Fintech Moldova Conference 2022: digital agenda and regulatory framework, National Bank objectives and innovative payment systems

On 30 September, “Fintech Moldova Conference 2022” – the most important event in the field of financial technologies – took place in Chisinau. The conference gathered, on the same platform, more than 270 participants from 60 organizations. The event set the stage for initiating a business dialogue, providing an institutional framework for presenting innovative projects and focused on the role of fintech for financial inclusion in the complicated global context. 30 speakers from Moldova, Romania, UK, Portugal, USA and other countries – experts in the field, authorities, startup founders, local and international investors – took the stage to discuss the fintech regulatory framework in Moldova, the latest trends in the digitization of the financial sector, challenges and opportunities in the fintech market worldwide in the post-pandemic period, as well as innovations in payment systems.

Ștefan Nistor, Founder and Coordinator Fintech Moldova: “For the fourth year in a row, “Fintech Moldova Conference” manages to bring together two of the most important sectors in the Republic of Moldova: Tech and Finance. We are happy to see more and more fintech solutions on the Moldovan market developed by both banks and non-bank providers. We are also happy to see interest from developers from outside the country to participate in the Moldovan market with fintech solutions created and tested in European markets. We have more and more partners from outside Moldova and we aim to make the conference an event of regional importance in the coming years. Fintech has become an important topic in Moldova in the last 4 years, both for traditional financial organisations, authorities and external development partners. This is good for consumers of financial services or products in Moldova who want to benefit from the same experience as consumers in the West, for financial product providers who want to have the best ways to interact and build long relationships with consumers, and for authorities who want to create a competitive environment for the financial sector.”

Digitization of public and financial services has become a priority in the work of the Government of the Republic of Moldova. Iurie Țurcanu, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization, mentioned in his speech at the event the role of fintech projects, the advantages and benefits that digitization brings to citizens in their interaction with the state. In recent years, with the support of the fintech field, the government’s efforts have been directed towards modernizing government services, launching new digital projects, completing and adjusting the regulatory framework in the field, aspects that ensure the path to a digital transformation of society in the Republic of Moldova.

Iurie Țurcanu, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization: “We need an alignment of all sectors for our country’s digital agenda. Fintech has always been the most innovative sector, with the resources and capabilities to attract the most innovative specialists. For the Government, this is a necessity, as we want to have the same experience with public services as citizens have when they go to the bank counters.”

In the Republic of Moldova about 75% of citizens have bank cards, but only 20% of them use their card to pay online. This or that, the financial sector is one of the biggest consumers of IT services and facilitating the relationship between these 2 sectors is a priority for the Moldovan Association of ICT Companies. The dialogue has become even more important as the Republic of Moldova has aligned itself with international trends on exploring new technologies and implementing the latest legal initiatives, which are putting more financial services in motion, such as “Open Banking”, “Regulatory Sandbox” and “Instant Payment System”.

Ana Chirița, Director of Strategic Projects ATIC: “Fintech remains a priority for the IT sector, ATIC and Tekwill, because we have seen major changes in the last years in this field in Moldova. There are new businesses that are developing, new solutions, banks that are digitizing, it is the Government that is offering new digital services, including in the area of payments. We tried to bring actors from the public and private sector to the conference to exchange experiences, so that some of them can find new customers for the solutions they are developing. We tried to bring the whole ecosystem together, because they are the ones who are innovating in a technology formula, plus in finance.”

Objectives of the National Bank for the development of the payment industry in Moldova

In order to modernize the payment industry in Moldova, the National Bank of Moldova has announced a series of actions for the next period. Among the development directions is “Instant Payments”, which will be put into operation from February 2024 and will create the premises for the efficient development of innovative payments, including mobile payments, with immediate settlement and the possibility of immediate reuse of funds. The NBM has also prioritized other objectives such as the implementation of “Open Banking”, Moldova’s accession to the SEPA area or the project to modernize the automated interbank payment system (AIPS).

