Azerbaijan to train 30,000 civil servants in AI and cybersecurity from October
Azerbaijan's Digital Horizons programme will put 30,000 state employees through a new AI and cybersecurity training platform from October, Deputy Minister Rashad Hasanov said on 19 September.
Azerbaijan will launch a programme called "Digital Horizons" in October to raise the digital literacy of state institution employees, Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Hasanov said on 19 September 2026, according to Report.az.
What was announced
Hasanov spoke at a meeting between the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA) and technology companies and startups, held as part of Baku ID, according to Report.az. Key points from the briefing:
- A new training platform has been built for 30,000 employees of state institutions, hosting material on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity plus examination modules, Hasanov said.
- At the same event, IDDA chairman Farid Osmanov presented "OpenWave", an open-innovation programme the agency developed to let companies solve institutions' operational problems using AI technologies, according to Report.az.
- Osmanov said OpenWave's initial phase was carried out this month with Plug and Play, together with Azerbaijan Railways CJSC ("Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları" QSC) and Baku Metro CJSC ("Bakı Metropoliteni" QSC).
- The meeting also covered technology parks and startups' prospects for expanding into local and foreign markets, Report.az said.
Report.az is the only outlet to report the figures at the time of writing; the numbers above are given in its words.
Why it matters
The announcement operationalises the third of four goals in Azerbaijan's Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2025–2028 — training a qualified workforce for the AI industry — by putting a specific number and a start month on state-sector AI training for the first time this month. It also shows the state combining two tracks at once: mass workforce training through Digital Horizons and applied AI pilots with state enterprises through OpenWave.
What it means for Azerbaijani companies
For technology vendors and startups, OpenWave's pilot with Azerbaijan Railways and Baku Metro, run with Plug and Play, is a concrete channel into state-enterprise AI problems that previously had no public entry point. For HR and compliance teams at state institutions and their contractors, a workforce of 30,000 people trained in AI and cybersecurity from October gives a rough sense of scale for related tenders and staffing plans, though Report.az's account gives no budget or contract details.
