Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In Russia and the CIS countries, the international competition for social entrepreneurship SAP UP is being held for the sixth time. Applications are accepted from Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia. Prizes include a two-week educational program and cash grants.

Participants can submit to the competition works in three categories:

O2O (offline to online) - reformatting its services and services in whole or in part into an online format.

COVID innovations - projects to restore economic and social aspects in Russia and the CIS countries after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rethink with technologies - the use of new information technologies in solving social problems.

The competition will be held in six stages:

On 23 September - 23 October: Acceptance of applications for participation in the competition.

On 24 October – on 3 November: The first stage of project evaluation and identification of participants.

On 9 November - 20 November: Educational program for semi-finalists.

On 23 November - 4 December: Second stage of project evaluation and selection of finalists.

On 7 December - 9 December: Preparation of the finalists for the pitching and mentoring session.

On 10 December: Presentation of projects at the final online event.

The SAP Innovation Management platform is used to select and analyze applications from participants. All projects will be selected according to certain criteria: social significance and the impact of the project on the quality of life of the population, innovation and manufacturability, project resources (attracting partners and the competence of team members), business potential and sustainable development in the field of strategy, risks and vision of the future project.

“We are organizing SAP UP again for those who are not afraid of bold ideas and are ready to change our world for the better. This year, we are organizing unique educational programs for semi-finalists and finalists that will help them to unleash the full potential of the project and create new business relationships with experts and like-minded people, and get resources for development. We hope that our initiative to find social startups will help change the situation in the world and bring new breakthrough ideas,” said Andrey Filatov, CEO of SAP CIS.

During the competition, more than 2,000 entrepreneurs took part in it, 50 representatives of business, NGOs and media, 29 startups were trained in Germany, 16 grants were issued.