Victor Șușu, Director of the Payment Systems Department of the National Bank of Moldova: “The development of the payment area and the modernization of payment services is one of the basic objectives of the National Bank of Moldova. International experience shows that continuous innovation in the payments field, development of new products and creation of market access opportunities for new competitive players is possible only by ensuring 2 essential conditions: a sound regulatory framework harmonized to international market requirements and a modern, efficient and secure payments infrastructure. In order to ensure these 2 conditions, the NBM is currently implementing the following important projects in the field of payments: implementation of the instant payment scheme; ensuring the necessary prerequisites for the accession of Payment Service Providers to the SEPA area) and implementation of the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the related regulatory framework.”

Regulatory framework and strategic development

“Fintech Moldova Conference 2022” also brought into discussion the dialogue on the regulatory framework in Moldova, which aims to support modern technologies in the financial market, while maintaining trust and an adequate level of protection for customers. Important regulatory developments and local legal initiatives included “Open Banking”, “Regulatory Sandbox”, “Instant Payment System”, etc.

Eugen Ghilețchi, Head of Financial Sector Reform Component, USAID Institutional and Structural Reforms (MISRA) Program: “Through the USAID MISRA Program, we are working with the National Bank of Moldova and other regulators in the system to identify the optimal models for regulating fintech innovations. This is where thought leaders in the field are brought together, and in this way many ideas are generated that can be put into practice by private actors, by improving their products, or by public actors – by implementing better policies to support this sector.”

Ion Coșuleanu, UNDP Digital Transformation Consultant: “The United Nations Programme is supporting the Government of Moldova in the development of the national digital development strategy, and each of the six major objectives of the strategy is based on fintech, especially as the majority of citizens increasingly prefer digital payments. The strategy will also provide for the need to regulate fintech solutions so that financial technologies can realise their full potential.”

Innovative business development

The conference also provided a retrospective of the startup ecosystem in Moldova. Currently, the Startup Moldova Foundation is tracking 59 startups that are launching a product or service in different fields of activity in an innovative way. Also, during the meeting, 4 fintech startups from Moldova (“Paynet”, “Fagura”, “MyId” and “Trusty Digital”) presented their products in front of 3 foreign investors. The Fintech Accelerator for developers of technological ideas for the financial sector was also launched. The Accelerator will run from November to December and offers participants several benefits, including mentoring and coaching from industry leaders, collaborative workspace at the Fintech HUB, meeting potential customers and investors, etc.

Interested teams can register for the Fintech Accelerator via https://forms.gle/FfEsjUR9iFv6nkyE6.

The Fintech Accelerator is implemented by Tekwill and the Fintech HUB, with the support of partners maib and Mastercard.

The event “Fintech Moldova Conference 2022” was organized by the Fintech Moldova project with the support of USAID under the MISRA project, the Government of Sweden, UNDP Moldova and Tekwill.

Main partners of the event: maib and Mastercard.

Silver partners of the event: DAAC digital, IuteCredit, FintechOS, EFSE, EU4Business, SIBS Romania and QOOBISS.

Bronze partners of the event: Silverbird and Fagura

EXTENDED DEADLINE pentru înscrierile în Fintech Accelerator!

Ia-ți echipa sau înscrie-te de sine stătător și prinde oportunitatea de a crea business-ul propriu! FinTech Accelerator 2022 nu este un program educațional, este unul focusat pe business, așadar tu vii cu echipa, noi îți oferim expertiza necesară pentru a lansa un produs din domeniul tehnologiei financiare!

Înscrie-te la Acceleratorul Fintech până pe 6 noiembrie!

Acceleratorul se va desfășura în perioada noiembrie-decembrie și vei beneficia de: 

  • Acces la o serie de sesiuni și formări
  • Mentorare din partea liderilor din domeniu
  • Un spațiu de lucru colaborativ în cadrul Fintech HUB
  • Introducerea cu potențiali clienți sau sponsori
  • Coaching din partea experților din domeniu
  • Suport în dezvoltarea ideii și ghidare în introducerea produsului pe piața locală

Care sunt criteriile de eligibilitate în cazul participării la Fintech Accelerator?

