Feasibility Study for establishing a ICT Innovation hub

and Excellence Centre in Cahul

(October 2019 – January 2020)
Agenda

Feasibility Study project: scope & activities

The region of Cahul and the South-West of Moldova: the economy , demographics and IT sector
ICT education in Cahul and on the South-West of Moldova: strengths and weaknesses
Opportunities for the development of regional ICT Excellence Centre in Cahul
Suggested physical location of ICT Excellence Centre in Cahul
 Feasibility Study project: the scope

 regional economy and demographics on the South-West

 IT industry in Moldova and on the South-West of the country

 general secondary and ICT education in Cahul and in Moldova

 regional demand for Tekwill services, opportunities in the region

 physical infrastructure for ICT Excellence Centres in Cahul

 stakeholders and partners for ICT Excellence Centres in Cahul

 Feasibility Study project: the activities

The ICT industry

 9 research interviews with C-level executives of IT companies in Chisinau
 2 research interviews with C-level executives of IT companies in Cahul
 analysis of statistics and media publications

The Education
 2 research interviews with the university / college managers in Cahul
 2 polls and 4 focus groups with the students and professors in Cahul
 analysis of statistics and media publications

The Region
 2 research interviews with the executives at local authorities in Cahul
 analysis of economic and demographic statistics and media publications
 2 interviews with the managers of Business Incubator in Cahul and CCI

Tekwill / ATIC
 4 research interviews with project managers
 analysis of reports and policy papers

Physical site
 inspection of 8 sites for construction of ICT Excellence Centre in Cahul
 assessment of engineering infrastructure at the most promising sites
 analysis of data available at Cadaster
The regional economy, demographics and the
development of IT sector on the South-West
 The demographical situation on the South-West of Moldova

Estimated actual population of administrative districts and the main towns

in the South-West region of Moldova (‘000), 2019
 Nominal population in the region is 342,000
94.2 people

 Estimated actual population is 257,000

46.7 45.1
39.8  Depopulation remains one of the key threats to
32.9 30.0 the economic development in the region
14.9 12.0
7.4 3.5

Cahul Cantemir Cimislia Leova Taraclia Cahul Taraclia Cimislia Leova Cantemir
(district) (district) (district) (district) (district) (town) (town) (town) (town) (town)

Total number of active groups of people in the districts of the South-West region of Moldova,
2019
Kids and children Students at College University Employed
at secondary professional students students people
schools schools
Moldova 333,144 14,673 28,891 56,840 739,400
Districts on the South-West 28,561 1,310 1,507 2,400 44,125
(including Cahul)

Cahul (district) 11,105 733 1,507 2,200 19,923

Cantemir (district) 5,362 - - - 6,412
Cimislia (district) 4,247 144 - - 6,677
Leova (district) 4,438 286 - - 5,158
Taraclia (district) 3,509 147 - 200 5,955

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, 2019

 The economic development of the South-West of Moldova

 Agriculture and food processing remains the backbone of the

economy on the South-West

 There are three textile factories and electrical cable factory build
by Draxlmaier in Cahul

 Average per capita monthly income of households in Chisinau was

MDL 3,207 (€165) vs. MDL 2,022 €104) on South-West

The share of the main sources of households' income in Chisinau and on the
South-West of Moldova, 2018
Promising projects:
64.4%

 rehabilitation of railway line Chisinau-

Giurgiulesti by 2022
33.3%
26.5%
19.2%
21.5%  planned €32 investments of Free Port
13.2% Giurgiulesti residents in 2020-2022
11.0%
4.9% 5.5%
0.3%
 industrial investments attracted by free
Salaries Incomes from Incomes from Social payments Other incomes economic zone Balti (subsidiary in Cahul)
agricultural entrepreneurship including transfers
production from abroad
 5-year EU Focal Regions programme -
Chisinau South-West of Moldova
€22.5m investments in Cahul and Ungheni

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, 2019

 IT industry on the South-West and in the regions of Moldova

IT companies in the regions of Moldova, December 2019

Indicator Moldova Balti Cahul Comrat

& North & South-West (UTA Gagauzia)
Number of registered IT companies Approx. 26 6 8
650
including active IT companies Approx. 15 2 2
600
including virtual IT park residents 531 4 1 4

