The Ministry of Education and Research, together with the National Agency for Research and Development (ANCD), has launched five project competitions for research and innovation, totaling over 60 million lei. The Ministry announced the competition conditions on Thursday, February 20, during a press conference with Minister Dan Perciun and ANCD Director Aurelia Hanganu.
“Through these initiatives, we aim to provide concrete support to our researchers, attract talented young people to the field, and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and technologies between Moldova and its scientific diaspora. Moldova needs researchers. In the face of global challenges, from climate crises to rapid technological transformations, our future depends on our ability to innovate and find sustainable solutions. Therefore, it is our responsibility as a state to support research. We must invest in research infrastructure and adopt policies that stimulate excellence in this field,” said Minister Dan Perciun.
The projects will take place from 2025 to 2026 and will support researchers from various fields with significant funding. The first type of project will focus on stimulating scientific research excellence, with a budget of 24 million lei and grants of up to 600,000 lei per initiative.
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The “Young Researchers” initiative will fund projects totaling 22.5 million lei. A fund of 2 million lei will support the awarding of innovation vouchers for 2025, aimed at assisting the knowledge between research and the business environment.
This year, the Ministry will launch a collaboration program between the scientific diaspora and research organizations in Moldova – the ReBRAIN Program. The program will have a budget of 10 million lei to attract the scientific diaspora.
Additionally, 2 million lei will support projects that develop participation capacities for the Horizon Europe Program.
Volunteers can submit competition files until April 4, 2025. The Ministry will evaluate the projects between April and May 2025 and validate the results in June 2025.
The Ministry of Education and Research has launched several significant reforms in the research and innovation sector. The Ministry adopted the National Program for Research and Innovation for 2024-2027, which sets strategic priorities, including scientific infrastructure modernization and stimulating collaboration between research and the business environment.
To support researchers, the Ministry increased their salaries by 21% in 2024, raising scholarships for PhD students by over 100%, reaching 4,400 lei monthly. Also, the second call for Bilateral Complex Projects with Romania was launched, attracting 290 proposals with a total budget of 23 million RON, of which Moldova contributes 10 million lei.