  • Operezi sau dorești să conduci o afacere în Republica Moldova
  • Ai cel puțin o idee clară sau un prototip funcțional al ideii/soluției tale
  • Ai cel puțin o echipă interesată de coaching-ul practic și care are abilități IT și/sau antreprenoriale (dacă nu ai o echipă, menționează în comentarii că ești în căutarea unei echipe. Asigură-te că experiența ta este bine descrisă acolo. Te poți alătura oricând altor participanți sau unei echipe.)
  • Ai ambiție și potențial mare de creștere a vânzărilor
  • Ai o idee FinTech (soluții de plată, sisteme bancare, soluții de plată cu impact social sau de mediu, soluții care facilitează experiența de plată a consumatorului ș.a.)

Ai întrebări? Găsești secțiunea FAQ aici: 

  1. Ce fac dacă nu am nicio idee de startup? – Te poți înscrie și așa. Menționează în comentarii că ești în căutare de o echipă. Asigură-te că experiența ta este bine descrisă acolo. Te poți alătura oricând altor participanți „lonely soldiers” sau unei echipe instruite.
  2. Trebuie să fiu specialist IT pentru a participa? – Da, abilitățile IT te-ar ajuta foarte mult. În timpul acceleratorului trebuie să construiești un produs – acesta este obiectivul principal, cel puțin un membru al echipei ar trebui să aibă cunoștințe IT bune.
  3. Ce voi învăța în Accelerator? – Vei avea ocazia să creezi o afacere. Ai o idee și echipa? Perfect – maib, Mastercard și Fintech HUB/Tekwill te vor sprijini cu cunoștințe și expertiză și îți vor oferi acces la potențiali clienți. Este un program business, nu unul educațional.
  4. Voi primi finanțare pentru a termina acceleratorul? – Accentul principal trebuie să fie pe crearea unei afaceri – adică îți investești timpul. Maib și Mastercard investesc în marketingul tău, Tekwill și Fintech HUB,  investesc în expertiza și cunoștințele tale de startup. În cazul în care vei fi suficient de puternic – maib poate deveni investitorul tău de capital până la sfârșitul programului de accelerare.
  5. Pot participa dacă nu am o echipă? – Da!
  6. Ce fac dacă am deja o echipă? – Perfect, poți participa la accelerator împreună cu echipa!
  7. Este cu plată? – Nu, participarea la FinTech Accelerator 2022 este absolut gratuită!

Înscrie-te la Acceleratorul Fintech accesând link-ul și beneficiază de mentorat și ghidarea în dezvoltarea propriului unicorn. 

Fintech Accelerator este implementat de Tekwill și Fintech HUB, cu suportul partenerilor maib și Mastercard.

Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova, at the “Tech Women Summit”: “If you do things with passion and have the feeling of contributing to the common good, then no attempt is too great”

Over the years, women have changed the world and played a considerable role in accelerating techno-scientific progress through innovation and science. And behind the things that make our lives easier today are inventions that belong to many women. For example, modern medicine experienced significant progress after the one-handed medical syringe was created. Wireless transmissions, bulletproof vests and solar panels are other important things that make our existence easier being invented by women. In order to encourage and support women to be as involved as possible in the field of information technologies, to choose jobs in the IT industry and to learn about new professional opportunities, the “Tech Women Summit 2022” was held in Chisinau. The third edition was attended by the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, special guests from the country and abroad, women from the IT field, but also enthusiasts who want to develop a profession in this industry.

In her speech, President Maia Sandu spoke about female leadership in government positions, the need for women to actively participate in decision-making processes, but also the importance of their training and involvement as actively as possible in the political, social and economic life of the country.

Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova: “Involvement is the most important element, mutual encouragement and support is the second most important thing and what you are doing here is part of these two strong points. I think we need to show more solidarity, between us, women. It is important to share the experience and knowledge we have. It is work for all, because we have a long way to go before, we can succeed in building a free and prosperous country. I want to come with a tip that helped me too, it’s easier to overcome difficulties when you do things with passion. It can help you even when the conditions are dire, if you do things with passion, if you have the feeling of contributing to the common good, then no trial is too great.”

The third edition of the summit brought together an impressive community of women interested in IT, leaders in key industries who talked about their path to success, as well as the decision to choose the tech industry.

