Chairman Emeritus of Baker & McKenzie Eduardo Leite proposed to establish in Kazakhstan the Nursultan Nazarbayev Award for Modernization, the jury of which may consist of such world-famous outstanding entrepreneurs as Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
“Baker & McKenzie Int’s offers a contest and a modernization award, which will be granted once every two years. The Republic of Kazakhstan will invite graduates of the world’s top universities to make up a team for the participation in the contest to propose the modernization project that will make Kazakhstan the world’s leader in a certain field,” Eduardo Leite told today’s plenary session of the Foreign Investors’ Council under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
According to him, the theme of each biennial contest will differ from the theme of the previous one and will be determined by the Government from among such areas as robotics, artificial intelligence, medicine, agriculture, environment, space exploration, infrastructure, engineering, transportation, telecommunications, renewable energy, as well as other areas crucial for the development of Kazakhstan.
Eduardo Leite stressed that each team’s project shall meet particular standards, such as the benefits for the population of the country, environmental sustainability, technical feasibility, as well as the implementation costs and time. “The proposals of the teams will be considered by a committee consisting of independent international field-specific experts. Well-known experts such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk can be invited as judges if the contest is dedicated to the areas of their specialization,” he emphasized.
According to him, the decision on the finalists will be made based on written applications. They will be invited to Astana for the personal presentation of their proposals and strict evaluation by the contest committee. The first and second-prize winners will be announced at the ceremony to be held at the Nazarbayev University. The universities represented by the teams will receive a cash prize of up to $1 million. The members of the winning team and representatives of their university will be invited to participate in the implementation of the winning project.
“I confirm that Baker & McKenzie Int’s is ready to assist the Government of Kazakhstan on these issues. The involvement of international experts, teams from top universities and well-known judges of the contest, alongside the subsequent implementation of the winning project, will enable Kazakhstan to be in the global forefront of discoveries in the respective fields. (…) Mr. President, with your permission, I would like to name the proposed award as “The Nazarbayev Award for Modernization” and recommend that the first award will be granted at the Nazarbayev University this day in two years, that is, June 6, 2020,” Eduardo Leite said addressing the Head of State.
