Researchers from the Republic of Moldova and those from Romania will be able to obtain grants for joint projects from the governments of the two states. The call for project proposals was announced on Friday in Chisinau by Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun and Romania’s Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization Bogdan-Gruia Ivan. The initiative is at its second edition, and this year’s budget is 100 million Moldovan lei, IPN reports.
In a press conference, Minister Dan Perciun said the projects must be related to one of the eligible areas, namely digitalization, industry and space, climate, energy and mobility, food, bioeconomy, natural resources, biodiversity, agriculture and environment, healthcare, culture, creativity and inclusive society, civil security for society.
The money allocated from the budgets of both of the states will cover direct expenses, such as personnel, logistics, travel. The proposals will be assessed by international experts with experience in the respective fields.
“We are sure that these joint projects will further intensify the cooperation between researchers and research institutions, but also the exchange of good practices and knowledge transfer between the scientific communities of Romania and the Republic of Moldova,” said Dan Perciun.
The Romanian Minister of Research noted that science diplomacy and new technologies have no borders. “Even more so when we talk about people who come from two friendly countries, who speak the same language and whose history is mostly common,” stated Bogdan-Gruia Ivan.
Projects can be submitted from September 13 until the end of October. The maximum amount for a project will be 750,000 Romanian lei, the equivalent of 3 million Moldovan lei.
“We are waiting for the best scientists that the Republic of Moldova and Romania have to work together, jointly with universities, research institutes on both banks of the Prut and together with private companies and research institutes to truly define the industries that can bring a lot of added value,” said Romania’s Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization.
At the first edition of the competition, 179 joint research projects were submitted and 38 of them were selected. The total budget of last year’s edition was 20 million Romanian lei.
