEs to create green jobs in Kazakhstan" (hereinafter GCIP-Kazakhstan) is being launched in Kazakhstan. 

The grant was allocated to Kazakhstan by the Global Environment Facility (the GEF), with the assistance of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which has a unique mandate to support inclusive and sustainable industrial development to solve the most pressing global environmental problems of our time. The national executor of the project is NJSC "International Green Technologies and Investments Center".

RELEVANCE AND PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT: 

The aim of the project is to promote innovations in the field of clean technologies through an intersectoral and multi-level approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create sustainable innovative ecosystems for small and medium-sized enterprises and startups. 

Achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires Kazakhstan to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2060. This requires the rapid development, deployment, and implementation of domestic innovative environmentally friendly technologies with low carbon emissions at a scale and pace that will lead to transformational changes.

It should be noted that the GCIP Program is one of the unique and flagship projects of the GEF and UNIDO. The 10-year experience of GCIP has clearly shown that an effective way to achieve the goals of sustainable development, energy transition, and solving climate change problems lies through the introduction of innovations by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The project has its roots in 2011 when the Government of South Africa, with the support of the GEF and UNIDO, successfully implemented a project to hold the first clean technology competition among representatives of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) who had innovative ideas and solutions in the field of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and eco-friendly construction. The South Africa Cleantech project, implemented in 2011 in South Africa, proved to be so successful that it gave impetus to its expansion into the Global GCIP Program and spread to new developing countries.

The project is unique in that the countries become part of a large Global GCIP Platform covering 16 developing countries: Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Uruguay, Pakistan, South Africa, Senegal, Vietnam, Lesotho (Figure 1).

For Kazakhstan, being the first Central Asian country to join GCIP, this is a unique opportunity to build an effective innovation ecosystem for the development and support of clean technologies and their adaptation to climate change. In addition, a very attractive investment climate has been created in Kazakhstan to attract investment. Thus, according to UNCTAD, 46% of all investments and declared "greenfield" projects in the Central Asian region are accounted for by Kazakhstan.

GCIP creates key opportunities for all countries and stakeholders so that they can effectively integrate support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of clean technologies into policies and business processes. This will eliminate market and policy shortcomings that hinder the emergence, deployment, and adoption of environmentally friendly technologies in the long term, which will help low- and middle-income countries to make the leap to a greener economy.

The effect of more than 1,100 GCIP startups that have been accelerated over the period 2017-2020 has shown impressive results. Thus, a projection of 14 startups that passed the GCIP Acceleration Program reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 4.8 million tons of CO2, attracted US$ 263 million, and created 1,219 new jobs in the field of clean technologies. As in the whole world, SMEs in Kazakhstan can become the main generator of new ideas, supplier of innovations, and play a decisive role in achieving carbon neutrality. Thus, the share of small and medium-sized enterprises in Kazakhstan's GDP in 2021 amounted to 34.7%. 

It should be noted that over the years of the Program's implementation, progress has also been made in the GCIP countries to eliminate the problems of gender inequality. For example, the share of female-headed enterprises in GCIP-Pakistan in 2017 was 32%, and the percentage of female-headed GCIP enterprises at the GCIP Global Forum 2018 was 53%. 

In the GCIP-Kazakhstan competition, preference will also be given to women entrepreneurs, coaches, mentors (at least 35%). In this regard, Kazakhstan also has a good foundation for the development of women's entrepreneurship. Thus, there are 1.7 million small and medium-sized enterprises, of which 44% are headed by women. 

GCIP-Kazakhstan is aimed at implementing transformational changes through the implementation of three components:

1. Support for new SMEs offering innovative solutions in the field of clean technologies.

 As a result of the National Competition and selection of the best projects, support will be provided to Kazakhstani clean technology enterprises (SMEs and startups) in the form of acceleration programs, development, scaling, and implementation of their solutions. In addition, the project will help attract local investment, create jobs, and develop the clean technology market.

2. Development and strengthening of the ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of clean technologies. 

GCIP-Kazakhstan will assist the government in improving national policies and regulations that promote innovation and commercialization of clean technologies. 

The project will focus on strengthening institutional market potential to support a favorable ecosystem of startups in the field of environmentally friendly technologies and strengthening policy frameworks and mechanisms for technological innovation in SMEs. 

GCIP's ecosystem approach is based on the belief that to bring about the changes the world needs, a partnership between private and public actors, as well as between thematic and sectoral disparate structures, is required. 

By stimulating enabling innovation ecosystems, the GEF and UNIDO aim to promote affordable and scalable solutions enabling countries to make the leap to climate and clean energy technologies within the GCIP framework.

3. The activities under the 3rd component are aimed at ensuring that the achievements of GCIP-Kazakhstan are recorded and brought to the attention of the whole world, as well as that the projects of all GCIP countries are implemented in a coordinated manner. 

In this regard, the Center will cooperate with global organizations implementing the project from the USA, such as NGIN (Network for Global Innovation) and GCG (Global Cleantech Group), and will also contribute to the collection of information and knowledge exchange.

TERMS OF THE GCIP-KAZAKHSTAN COMPETITION

Using an intersectoral approach to creating a sustainable favorable business environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, GCIP uses a competition-based approach (accelerator) to identify a pool of promising Kazakhstani entrepreneurs and support them through constant mentoring, training, and networking events to transform their innovative ideas and concepts into full-fledged products and services ready to enter the national market and global markets.

