Uzbekistan’s principal mechanism for competitive research and innovation grants is the Agency for Innovative Development, a body of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the Research Excellence Program (REP), its flagship researcher-grant scheme funded jointly with the World Bank. This guide covers what the agency does, how REP is structured, funding tiers, eligibility, and how it fits into the wider set of national research-funding bodies a grants administrator working with international collaborators needs to track.
Not to be confused with: Azerbaijan also operates a body sometimes referred to informally as an “Innovation Agency” (Azerbaijan’s national innovation and science funding is organized through the Azerbaijan Science Foundation, formerly the Science Development Foundation/SDF). The two countries’ agencies are separate national institutions with separate governing decrees, separate funding programs, and no shared administration. This page covers Uzbekistan’s Agency for Innovative Development and the Research Excellence Program only.
The Agency for Innovative Development
The Agency for Innovative Development was established under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan by Presidential Decree No. PD-265, “On implementation of administrative reform in new Uzbekistan,” signed December 21, 2022. It sits within the broader reorganization of Uzbekistan’s higher-education and science ministry that consolidated science, innovation, and higher-education policy under a single ministry.
The agency’s stated functions include:
- Implementing practical measures in innovative and scientific-technological development intended to raise the country’s intellectual and technological potential.
- Evaluating innovation effectiveness across sectors and identifying where advanced technology adoption is needed.
- Coordinating government bodies, research institutions, and organizations that implement innovative technologies.
- Acting as the primary customer (contracting body) for state scientific and technical programs.
- Supporting the training of advanced personnel, engaging youth in innovation, attracting private investment, commercializing research outputs, and establishing international science-and-technology partnerships.
In practice, the agency functions as Uzbekistan’s central coordinating and grant-administering body for competitively funded research and innovation activity, comparable in role — though not in structure or funding scale — to a national research council or innovation agency elsewhere in the region, such as Azerbaijan’s Science Foundation or the UAE’s Advanced Technology Research Council.
The MUNIS Project
The Research Excellence Program operates within a larger initiative called MUNIS — Modernizing Uzbekistan’s National Innovation System — implemented jointly by the World Bank and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. MUNIS is a $50 million program supporting multiple grant mechanisms aimed at building a more market-oriented national innovation system: funding research teams, assisting commercialization of innovative products, modernizing research institutions, and supporting innovation-policy development. Applications across MUNIS’s grant programs, including REP, are administered through a dedicated online portal rather than through the ministry’s general channels.
Because MUNIS is a donor co-financed program with a defined project scope, its specific grant windows, calls, and terms are subject to change as the project progresses through its implementation period. Research administrators advising applicants should always confirm current call status, deadlines, and terms directly on the official MUNIS grants portal rather than relying on program aggregator listings, which can lag official updates.
Research Excellence Program (REP): Structure and Funding Tiers
REP is described by the program’s own materials and by independent research-funding directories as Uzbekistan’s main competitive research funding program — open to researchers based at universities and research institutes, and explicitly structured to reward strong scientific merit combined with clear societal or economic relevance. REP funds two tiers:
- Junior Researcher Grant — reported funding ceiling of up to $200,000 per award, for a project duration of up to 24 months.
- Senior Researcher Grant — reported funding ceiling of up to $600,000 per award, also for up to 24 months.
These figures are corroborated across more than one independent research-funding directory but are not stated in exactly this form on the World Bank/ministry program homepage itself; administrators should treat them as representative of the program’s current design rather than as a guaranteed figure for any specific open call, and verify the live call terms before an applicant relies on them for budget planning.
REP’s published priority areas span renewable energy and low-carbon technologies, energy efficiency, biotechnology, medicine and health, agriculture and food, artificial intelligence, and information and communication technology (ICT) — reflecting the program’s dual mandate of scientific merit and applied, economically relevant research.
Eligibility and Collaboration Structure
REP targets researchers affiliated with Uzbek research institutes and universities. The program gives explicit preference to:
- Collaborative projects that pair local research teams with international partners.
