One of the region’s leading innovation festivals, “Baku ID 2026,” held on September 17-18 at SABAH.city innovation city, has concluded.
The two-day programme brought together local and international speakers, including Balázs Hendrich, Head of the Representation of the Organization of Turkic States in Hungary; Khamis Said Abdalla, Secretary General of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar; 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 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 Department at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Teymur Aliyev, Head of the Strategic Management and Innovations Department at SOCAR; and other speakers.
“Baku ID 2026” also hosted the Azerbaijan Regional Final of the international startup competition Startup World Cup. The regional final of the global competition, created by Pegasus Tech Ventures, was organized by SABAH.angels with Turkish Airlines as the official travel partner.
The competition received a total of 160 applications from 20 countries, with the selection process conducted by an international jury. At the final, 10 startups presented their projects to investors and experts. 4sell.ai, founded by entrepreneurs from Kazakhstan, was named the winner 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. The awards, which spotlight promising startups, investors, and other participants of the regional innovation ecosystem, featured 80 startups competing across 15 categories this year, while the open voting process received more than 100,000 votes. A total of 12 startups were named winners.
The winners included Forg3t Protocol in the “AI Startup of the Year” category; Ayan Capital and Paypercut in the “FinTech Startup of the Year” category; Wellbees in the “Health and Wellness Startup of the Year” category; Jusoor Labs in the “EdTech Startup of the Year” category; and Fuelin in the “Mobility & Logistics Startup of the Year” category. 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, SABAH.HUB, SABAH.fund, and Türkiye’s AI Startup Factory platform also signed a memorandum of cooperation. The memorandum aims to support the development of startups and expand investment cooperation.
The Azerbaijan Regional Final of the Startup World Cup, the results of the NEXUS Awards, and the signing of the cooperation memorandum once again highlighted the significance of “Baku ID 2026” as a platform supporting regional startup connections and investment cooperation.
It should be noted that 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 (C4IR Azerbaijan), 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 the official social media accounts of “Baku ID.”