The national competition will be held to identify the most promising innovative entrepreneurs and startups across the country for their subsequent support, risk reduction, and linking them with potential investors, clients, and partners.

Projects will be able to participate in GCIP-Kazakhstan only at an early stage of readiness when all scientific research has already been completed and evidence of a clearly defined product or service with properties and benefits that can be evaluated and tested by commercial clients were presented.

The competition will be held in the following 7 areas:

•             waste management

•             renewable energy sources

•             energy efficiency

•             efficient use of water

•             transport

•             green construction

•             modern materials and chemicals

The competition is expected to collect applications from 150-200 applicants, 30-40 startups will be selected for acceleration, and approximately 5-7 startups will be selected to participate in the Cleantech Global Forum, which usually takes place in the Silicon Valley of the USA, in San Francisco and in Los Angeles or Europe (Fig. 6).

Who can apply for acceleration? 

• Manufacturing companies with technologies that can change the industry; 

• Companies that produce goods or provide services with an innovative business model that can give them a sustainable competitive advantage;

• Promising teams: at least two people whose authority can attract other talented people to help them enter a certain market.

ONE OF THE INNOVATIONS OF GCIP-KAZAKHSTAN IS TO CONDUCT PRE-ACCELERATION BEFORE THE START OF THE MAIN ACCELERATION OF STARTUPS.

Pre-acceleration aims to help entrepreneurs prepare for GCIP acceleration by focusing on the formation of a business concept, a minimally viable product (MVP), and a team. It usually lasts 2-3 weeks.

Acceleration is a program lasting from 3 to 6 months, in which a group of entrepreneurs is trained. These programs usually take the form of business contests with multiple presentations and prizes for the winners.

For companies in the field of clean/green technologies, acceleration is especially important since they relate to product innovations and differ from typical companies in that business is most often built on physical components (batteries, machines, solar panels, sensors, components of micro-networks, etc.). Therefore, commercialization and introduction of environmentally friendly technologies is a more complex process, and companies have a longer "valley of death."

It takes time for companies to get stronger, a higher level of financial support, as well as the availability of a variety of skills and abilities to achieve success: accelerated development of prototypes, intellectual property protection, creation and subsequently scaling of production, a market entry strategy. Therefore, the GCIP program, consistently building a bridge of various support tools, helps new companies overcome various barriers and avoid the notorious "valley of death" (see Figure 7).

At the same time, GCIP does not immediately require, at the initial stage of selection, a comprehensive strategy for entering the market, the correct determination of who will buy their product and why, an excellent financial forecast, or a deep understanding of the financing strategy. These are exactly the areas in which GCIP is designed to help.

In addition, within the framework of GCIP-Kazakhstan, the GEF and UNIDO provide an opportunity to demonstrate projects to domestic and foreign investors, including the PFAN private finance network.

In addition, within the framework of GCIP-Kazakhstan, the GEF and UNIDO provide an opportunity to demonstrate projects to domestic and foreign investors, including the PFAN private finance network. Methodological support of the Startup Acceleration Program will consist of 6 modules:

1. Guide for Entrepreneurs: Innovation and approval of business models;

2. Handbook for entrepreneurs: creating a successful presentation for investors;

3. Handbook for entrepreneurs: marketing communications;

4. Guide for Entrepreneurs: Regional and global expansion;

5. Venture financing: business angels and venture capital (global venture capital environment, technological trends and opportunities). Crowdfunding (features of working in Kazakhstan);

6. Sustainability (environmental and social), impact tracking and monetization ("Green investors", impact funds, CO2 emissions tracking, etc.).

One of the main mechanisms for promoting technologies for further implementation in regions and cities will be technology brokerage events in the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where investors, developers of projects/technologies, enterprises meet to solve technological problems of the regions.

The regions of Kazakhstan with the largest emissions and polluted atmospheric air were selected for technological brokerage events.

Expected results: 

Currently, GCIP supports more than 1,250 SMEs in fifteen countries, of which 35-40% are headed by women. 

As a result, over the next 10 years, GCIP is expected to collectively reduce direct GHG emissions by at least 2,225,000 eq. CO2 and indirect emissions by at least 11,275,000 eq. CO2. 

In addition, GCIP aims to achieve other related environmental, social, and economic benefits, including job creation, poverty reduction, and women's empowerment.

It is planned that after implementation of the GCIP-Kazakhstan program, the following results will be achieved: 

• Reduction of CO2eq emissions (tons) by at least 135,000 (directly) and at least 675,000 (indirectly); 

• At least 80 companies that have passed acceleration; 

• Attracted investments in the amount of a minimum of 1 million US dollars; 

• 1,000 additional jobs created or retained (at least 35% are headed by women); 

• 5-10 enterprises with an increase in exports brought to the global market (at least 35% are headed by women); 

• 30 mentors trained; 

• 10 commercialized green patents; 

• 7-9 technological brokerage events in the regions of Kazakhstan.

In the end, GCIP improves the basic conditions for all relevant stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, financial and technology consultants, policymakers, and investors, which subsequently allows them to act independently of GCIP in the long term. The implementation of GCIP-Kazakhstan will provide new technological businesses and solutions to various environmental problems of the country, the creation of new green jobs and SMEs, which will bring Kazakhstan closer to the low-carbon economy of the country. GCIP-Kazakhstan will attract local and foreign investments to support domestic technologies, which will subsequently increase the environmental innovation activity of the country. All this combined will certainly give Kazakhstan more opportunities to get closer to the goals of the Paris Agreement and achieve zero emissions by 2060.