The first IT Excellence Center will be set up at the Technical University of Moldova. A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the Interministerial Committee for Strategic Planning that is chaired by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, IPN reports.
The initiative was put forward in the Moldova-ICT Summit held on May 13-15, 2014. The IT Excellence Center is created with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the IT sector of Moldova by ensuring a sufficient number of highly qualified specialists, who would meet the expectations of potential investors, and of trebling the number of jobs in Moldova’s IT sector, from 7,000 to 20,000. The center will provide IT education at world standards and will have well equipped laboratories that will stimulate research and innovation activities.
According to the practice of such countries as Albania, Armenia and Macedonia, about US$8-10 million is needed for ensuring the work of such a center in the first 3-5 years. This budget includes the development of the center’s infrastructure, the establishment of partnerships with foreign institutions, and the ensuring of a minimum of activities and competitive management.
Some of Moldova’s partners, especially USAID, already expressed readiness to contribute about US$3 million for the purpose. The initiative is supported by such multinational companies as Microsoft and IBM. Discussions are now held with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Among the potential partners of this project are also the Embassy of Norway, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the World Bank, and UNDP. In this connection, the Interministerial Committee for Strategic Planning accepted the Ministry of Education’s request to create the IT Excellence Center and to attract the necessary financing from the development partners.