- Applications involving Uzbek scientists currently working abroad, as a channel for diaspora scientific engagement.
- Projects with private-sector collaboration, consistent with the program’s applied-research and commercialization orientation.
For a research administrator at an institution outside Uzbekistan being approached about a joint REP application, the practical implication is the same as for any donor-co-financed national program: budget, procurement, and reporting terms are set by the funder (here, jointly by the Uzbek ministry and the World Bank project framework) rather than by the partner institution’s home-country grants office, so award terms should be reviewed on their own merits rather than assumed to mirror a US federal or EU Horizon-style award.
How Researchers Apply
Applications to REP, along with the other grant programs administered under MUNIS, are submitted through the dedicated MUNIS grants portal rather than through a general ministry application system. As with any donor-financed competitive program, call windows open and close on a defined schedule set by the implementing agency, and current eligibility documentation, budget templates, and submission deadlines should be confirmed on the portal at the time of application rather than assumed from prior cycles.
Other Uzbek Innovation Funding Mechanisms
REP is the primary competitive research grant program under the agency’s remit, but it sits alongside other, distinct funding mechanisms an administrator may encounter when working with Uzbek partners:
- Science and Innovation Support Fund (InnoFund) — a separate fund supporting prototypes, pilot products, new technologies, laboratory equipment, and technology startups, distinct from REP’s researcher-grant focus.
- State scientific and technical programs — for which the Agency for Innovative Development acts as primary customer/contracting body, a different mechanism from the competitive, proposal-driven REP model.
These are noted here for disambiguation only; a research administrator encountering “innovation funding in Uzbekistan” in a partner’s correspondence should confirm which specific mechanism — REP, InnoFund, or a state scientific-technical program — is actually in scope, since eligibility, funding source, and reporting obligations differ across all three.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Agency for Innovative Development of Uzbekistan?
It is the body under Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation responsible for coordinating national innovation and science-and-technology development, established by Presidential Decree No. PD-265 on December 21, 2022. It acts as the primary customer for state scientific and technical programs and coordinates the country’s competitive research and innovation funding, including the Research Excellence Program.
Is this the same as Azerbaijan’s Innovation Agency?
No. Uzbekistan’s Agency for Innovative Development and Azerbaijan’s national science/innovation funding body (organized through the Azerbaijan Science Foundation) are separate national institutions in separate countries, established under separate legal instruments, with no shared funding programs or administration. The similar generic naming (“innovation agency”) is coincidental to the two countries’ independent institutional design choices.
What is the Research Excellence Program (REP)?
REP is Uzbekistan’s main competitive research grant program, funded through the World Bank-co-financed MUNIS (Modernizing Uzbekistan’s National Innovation System) project. It funds individual research projects at universities and research institutes across two tiers — Junior and Senior Researcher Grants — prioritizing projects with strong scientific merit and clear economic or societal relevance.
How much funding does REP provide?
Program listings report funding ceilings of up to $200,000 for Junior Researcher Grants and up to $600,000 for Senior Researcher Grants, each for project periods of up to 24 months. These figures should be confirmed against the live call terms on the official MUNIS grants portal before use in a funding proposal or budget.
Who is eligible to apply for REP grants?
Researchers based at Uzbek universities and research institutes are the core eligible population. The program gives explicit preference to projects with international collaborators, applications involving Uzbek scientists working abroad, and projects with private-sector partners.
What is the MUNIS project and how does it relate to REP?
MUNIS (Modernizing Uzbekistan’s National Innovation System) is the $50 million World Bank co-financed project, implemented jointly with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, within which REP operates as the flagship competitive research-grant mechanism. MUNIS funds several grant programs beyond REP, spanning research funding, commercialization support, research-institution modernization, and innovation-policy assistance.
How do researchers apply for REP funding?
Applications are submitted through the dedicated MUNIS online grants portal rather than a general ministry channel. Call windows, required documentation, and deadlines are set per funding round and should be verified on the portal directly rather than assumed from previous cycles or third-party grant listings.