Katarina Fried, Ambassador of Sweden to the Republic of Moldova: “There is a demand for women in the IT field, and we must ensure that we create the necessary conditions for them to remain in the field. I believe that all of you, who are present in this room, are inspiring women, model women who can contribute to the even greater development of this network. Let’s try to make changes for the better, to have a future based on values, sustainability and innovation, and to make this journey possible, we need many different skills.”

Andrea Cuzyova, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Moldova: “Moldova’s experience in STEM education, the professions of the future, is an example for European countries and I congratulate you for it. But we still know that only 31% of jobs in the IT sector are occupied by women who earn 33% less than men. Gender equality in STEM fields is a goal in itself for us, for the Moldovan authorities, as well as for the tech community. We must support girls and women to have the opportunity to enter and succeed in this very important sector.”

Svetlana Andries, UN Women Moldova program specialist: “In the Republic of Moldova, the choice of a profession is considerably influenced by gender roles. Girls tend to choose specializations in fields with a humanistic profile, philology, political science, social sciences, social assistance, etc., which are less paid than those in STEM fields, where mostly men enroll. This is why we support various programs to empower women in IT. One of them is “Women in Online Work”, a program that encourages women from the Republic of Moldova to develop the necessary skills to work in this sector – either to start a profession from scratch or to improve their already acquired skills. Starting from April, this program expanded its scope of activity to women and girls from Ukraine who currently live in the Republic of Moldova.”

In recent years, the ICT women’s community has developed around the Tekwill project, which has implemented dozens of initiatives in the field, and more than 45 percent of the beneficiaries are women.

Irina Oriol, Tekwill deputy coordinator: “The IT industry in the Republic of Moldova has demonstrated excellence and growth at a very fast pace, which requires talents, and the talents are also available to women. If we look at today’s community, the average age of young women is under 30, which tells us that in 10 years, we will have even more talented women in this field. We are absolutely convinced that together we can demonstrate that we have great potential for the information technology industry.”

Stefanie Ciutac, coordinator and president of “TechWomen Moldova”: “Since its establishment, the TechWomen Moldova community has managed to organize over 20 events and initiatives in which approximately 2400 women have participated. One of our initiatives is also the mentoring program – a 3-month program, which involves the involvement of several IT experts, mentors, who dedicate their time and knowledge to several participants, so that they can re-profile themselves in this field later. This year, we registered a record number of graduates of the mentorship program. 60 girls and women wanted to accumulate as much knowledge as possible in this field, and 10 of them managed to get a job in the IT field immediately after completing the program.”

The participants of the event had the opportunity to meet and benefit from the exchange of experience from professionals from the international IT industry. Representatives of Silicon Vailey’s Mixbook and Pentalog Europe&Asia are just some of the big names that attended the event. In total, more than 300 girls and women attended the event and had the chance to be inspired and explore professional opportunities. During the summit, workshops were also organized in three sets, in the fields: QA Manual, QA Automation, DevOps, Big Data, Scrum/Agile, Product Development, where the latest trends, progress and innovative visions were presented.

“Tech Women Summit 2022” was organized with the support of strategic partners, such as: Sweden, the Delegation of the European Union, UN Women, UNDP, SlovakAid, Tekwill, ATIC, iHub, and private companies in the IT field: Mixbook, Extole, Stefanini, Amdaris , Pentalog, Orange Systems, Enspire Creative, Paynet, OF4.

“Tech Women Summit 2022” is a platform dedicated to women of any age, both students and employees, who want a career change. The event aims to encourage them to choose professions in IT, a field that requires various skills – creativity, organization, analysis and logic. Tech Women was launched in 2018 with the support of the “Tekwill” project, funded by USAID and Sweden. The initiative aims to strengthen the knowledge of women in technology and bring professionals together to share their knowledge, best practices, but also to motivate other girls and women to pursue a career in IT.

Tekwill supports artificial intelligence education

Two teams of students from Moldova put our country on the international stage in the field of artificial intelligence this year, in the INTEL AI Global Impact Festival competition. The teams’ participation became possible because the students studied the optional subject “Artificial Intelligence”, developed within the “Tekwill in Every School” project. Around 500 students from 25 educational institutions are studying the optional subject “Artificial Intelligence in Schools” this academic year.

