The e-Governance Agency announces a new cooperation with UNDP Moldova and Optim - Opportunities through Technology and Innovation in Moldova, a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), implemented by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation. The partnership aims at launching a financing competition for IT companies in Moldova, in order to develop solutions for the digitization of public services and support for small and medium enterprises.

Proposals identifying solutions for the following objectives are invited:

- optimizing the interaction between citizens and the Government through the MCabinet citizen portal (developing the mobile version and the notification module) and the mobile portfolio for entrepreneurs (where documents issued by a certain entity will be stored - certificates, licenses/permits, extracts, decisions etc.) and the digitization of other public services;

 - supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): digital certification, logistics automation, digital stock management, digitalization in the following sectors: health, digital education and literacy, agriculture and food industry, energy, circular economy, environment, logistics, tourism, trade, cyber and fintech security, financial inclusion, etc.

The following categories of private entities in the ICT sector, registered (or in the process of registration) in accordance with the Law on Entrepreneurship and Enterprises of the Republic of Moldova are eligible to participate:

 - Moldovan IT companies with private capital, registered and operating in Moldova;

- Start-ups and initiative groups in the process of registering the IT company in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Moldova (registration will be completed before signing the contract);

Cooperation groups can enter into partnerships with private, public and associative sector institutions - profile associations, government agencies, LPAs, schools, hospitals, universities, research institutions, etc.

The competition will take place in two stages (submission of the concept and the complete application file). The deadline for submission of concepts is 16 February 2022, 16:00. Only the selected concepts will be accepted to the stage of submitting the complete file.

It is important to note that the maximum amount of financial support to be provided is $ 40,000, which shall not exceed 50% of the total amount of the proposal. In the case of collaborative groups of companies, the contributions will be shared equally between the associated companies or according to the specific requirements of the submitted proposal. The total number of funded proposals will be decided so as not to exceed the available budget of USD 200,000 for the current edition of the competition. Further details are available here.

The competition is part of the project "Accelerating digital transformation in the public sector in the Republic of Moldova".