ATIC Feasibility Study EU ICT Innovation Centre Cahul, Moldova ATIC Förstudie EU projekt ICT Innovationscenter Cahul, Moldavien The EU Delegation in Chisinau plans to delegate funds to the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau for the implementation of the project ‘EU4Moldova: Start up City Cahul’. The EU delegation has in a letter dated 5 July 2019, asked the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau to prepare a draft project document by 9 September 2019.

One key component of the project aims at establishing an ICT innovation and excellence centre in Cahul. The Association of Information and Communication Technology Companies of Moldova (ATIC) has been proposed as a major implementing operational partner for the project. ATIC has successfully established such centre in Chisinau, called Tekwill. Tekwill has, during its three years of operations had a large impact and the Tekwill brand has become synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurship in the ICT sector in the country. ATIC’s Tekwill project is jointly funded by USAID and Sweden. The new centre in Cahul will be based on the same model as Tekwill in Cahul, but adapted to the local context. 

As part of the project design process, ATIC will carry out a feasibility study on the preconditions and potentials for establishing the ICT innovation centre in Cahul. To this end, ATIC will procure a consultant to carry out the study. The Swedish Embassy in Chisinau will finance the feasibility study, hence this project. 

ATIC will procure the consultants for the feasibility study in July 2019 and the study itself is expected to take place in the first half of August 2019. The feasibility study will then feed in to the design of the project proposal/document that will be submitted to the EU Delegation in September. EU Delegationen i Chisinau planerar att delegera medel till Svenska Ambassaden i Chisinau för att genomföra projektet ”EU4Moldova: Start up City Cahul”. EU delegation har i ett brev daterad 5 juli 2019, bett Svenska Ambassaden i Chisinau att ta fram ett utkast till projektet till den 9 september 2019.

En viktig komponent i projektet syftar till att etablera ett ICT innovationscenter i staden Cahul. Moldovas förening för företag i informationsteknologibranchen (ATIC) kommer att vara en viktig genomförandepartner i projektet. ATIC har tidigare etablerat ett innovationscenter i Chisinau – Tekwill. Tekwill har fått ett stort genomslag under de tre år sedan centret öppnades. Namnet Tekwill har redan blivit synonymt med innovation och entreprenörskap i landet. ATIC:s Tekwill project är samfinansierat av USAID och Sverige. Det nya centret i Cahul är tänkt att basera sig på samma modell som Tekwill, men anpassat till den lokala kontexten.

Som ett led i förberedelserna av projektet, ska ATIC genomföra en förstudie över förutsättningarna för att etablera ett ICT innovationscenter I Cahul. ATIC kommer att handla upp en konsult för studien. Svenska Ambassaden i Chisinau kommer att finansiera studien, därav denna insats.

ATIC kommer att handla upp konsulten i juli månad och själva studien beräknas genomföras under första hälften av augusti 2019. Förstudien kommer sedan att användas i framtagandet av projektförslaget som ska lämnas in till EU Delegation i september 2019. The objective of the project (Feasibility Study) is to gain access to relevant quality information on the preconditions for the establishment of an ICT innovation centre in the city Cahul, Moldova.
The Feasibility Study will be used as input in the design process of the project document that will be submitted to the EU Delegation. It is expected that the Study will provide information that can be incorporated in, and guide the design process towards a realistic design that adequately reflect the development potentials and the interest of key stakeholders in the Cahul region.