Two teams, consisting of students Ciprian Meriacre and Daniela Balutel, from the “Aristotel” Theoretical High School in mun. Chisinau, and Eduard Balamatiuc and Daria Gheorghieș from the Theoretical High School “Iulia Hasdeu” from mun. Chisinau, placed this year the Republic of Moldova on the international stage in the field of artificial intelligence, within the INTEL AI Global Impact Festival competition.

The INTEL AI Global Impact Festival competition is organized annually by INTEL and aims to digitally train next generation technologists and teachers, as well as academic, ecosystem and government partners to showcase AI innovation and impact. In the competition students develop products and services, through which they involve the field of artificial intelligence in solving problems in social, cultural, educational and other fields.

At this year’s INTEL AI Global IMPACT Festival competition, teams competed with approximately 220 students and teachers from 24 countries, and each winning student will be awarded $500. 

The winning team in the 13-18 age category, consisting of students Ciprian Meriacre and Daniela Băluțel, guided by Ms. Marcela Papuc, a computer science teacher from the Republican Theoretical High School “Aristotel” in mun. Chisinau, developed the project “AGROOTS: Accessible Agriculture” as a solution to the problem of agricultural losses caused by climate change and unstable global weather. In their artificial intelligence project, the students combined data from scientific sources on weather, agricultural products and climate hazards to produce impressive results. The students’ project comes with a forecast accuracy of over 90% for an agricultural season. The user-friendly interface provides easy access to all project data, including weather forecasts, climate hazard forecasts, and recommendations for good growing and harvesting times.

The winning team in the 18+ age category of students Eduard Balamatiuc and Daria Gheorghieș, guided by Ms Viorica Moglan, a computer science teacher, focused on the issue of environmental pollution in relation to global warming and the excessive amount of plastic used across the globe. Thus, the team from “Iulia Hasdeu” High School in mun. Chisinau, have developed their project “Automotive Trash Detection” which aims to improve the process of automatic identification and sorting of waste both from photos and videos and from live images, in various conditions and spaces, on most types of waste, using Computer Vision technology.

Note that both teams have won first and third place in the national competition “Tekwill Junior Ambassadors”, organized in April 2022 by “Tekwill in Every School”, developing ecological and agrarian solutions using tools provided by Artificial Intelligence. 

We specify that the previous year Mr. Dorin Sas, a computer science teacher at the high school “Mihai Eminescu” from Slobozia Mare village, Cahul r., won the country prize in the same competition INTEL AI Global Impact Festival in the category of teachers.

The participation of the teams from the Republic of Moldova became possible due to the fact that the students studied the optional subject “Artificial Intelligence”, developed within the project “Tekwill in Every School” and approved by the Ministry of Education and Research in 2020, based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 22 July 2020. About 500 students from 25 educational institutions are studying this academic year the optional subject “Artificial Intelligence in Schools”. 

The Ministry of Education and Research is a partner of the “Tekwill in Every School” project, and the mutual contribution helps to develop a generation of young people better prepared for the future and the labour market.  

The participation of the teams in the international competition was possible thanks to the study of the professions of the future within the Tekwill in Every School project implemented by Tekwill in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova and with the support of external development partners USAID Moldova, Embassy of Sweden in Chisinau, European Union in the Republic of Moldova UNDP Moldova.

Tekwill, now in Balti!

Tekwill Balti will soon open its doors to the entire IT community of Balti and the Northern region of Moldova. Pupils, students, professionals, public institutions and companies are invited to participate in creating the largest IT community in the region and to participate in the innovative programs and projects. With an area of 1000 m2, located in the heart of Balti, Tekwill offers visitors: 5 training rooms, 1 conference room, 2 community spaces, 6 coworking spaces and offices for all those interested and involved in IT.

Ana Chirița, ATIC Strategic Projects Director / TEKWILL Project Manager: “The rapid rise of the IT sector in recent years has led us to expand TEKWILL to the regions and develop the sector at national level. Together with partners in the northern region we will create development opportunities for the inhabitants of Balti and the nearby districts. In this way, we will connect human potential to existing IT companies to create a regional ecosystem and contribute to the country’s economic growth.”

