The region’s leading innovation festival, “Baku ID 2026,” held on September 17–18 at the SABAH.city innovation campus, has concluded.
The two-day programme featured local and international speakers, including Balázs Hendrich, Head of the Representation of the Organization of Turkic States in Hungary and Ambassador; Khamis Said Abdalla, Secretary General of Zanzibar’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training; Walid Mansour, Co-Founder and CEO of MEVP; Sina Afra, Co-Founder and Partner at Founder One; Tanat Uskembayev, Managing Director of Astana Hub; and Dominique Piotet, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Ukraine Phoenix Tech Fund.
The local ecosystem was represented by speakers including Fariz Jafarov, Executive Director of the Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution; Taleh Karimli, Head of the Innovation Ecosystem Development Department at the Innovation and Digital Development Agency; Ramik Guliyev, Head of the Health Policy Division at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Teymur Aliyev, Head of the Strategic Management and Innovation Department at SOCAR; and others.
“Baku ID 2026” also hosted the Azerbaijan Regional Final of the international startup competition Startup World Cup. The regional final of the global competition, founded by Pegasus Tech Ventures, was organized by SABAH.angels with Turkish Airlines as the official travel partner.
A total of 160 applications from 20 countries were submitted to the competition, with the selection process conducted by an international jury. At the final, 10 startups presented their projects to investors and experts. 4sell.ai, a startup founded by Kazakh entrepreneurs, won the competition and earned the right to participate in the Startup World Cup Grand Finale, which will take place in San Francisco on November 6. The result once again demonstrated Baku ID’s role as a platform connecting innovation ecosystems across the region.
The NEXUS Awards ceremony, held on the second day of the festival, was one of the event’s highlights. This year, 80 startups competed across 15 categories, with more than 100,000 votes cast in the public voting process. A total of 12 startups were announced as winners.
The winners included Forg3t Protocol in the “AI Startup of the Year” category, Ayan Capital and Paypercut in “FinTech Startup of the Year,” Wellbees in “Health and Wellness Startup of the Year,” Jusoor Labs in “EdTech Startup of the Year,” and Fuelin in “Mobility & Logistics Startup of the Year.” Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) was named “Venture Capital Fund of the Year,” while Sina Afra received the “Special Recognition Award.”
As part of the event, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between SABAH.HUB, SABAH.fund and Türkiye’s AI Startup Factory. The memorandum aims to support startup development and expand investment cooperation.
The Azerbaijan Regional Final of Startup World Cup, the NEXUS Awards results and the signing of the memorandum once again highlighted the significance of Baku ID 2026 as a platform supporting regional startup connections and investment cooperation.
The strategic partners of “Baku ID 2026” are the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, PASHA Holding, SOCAR, and the Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4SIM) operating under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The festival’s main partners are the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA) and TIMES.
Further information about the festival is available on the bakuid.com website and Baku ID’s official social media accounts.
