Kazakhstan links MedTech strategy to higher education in AstraZeneca agreement
Kazakhstan’s Minister of Science and Higher Education has outlined how MedTech, data, and artificial intelligence are shaping national competitiveness, following a new agreement with AstraZeneca focused on research and talent development.
Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, took to LinkedIn to reflect on the growing role of MedTech in shaping economic competitiveness, healthcare resilience, and quality of life.
In considering how medicine, data, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence are converging, Nurbek framed MedTech as a sector moving beyond innovation rhetoric into structural economic importance.
“I increasingly find myself thinking that in the coming years MedTech will become one of the key growth drivers of the global economy,” he noted.
AstraZeneca agreement links research and higher education
The remarks followed the signing of a memorandum with AstraZeneca, which Nurbek positioned as a step toward establishing a long-term framework for science and higher education development in Kazakhstan.
AstraZeneca is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines across areas including oncology, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory conditions.
Describing the early stages of the collaboration, Nurbek pointed to a visit with rectors from leading universities to the company’s Discovery Centre in Cambridge, highlighting how modern research moves from early laboratory work to clinical trials and real-world deployment.
“Together with the rectors of leading universities, we visited the company’s Discovery Centre (DISC), its largest research and innovation hub,” he explained.
Cooperation shifts toward applied research and real-world data
Looking ahead, Nurbek emphasized that the partnership is moving into a phase centered on practical outcomes rather than theoretical cooperation.
He outlined planned work involving real-world clinical data, expanded prevention programs for non-communicable diseases among young people, advanced approaches to early diagnosis, and efforts to strengthen healthcare system resilience. “This new phase of cooperation is focused on practical transformation,” he stated.
He also drew a direct connection between healthcare innovation, sustainable development, and economic diversification, positioning green technologies as part of the broader MedTech ecosystem rather than a parallel track.
Nurbek stressed that Kazakhstan’s universities and research centers must operate within global research ecosystems, particularly those built around real data, shared standards, and applied challenges. He linked this approach directly to talent development and the country’s ability to scale applied biomedical research. “For us, it is essential that universities and research centers in Kazakhstan become part of such ecosystems – working with real data, real challenges, and global standards,” he added.
Nurbek pointed to AstraZeneca’s existing research footprint as context for the scale of collaboration Kazakhstan is seeking to access.
“Today, AstraZeneca is running more than 190 research projects worldwide, and thousands of scientists from different countries work at the Cambridge DISC alone,” he said.
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