The finals of the China-Central Asia University Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, also serving as the Central Asia Regional Contest of the China International College Students' Innovation Competition (2026), were held in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, from June 28 to 29.

Guided by the Department of Higher Education of China's Ministry of Education, the event was co-hosted by the Alliance of Silk Road Agricultural Education, Science and Technology Innovation and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Uzbekistan. Registration opened in March this year, drawing 736 student teams from 108 universities across the five Central Asian countries. After multiple rounds of preliminary competitions, 35 outstanding projects advanced to the on-site finals, with 15 teams winning gold awards in the end.

Sun Changdong, First Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Uzbekistan, stated in his opening speech that youth innovation cooperation constitutes a vital vehicle for building the China-Central Asia community with a shared future. He encouraged young people from all countries to deepen scientific and technological exchanges through the competition platform.

Ma Chuang, Vice President of Northwest A&F University, expressed hopes to continuously build cross-border tracks for youth innovation and advance the two-way application of technologies in agriculture, digital industries and green industries.

Oblo Muradov, President of Tashkent State Agrarian University, commented that the competition has opened up channels for exchanges among young talents in Central Asia and cultivated a young workforce to fuel regional industrial upgrading.

During the event, Chinese and Uzbek universities signed three memorandums of understanding on industry-university-research cooperation, committing to joint research and development focusing on water-saving agriculture, cross-border e-commerce and small new energy equipment.