Summary

SAI Uzbekistan conducted a performance audit of innovation support, covering the activities of Science Financing and Innovation Support Fund. SAI Uzbekistan notes that systemic performance and governance issues persist in the area of ​​innovation support. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan has not sufficiently developed long-term sectoral strategies; regulatory framework has not been sufficiently improved, and mechanisms for commercialization and public-private partnerships are underdeveloped. The audit identified a number of errors and shortcomings, including failure to meet established deadlines in tender procedures, delays in expert evaluations, and, in some cases, issuance of positive conclusions without conducting an expert evaluation; instances of conflict of interest and positive evaluations of projects with high levels of plagiarism. This significantly reduces the quality of scientific competitions. To address the identified systemic issues, SAI recommends developing long-term strategies, expanding private sector participation, fully digitalizing selection and evaluation processes, and improving innovation commercialization mechanisms.