“Tekwill Balti” is intended to support the expansion of the network of TEKWILL centres throughout Moldova, by developing educational and entrepreneurial content according to TEKWILL regulations, in line with local specificities, to develop the economic region by promoting partnerships between the private sector, academia, citizens, etc.

Tekwill Academy has launched a scholarship program for students

In support of university students in Moldova, the “Tekwill Academy for Youth”, a scholarship programme, has been launched. Those wishing to study additionally various directions of IT, within the academy, will benefit from preferential prices upon presentation of their student card. Thus, students will be able to purchase Tekwill Academy educational programs for only 50% of the full price.

In order to benefit from the preferential price, students must register for any Tekwill Academy programme using the registration form on the website, and indicate the promotional code TECHSTUDENTS when registering.

Later, after receiving the confirmation of registration by email, students are requested to return with a reply email, in which they must present their ID and student card, valid for the current year of study.

The programme started on 14 April 2022 and will run until 31 December this year.

Moldovan students study digital technologies with Tekwill

Designers, programmers, website or mobile app developers. These are some of the professions that students in the Republic of Moldova learn in the “Tekwill in Every School” programme. They are young visionaries, working and learning with passion and dedication to gain the skills that will help them build an innovative future at home. To date, more than 25 thousand students have had this opportunity thanks to Tekwill in Every School.

Successes in international competitions 

Moldova’s team won third place in the international competition “The 12th e-ICON World Contest”, organised by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea. The “e-ICON World Contest” is a competition in which students from South Korea and other countries form a global team to develop and share online learning content that can be used in education.

Thus, this year, the “Green Energy” team, formed by two students – Irina Grosu and Gheorghe Manolache, students in the 11th grade, guided by teacher Tatiana Rotari from the “Miron Costin” Theoretical High School in the town of Miron Costin, Romania, was formed. Florești, won third place.  The students developed a mobile application, based on the global objective “Good Health and Well-Being” to combat poor eating habits. The app gives users a list of tasks on good eating habits that they need to complete on a daily basis.

“Initially in April we participated in the Tekwill Junior Ambassadors competition, organised by Tekwill in Every School, where we also developed an app based on the need to reduce environmental pollution. Getting first place in the national stage gave us even more courage to participate in the competition in South Korea. Together with the students, we put a huge effort throughout August to create the mobile app and participate in the competition. The rules of the competition also included working with another team of 2 students from South Korea, so we had the opportunity to share our experience and create a product together ready for launch.” – says Tatiana Rotari, teacher at the “Miron Costin” High School in the city of Katowice. Florești. 

“I have been studying mobile apps for 1 year and at only 17 years old, I managed to be named winner of two national and international competitions creating mobile apps. I had an indescribable pride and joy and understood that the hard work is always appreciated and of course I am very grateful for our colleagues in Korea who were always there for us.” – says Irina Grosu, a student in the 11th grade at Miron Costin High School in Miron Costin. Florești

“Under the guidance of teacher Tatiana Rotari, we developed a mobile application that was the basis of the global goal “Good Health and Well-Being” to solve the Poor Eating Habits that people have. The app provides the user with a list of tasks related to good eating habits, which the user has to complete on a daily basis. To motivate the use of the app we introduced a system where plants grow whenever the app users complete assignments. In addition the app provides a variety of information related to diseases and health problems caused by “Poor Eating Habits” to motivate them to make a change. We used Flutter and Figma to develop the app.” – says Gheorghe Manolache, a student in the 11th grade at Miron Costin High School in Miron Costin, Florești

The participation of the teams from the Republic of Moldova became possible due to the fact that the students studied the optional subject “Design and development of mobile applications”, developed within the project “Tekwill in Every School” and approved by the Ministry of Education and Research in 2020.

“The aim of the “Tekwill in Every School” project was from the very beginning to identify and promote the development of digital and creative skills among students so that they are better prepared for the professions of the future. Achieving international results, we are extremely proud of the courage of our students to test their skills and take advantage of all the opportunities and benefits that international technologies offer. We are glad that locally organised initiatives such as “Tekwill Junior Ambassadors” have motivated them to test their skills beyond the borders of the country” – says Tatiana Alexeev, Project Manager “Tekwill in Every School”.

