The “Tekwill” ICT Excellence Center and the visit to the innovation hub was on the agenda of German officials, who accompanied the delegation of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the Republic of Moldova.

The foreign guests who participated in the presentation tour of the most important hub for the technological community in the country – “Tekwill”, got acquainted with the ecosystem of startups in Moldova, the successes and perspectives of business entrepreneurs based on innovation, educational programs for training IT workforce and others. Representatives of successful local startups also attended the official visit.  

The German delegation that visited Tekwill included:

• State Secretary ate of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy, Ulrich Nussbaum;
• Andreas Neumann, Head of the Eastern Europe Department of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy;
• Officer within the Economic Affairs Department of the Office of the Federal President, Katharina Diel-Gligor;
• Deputy Head of the Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Moldova, Ullrich Kinne. 

The Tekwill team communicated to German guests about the country’s ICT industry, as well as the initiatives it is developing to significantly enhance the sector’s prospects and progress. Officials appreciated the programs implemented by Tekwill in the development of businesses based on innovation, but also the fact that the Republic of Moldova aligns with international trends, implementing initiatives dedicated to growing and supporting business ideas through infrastructure, consulting, mentoring, development opportunities and international experience. 

Ana Chirita, Strategic Project Director, ATIC; Director of the TEKWILL Project: “Germany is a champion in the field of innovation and has always stood out for its exceptional process of transforming ideas into products. Today’s visit was very relevant for us, but also extremely encouraging. One of our priorities, within TEKWILL, is to support the creation of an ecosystem favorable to innovation, to the development of new products with potential. From 2017 until now, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development and Sweden, we have provided training in the field of entrepreneurship to over 44,159 people, and startups and teams supported by TEKWILL have managed to attract investments of over 14 million dollars. This demonstrates the transformative capacity of the Project and our team. We intend to place our country on the regional map of technological innovation and we are very happy that TEKWILL is becoming the business card of the ICT sector. Everything we do is appreciated according to international practices, and the present delegation that accompanied the German President in the Republic of Moldova, comes to reconfirm this ”.

The TEKWILL project, implemented in the Republic of Moldova with the support of the United States Agency for International Development and Sweden, has become an important player in creating an ecosystem conducive to the development of tech startups and innovation, by implementing programs to develop excellence in ICT, workforce and entrepreneurship. For 4 years, the TEKWILL project has attracted more than 13 million dollars in funding, conducted more than 865,000 hours of training, more than 400,000 people have benefited from its programs, and more than 43% of them have been girls and women.