Research & Innovation Smart Specialization Strategy

The Republic of Moldova currently is designing its Smart Specialization Strategy (S3), in cooperation with the local government and the European Union Institutions. Although, research and innovation (R&I) were not the major forces driving recovery and growth in the Central and Eastern European Countries during the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21stcentury, they have become an increasingly important policy area with clear recognition of their role as growth and competitiveness enabler, and for rapprochement with the European Union.  Moldova shows the necessary courage to upgrade and modernize its R&I system in order to build its capacity more strongly, increase overall quality and achieve impulse to move forward.

The EU is developing a series of operational recommendations to the Moldovan authorities on possible reforms to undertake within the framework of the new National Strategy for Science and Development 2014-2020 focusing on the following focus areas:

  1. Increasing the efficiency of public R&I funding and the quality of the R&I performing bodies and instruments;
  2. Improving the policies for human resources and mobility of researchers;
  3. Boosting business innovativeness and science-business links; and
  4. Increasing R&I impact by properly defining the policy instruments.

The main source for success constitutes to take advantage of international support for implementing recommendations.

Support from international organizations, including from the EU through the Horizon 2020 Policy

Support Facility, the World Bank and OECD, should be requested and used for implementing several of the recommendations outlined above.

This concerns in particular support for building-up capacity for R&I policy making in Moldovan Ministries, for implementing the National R&I funding agency, for improving R&I statistics, for assessing the existing innovation infrastructure.

Support from the EU can be provided e.g. via the H2020 Policy Support Facility (PSF), the TAIEX instrument (for financing experts), the technical assistance from ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds), the new Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS) to develop administrative capacity, the EU delegation, or from specific EU member states.

The European Commission presents policy reforms to modernise the Republic of Moldova’s research and innovation system on Internet (direct link).