EU4Digital at Moldova Digital Summit 2023

EU4Digital Facility and European Commission DG NEAR representatives participated in the Moldova Digital Summit 2023 – The Future of Digital on 15-17 June 2023. The event was organised under the patronage of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova and marked a new stage in the country’s digital transformation. Under the theme ‘Evolve towards our borderless future’, the summit aimed to re-position the ICT field on the regional economic map and build a new image of digital Moldova, with potential for sustainable development. 

The summit gathered ecosystem players in Chișinău to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the digital future in the Republic of Moldova and beyond. It connected over 2500 people from 30 countries, including 68 speakers, public officials, experts and leaders of technological and business communities. The event’s agenda included a meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for the creation of a common digital space and a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of digital transformation between Moldova and Romania. 

Experts from Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, the UK, Sweden, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, the US and others shared their views on a range of topics. These included progress in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the opportunities and controversies related to its widening use, experiences in digital transformation and technological innovation based on data and AI, the importance of cross-organisation and cross-border collaboration, and the challenges faced by the educational sector to foster future-proof skills.  

Moldova’s digital transformation 

During the opening of the Moldova Digital Summit, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Dorin Recean emphasised the ongoing progress in Moldova’s digital transformation and the new opportunities it brings for society and the economy. He stressed the importance of putting users at the centre of attention when re-engineering all digital transformation processes, in government, in business, in government-to-business (G2B) and government-to-citizens (G2C) relations.  

“Everything that can be digital should be so. It should work remotely, including cross-border, doesn’t matter where the person is – in Moldova or in Silicon Valley. If they want to open a company in Moldova, or obtain a document from the state, we must give them the opportunity to do so without requesting physical presence and hard copies. Payments, documents, communication – everything should be digital.” Dorin Recean, Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova 

Deputy Prime Minister Dumitru Alaiba, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalisation said: “Moldova is a leader in the field of digitalisation in the region and intends to strengthen its position. Now we have 40% of state services for entrepreneurs digitalised. By the end of 2024, we are planning to digitalise 75% of state services for the business environment. But we will not stop until we reach 100%.”  

Data and Artificial Intelligence 

During the first day, EU4Digital Facility Team Leader Arturas Piliponis participated in a panel discussion on ‘Partnerships for digitalisation – exploring for AI and data science”. He touched upon topics regarding the right use of data and the need to put AI regulation in place. “Data is a basic for everything, we can forget AI if we don’t have data,” he said. Making data accurate, full, accessible and secure is the key priority of any government or organisation, he explained. The trend is that European institutions are increasingly getting the point of good data management and governance, and are putting data analytics solutions in place. He cited an increasing number of projects in diverse sectors from agriculture to finance, where big data platforms, analytical platforms or data models are put in place not just on the institution level but across sectors and across institutions. And progress in AI has been developing very fast, he continued: “Some recent applications are now already seen as ‘business as usual’. In March alone, more than one thousand AI applications were developed, and some researchers say that the latest kind of AI will significantly impact more than 300 million jobs, both positively and negatively.”  

The first day culminated with the Moldova Innovation Awards. In the ceremony, five local startups were appreciated for outstanding achievements in the following categories: Best Product Innovation and Best Service Innovation, Rising STARTup, Impactful Initiative, and Special Jury Award.  

European policy and investment 

During day two, the European Commission representative from DG NEAR, Programme Manager for Digital Economy and Development Thibault Charlet participated in a panel discussion on ‘Eastern Partnership Digital Trends’. He presented the two-way support the EU provides to the Eastern partner countries in the digital transformation area. “First we have policy targets, which have been agreed among the partners in the Eastern Partnership agenda, and we have investment targets. For policy targets we are following the EU vision on resilient digital transformation, and we are guided by four cardinal points of the EU Digital Compass. We are working on digital infrastructures, digital governance, digital economy, innovation and digital skills, and cross-cutting cybersecurity. We also have an investment dimension which is supported by the Economic and Investment Plan for the Eastern Partnership. For us it is the key tool to put digital transformation into motion.” There is a need for agreement on common standards and to align with the EU regulatory frameworks, he continued. “We need to make sure that we can mobilise public and private financing to deliver on concrete achievements. The plan has a target to mobilise at least €1.5 billion in public and private investments in the field of digital transformation. We are working with European and international financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank, Member States and others.”  

During his address, Thibault Charlet highlighted the EU4Digital Initiative as the toolbox that helps to deliver on policy and investment targets in the region. The initiative is composed of all the regional programmes supporting digital transformation and is constantly growing.   

Further information 

The Moldova Digital Summit concluded with Tekwill Expo Day, showcasing achievements in the implementation of educational technologies and innovative engineering projects.