This year, about 100 teams from 20 countries, including 3 from the Republic of Moldova, participated in the competition “The 12th e-ICON World Contest”. 

The team’s participation in the international competition was possible thanks to the study of future professions in the project “Tekwill in Every School” implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research and with the support of external development partners Usaid Moldova, Government of Sweden, EU4Moldova, UNDP Moldova. 

Modernization of education in ICT specialties

Providing the ICT sector with qualified specialists through workforce training and development continues to be one of the priorities of the National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC). In order to know how prepared the universities in the country are and what is the current state of educational resources in terms of IT specialties, dedicated programs, tech projects, activities and research laboratories, the “Feasibility Study of the Modernization of University Education in the ICT Field of Republic of Moldova”. In a dedicated event, the collected information was presented to the general public, and the best ideas are to be implemented in the following academic year. The document was developed within the TEKWILL project, implemented by the National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC), with the financial support of external development partners – USAID and Sweden.

Rectors, deans, heads of departments, university professors and representatives of the private sector in the IT field participated in the event, offering recommendations for initiatives to develop the university curriculum and ways to support the research field. Also, during the discussions, emphasis was also placed on the strategies that educational institutions can develop and implement to successfully go through the digital transformation process.

Irina Oriol, deputy coordinator, Tekwill: “We set out to discuss strategies, visions and new initiatives for the modernization of university studies in the field of information technologies, so that young people have the opportunity to choose what to study and get new experiences. In order to achieve the proposed, we want to offer the possibility to specialists from the private sector and university professors to explore the development trends of the IT industry at the national and international level, to expose themselves and come with expertise, to contribute to the adaptation and modernization of digital laboratories in universities, in line with market requirements.”

According to the document, the main challenges in digitizing and modernizing the university curriculum are:

  • The development of universities that provide advanced teaching and practice or that carry out research and product development projects lags behind the needs of the country’s economy and the ICT sector;
  • The most important microelectronics laboratories in Moldova have inventions and patents, university researchers have hundreds of publications in national and international journals, but in the last five years there are no examples of commercialization of inventions produced in the country;
  • A good part of the teachers who teach IT specialties do not have enough experience of interacting with technologies in the real world;
  • Lack of financial resources to support the research and development activities of universities and university laboratories;
  • ICT companies oriented to the local market need specialists who know programs such as: 1C, Bitix24, Terrasoft, MS Dynamics365, and universities do not offer this type of advanced educational training;
  • The gap between the needs of ICT companies and the national economy in the country and the research and development activities and projects carried out in universities.

The participants analyzed recommendations and various proposals for improving and adapting the university curriculum. These include: the implementation of hardware and software solutions in university laboratories, which will encourage research and technology development activities among both students and teachers. Also, several additional initiatives to the study program will be able to complement the university curriculum in order to develop tomorrow’s specialists soft skills such as: entrepreneurship, creativity, problem solving ability. And to be effective in the long term, university R&D labs should become a product development ground for more startups

Tekwill Academy: Employment Assistance Program

Tekwill Academy offers graduates of its programs employment assistance after completing any course taken at the academy. In this sense, several partnerships have been established with local and international IT companies, to facilitate the employment of young specialists in the labor field. Throughout the 5 years of activity, Tekwill Academy managed to become one of the most important providers of educational services in the field of IT in Moldova, a status obtained through close collaboration relations with the IT industry and the organization’s ability to generate suitable educational programs market needs.

The assistance program includes several stages:

  1. Consultations with the Customer Success department to identify the training program that best fits the candidate’s current background and desired outcome
  2. Enrollment in the course or set of courses required to obtain the job in the IT field in Moldova or abroad, to which the candidate aspire.
  3. Consulting and training for the preparation of the CV, but also the necessary preparation for the job interview
  4. Registration of CVs on the Tekwill Academy platform, to identify new opportunities
  5. Arranging interviews with potential employers or companies that provide job and internship opportunities.

