The OIC Culture Festival in Baku 2025 launched a new era for the creative industries.

About the OIC Culture Festival

The “OIC Culture Festival: Baku Creativity Week – 2025” (OIC 2025) is a major international platform that brings together the fields of culture, creative economy, and innovation from member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the festival aims to expand intercultural cooperation, strengthen the creative industries ecosystem in the region, and foster new initiatives aligned with global trends.

The program includes exhibitions, panel discussions, innovation showcases, creative hub activities, and special sessions with participants from various countries around the world.

Creativity Week: A Platform Where Culture and Innovation Converge

Throughout “Baku Creativity Week,” the city hosted events across multiple thematic directions. Presentations by local and international experts, panel discussions on the development prospects of creative industries, startup pitches, and dedicated sessions of CulTech (technology in the cultural sector) shaped the festival’s core dynamics.

Workshops, digital and applied arts exhibitions, technology demonstrations, and performances held during the week revitalized the creative environment while also building new bridges of collaboration among youth, creative communities, investors, and government representatives.

Within the framework of Creativity Week, alongside the “CulTech” Demo Day, panel discussions were held on the role of cultural innovations, digitalization, and the development of the regional creative ecosystem.

The CulTech Project

“CulTech” is a strategic platform formed at the intersection of culture and technology, aiming to bring the country’s creative youth onto the global stage. The program offers startups and creative teams multifaceted opportunities, including mentorship, investment connections, PR support, brand positioning, and business development.

Project Objectives

The primary objective of CulTech is to accelerate the development of innovative business models, ensure the alignment of local ideas with international standards, and strengthen Azerbaijan’s creative ecosystem at the regional level.

Demo Day – A Showcase of New Ideas

On December 9, the Demo Day of the 4th cohort of the CulTech Incubation Program was successfully held at the Baku Congress Center. Participants presented their projects to investors, mentors, creative industry leaders, and international representatives. The event played a key role in fostering new collaborations and showcased the region’s innovation potential.

Demo Day Startups

Bir-Yer.az — A platform that offers users one-click venue selection tailored to their budget, time, and needs through map-based search and artificial intelligence (AI) recommendation systems.

BrandedBy — A Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that enables brands to generate legally secure content within seconds using licensed AI avatars and voice technologies. It automates influencer marketing through a text-to-video generator and API integration.

Casting.az — A professional talent database designed for actors, directors, and producers, accelerating the discovery of suitable profiles through advanced filtering tools.

Luhive — An all-in-one solution for communities, enabling centralized management of events, announcements, members, and content through a single dashboard, with AI assistance and analytics to optimize decision-making.

Lilitopia — A culturally and locally adapted educational content ecosystem for children up to the age of eight. Built on multiple IPs ranging from mobile applications to YouTube series, books, and games, it represents a globally scalable edutainment model.

Kendeget — A platform that enables rural residents and small entrepreneurs to reach wider audiences with their products and services, while offering travelers authentic cultural experiences.

Future Perspectives

Demo Day represents only the beginning for the CulTech program. New investment opportunities, international partnerships, and pathways to market entry for startups are already taking shape.

SUP VC and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan aim to expand the CulTech Incubation Program, establish subsequent cohorts, and strengthen global collaboration mechanisms within creative sectors. The overarching goal is to position Azerbaijan as a leading CulTech hub in the region and to provide future generations with a sustainable innovation environment.