UNDP Moldova launched its first Business Innovation Lab, in the premises of the Tekwill ICT Center of Excellence, a fitting environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in innovative projects. The Lab will offer tailored trainings and consultancy by international mentors in business innovation. It will also provide matching direct cash support to SMEs for collaborative innovation projects.
Project Manager Dumitru Vasilescu said at UNDP’s Business Innovation Lab, one will find absolutely new solutions to cross-cutting constraints to business development in various sectors, including but limited to ICT. The lab will contribute to finding innovative solutions to sector and cross-sector problems and challenges in a collaborative manner.
According to UNDP communications specialist Laura Bohantsova, it is not yet known how many grants will be provided. The number of grants depends on how good the proposals are. “There can be 5, 10 or 50 grants. The budget is flexible. The period of the grant coincides with the implementation period,” Laura Bohantsova stated for IPN.
UNDP’s Business Innovation Lab was established in the framework of the Project “Innovative business development for local sustainable economic growth”, funded by the Government of Norway and co-funded for the promotion of innovation in high value agriculture sector by the Government of Romania, as well as supported for its various components by several private sector companies. The project is implemented in 2014-2017 and has a total budget of over US$ 1.5 million.