Among the employment partners are important companies from the local and international IT market, such as: Allied Testing, Code Factory, Gilat Satellite Networks, Stefanini and others.

Tekwill Academy is an IT specialist training program and career guidance. It facilitates the integration of new professionals into the labor market, depending on their individual talents and the real needs of employers. In the process of obtaining a profession with the help of Tekwill Academy, it ensures the quality and topicality of the knowledge obtained, in accordance with the current labor market trends, so that each participant obtains the necessary knowledge to find a job that is really in demand in the field. So far, approximately 9,000 young people have benefited from the courses and workshops organized within the program.

Moldova launched the first satellite into orbit

The first artificial satellite made in the Republic of Moldova – “TUMnanoSAT” – which was built by the Technical University of Moldova (UTM), was placed in the earth’s orbit from the International Space Station. The event was broadcast online, and in Chisinau, high officials of the country’s leadership, representatives of the academic environment, but also those passionate about technologies, gathered at Tekwill to watch the historic event. The satellite was launched into outer space by astronauts from the International Space Station as part of the international program, KiboCUBE, the Technical University of Moldova being selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the United Nations Space Office.

Present at the event, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița emphasized that space exploration brings more benefits to people, economic agents, economy and science.

Natalia Gavrilița, Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova: “Currently the Government of the Republic of Moldova is discussing with international companies the possibility of using satellite data to determine the yield in agriculture, for example. Or to assess the consequences of natural disasters. That can make a government’s policies much more accurate and benefit the entire economy. Despite all the difficulties, we will continue to invest in universities and science”.

Viorel Bostan, rector of the Technical University of Moldova: “The idea to create a satellite appeared back in 2008, so that the Republic of Moldova could also explore outer space. Space technologies have always been a catalyst, an additional reason for pupils and students to learn physics, mathematics, technology engineering, and for the Republic of Moldova to be able to use for its benefit those space technologies that are widely used by many developed countries. Then it seemed like a dream, a distant dream, but in 2009 the first group was created. I was skeptical at the first stage, but we see that we have succeeded almost 14 years later. In 2018 we tried for the first time to apply to this program, KiboCUBE. I didn’t succeed on the first try, but again I learned the lesson, if you don’t succeed on the first try, learn from the second and on the third try I succeeded”, said Viorel Bostan.

The Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Moldova, Yoshihiro Katayama, stated that the first Moldovan satellite was launched into outer space, and the Japanese were able to give a little help in this regard, the satellite being sent into orbit through the KiboCUBE program. “Kibo in Japanese means ‘hope.’ Today the Republic of Moldova launched not only a satellite, but launched and sent hope for the future. I have witnessed this wonderful project, for which so many talented and hardworking people have worked. I am convinced that this step forward will be followed by other projects in which the Japanese will be with you”, said the ambassador.

Teaching staff, students, masters and doctoral students from different faculties of UTM contributed to the creation of the nanosatellite. The average age of the team is under 30 years old. According to the rector of UTM, currently the team of experts from the Technical University is working on the creation of the second version of the nanosatellite.

The nanosatellite TUMnanoSAT is a cube with an edge of 10 cm and a mass of 1,150 kg. It will have educational and research missions. It will allow the testing of subsystem sensors for determining the attitude of the satellite (magnetometers, micro-gyroscopes, solar sensors) for the optimization of the attitude control algorithms, the development of an efficient “satellite-ground station” communication subsystem, the testing of the solar energy supply system for obtaining optimal ways of distributing the accumulated energy, studying the functionality and behavior of nanosensors in the conditions of virtual space, testing the reliability of electronic components in the conditions of space radiation. TUMnanoSAT was designed, built and tested from July 2019 to October 2021 within the State Program “Development and launch of the series of nanosatellites with research missions from the International Space Station, their monitoring, post-operation and promotion of space technologies”. Between June and August 2021, the TUMnanoSAT satellite passed all the functional tests at the Romanian Institute of Space Sciences, according to the rigors of JAXA and NASA. Later, in March, it was transported to Japan, at JAXA, where it was included in the JSSOD launch capsule. In April, it was transported to NASA and included in Cargo Dragon-2.