Challenge Areas

Teams will compete to find the most creative and practical ideas and solutions to the following three “challenges”. Winning solutions can use technology, develop new approaches to advocacy and education, or propose new business or market-creation ideas – or combine all three!

Challenge #1 Who owns your personal data, and how can you protect it?

At present over 2.5 million citizens of Kyrgyzstan spend an increasing amount of time online using local government services and global platform and ecosystems such as ​mail.ru​, Yandex, Google, and Facebook. But who owns the rights to the data created by or about Kyrgyz citizens – data including pubic data – that is being packaged, and sold to businesses, and governments – and that impacts on access to employment, credit, education, and even the ability to qualify for foreign visas. How can Kyrgyz citizens be made better aware of their data rights, and their data risk? What are the possible solutions to educate Kyrgyz citizens about their data rights, exercise ownership over their data, and, is there a sustainable market-based solution to protecting these rights?

Challenge #2 Can citizens use data to improve governance and accountability and create new economic opportunities?

Digital government, Digital Economy and Smart Cities promise streamlined government services, new jobs, and safer communities. At present, the Kyrgyz government has launched almost 80 e-services with many more planned. How can this new data economy empower citizens through better governance, and accountability of public and private institutions, create new services that improve efficacy and reduce corruption of vital services (including smart cities), and create new economic opportunities in non digital sectors of the economy (such as tourism)?

Challenge #3 Can we make Kyrgyz citizens better prepared and safer on-line?

Just over 50% of all Kyrgyz citizens are online. The rest are not. Those being left behind include elderly people, economically disadvantaged, physically handicapped and the young. Ensuring that all citizens have the ability to become “digital citizens” means preparing them for a digital future. And it is not just the disadvantage that are being left behind. Professionals of all kinds, doctors, lawyers, government workers, teachers – lack the basic skills to be healthy citizens of a digital world. And there are other reasons why this is important. Cybercrime affects everyone online, including individuals and communities least able to protect themselves. Cyber crime can also be vicious – targeting individuals for trolling, exploitation, sexual trafficking, or recruitment into criminal or violent extremist organizations. Knowledge and awareness of cyber skills and risks have not kept pace with the speed at which these technologies have become part of everyday life in Kyrgyzstan. How can we make Kyrgyz citizens safer online through new approaches, and tools for raising awareness of digital risks and teaching digital hygiene practices in a manner that is accessible and affordable to all citizens including those from vulnerable or marginalized communities?