VIDEO // Moldovan Education Ministry provides over 9.5 million euros to equip research institutes

Research institutes will receive funding for the purchase of equipment and the modernization of university infrastructure. The Education and Research Ministry (MEC) today launched a call for funding projects, with a total budget of 9.5 million euros.

Education and Research Minister Dan Perciun has said that the project was the largest investment made by Moldova in equipping and modernizing research institutes in the last decade.

“It is a first for Moldova and a novelty long awaited by our researchers. Starting today, research institutes can submit projects to modernize their equipment and infrastructure. In recent years, we have made major efforts to support researchers. We implemented salary increases in September 2025, the long-awaited increase in scientific titles from 600 to 4,000 lei and from 1,100 to 4,400 lei. We supported a doubling of scholarships for young PhD students, and now we are coming with news regarding infrastructure. Certainly, our research and innovation system needs modern equipment to enhance competitiveness. Our strategic goal is to become as competitive as possible within the European research system and, through these investments, to give our researchers the chance to realize their potential. We also aim to attract European funding under the Horizon Europe projects. Thus, we need to be attractive to partners from other countries, and attractiveness means not only well-trained human resources, but also laboratories, equipment and facilities,” noted Dan Perciun.

The project is implemented with the support of the World Bank and is part of a total investment of over 40 million euros dedicated to higher education in Moldova.

“The today’s initiative is part of the second phase of the higher education modernization project. Thus, on the period 2021–2025, over 500 million lei was invested in our universities, and starting from 2026 we are implementing the second phase of this project, which also includes this call for research institutions, in the total amount of 9.5 million euros,” said Dan Perciun.

Present at the event, Maria Magdalena Bendini, Senior Economist for Higher Education and team leader at the World Bank, emphasized that the launch of this call marked an important moment for the higher education and research system of Moldova.

“It is a major investment that contributes significantly to repositioning research as a strategic factor for the development of universities. At the institutional level, more than 30 sub-projects in universities have been financed, contributing to the modernization of learning and research environments, as well as to the strengthening of applied research. The results are already visible: a higher enrollment rate, growing international interest and renewed confidence in universities of Moldova. In the context, the call we are launching today is directly based on these achievements. This is not about isolated investments, but about consolidating and expanding research infrastructure, so that previous investments generate greater impact, increased sustainability and stronger collaboration between institutions,” specified Maria Magdalena Bendini.

She noted that the funded initiatives would support the development of a shared, high-quality research infrastructure in such fields as agriculture, information and communication technologies, energy, natural sciences and biomedicine.

“We aim to create the necessary conditions for excellence in research. At the same time, this effort contributes to a broader strategic goal – Moldova’s integration of into the European Research Area. This implies open access to infrastructure, collaboration between institutions and across borders, alignment with European standards and a more active participation in such programmes as Horizon Europe. By strengthening common research platforms, this call will enable universities in Moldova, in order to connect more securely and competitively to European and international networks. For researchers, these projects represent an opportunity to turn infrastructure into quality science, sustainable partnerships and international visibility. The World Bank stays a strong partner of Moldova and will continue to support this reform path,” underlined Maria Magdalena Bendini.

The priority areas announced under the call were identified in accordance with the Smart Specialization Strategy of Moldova for the period 2024–2027 – Smart Moldova. Scientific fields included are: agriculture and processing of agricultural production, information and communication technology, energy, exact and natural sciences, biomedicine and biopharmaceutics.

Projects can be submitted till May 31, 2026. Between June and September, evaluation procedures will take place, and in next October, the contest’s results will be announced. The project’s implementation will start on December 1. The maximum implementation period for projects is 30 months.