Estimated total sales revenues in 2019 MDL 3,760 / $ 215 MDL 31.1 / $1.78 MDL 3.0 / $0.18 MDL 2.2 / $0.13
(MDL m / $ m)
Estimated number of IT employees in 9,140 188 16 12
December 2019

Source: ACETI, InfoDebit, FIDD, 2019

ICT education in Cahul and in Moldova
 General secondary and ICT education on the South-West: key numbers

The number of secondary school graduates and enrolees in university and college ICT
programmes on the South-West and in Moldova, 2019

30,087

3,787
2,285
854 1,128 279
191 59 14 14

Gymnasium last year Lyceum real profile College IT orogramme University IT programme University IT programme
students graduates enrolees enrolees (bachelor) enrolees (master)
Moldova South-West region

Source: Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, FIDD, 2019

We believe Moldova as a country and South-West region

are able to have more IT engineers and professionals
 IT university students in Cahul and Comrat

Number of IT study programme enrolees and graduates from the universities in

Cahul and Comrat in Moldova, 2015-2019

Enrolees Graduates
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

USCH (Cahul)
Bachelor 15 14 13 10 14 19 20 12 6 13
Master 12 18 12 12 14 - 9 10 12 11
Total number 27 32 25 22 28 19 29 22 18 24

CSU (Comrat)
Bachelor 9 11 8 - 11 - 8 8 9 11
Master 10 8 - 19 10 10 10 10 8 -
Total number 19 19 8 19 21 10 18 18 17 11

Source: FIDD, 2019

Number of ICT enrolees in Moldova, 2017-2019
1,128
985
931

Regional universities form secondary school teachers of

mathematics and informatics

242 273 279

2017 2018 2019

Bachelor Masters

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, 2019

 IT college students at Iulia Hasdeu College in Cahul

Number of enrolees and graduates from IT programmes at Iulia Hasdeu College in Cahul,
2015-2019

60 60 60 60
57 56
50 50
43
40

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Enrolees Graduates

Source: Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova, FIDD, 2019

The managers of IT companies in Moldova consider college

graduates to be generally professionally unprepared to work on the
real world projects
 General secondary education on the South-West and in Moldova

The results of BAC exams of the lyceum graduates on South-West, 2019

Total number Number of Grade Grades Grades Grades Grades of Grades
of candidates candidates 10 of of of 6.0-6.99 of
passed BAC 9.0-9.99 8.0-8.99 7.0-7.99 5.0-5.99
exam
Lyceum graduates
Cahul 406 374 - 9 45 108 123 89
Cantemir 102 90 - 1 14 30 26 19
Cimislia 115 109 - 6 15 32 32 24
Leova 95 93 - 2 3 26 33 29
Taraclia 124 117 - 1 9 44 44 19

College graduates
Iulia Hasdeu college 183 99 - - 5 15 34 45
Source: National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation, 2019 PISA test results in Moldova, 2018

487 489 489

454 446 455
424 421 428
390 391 399

Urban Rural Average Moldova Average OECD

Reading Mathematics Science

Source: National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation, 2019

 Robotic classes for children on the South-West and in Moldova

Total number of schools and libraries providing robotics classes in Moldova, 2019

47

7 7 8 8
5 6 6 6 5
4 4 3 3 3 4 4 3 4 4
2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1

Source: ATIC, 2019

Regional demand for Tekwill services, opportunities in the region
 Opportunities for the development of ICT Excellence Centre project in Cahul

Current capacity of regional companies to absorb IT

graduates in Cahul

Sufficient The options:

growth
Cahul - To develop the skills in Cahul for Chisinau-based
universities and IT companies

- To combine the development of ICT Excellence

Modest
Centre with the efforts to attract the investments
to the region
growth

Limited capacity High capacity

Large Moldovan IT companies were generally sceptical about the

opportunities to expand to the region. The managers need to have
40-150 people in the regional office to justify the expansion.
Product portfolio and commercial sustainability of ICT Excellence Centre
project in Cahul

Demand and commercial sustainability of ICT Excellence Centre

projects in Cahul

Sufficient
demand Tekwill Tekwill
Academy Academy Kids
Rent of
conference
facilities
Co-working
Limited space rent
demand
Office rent

Low purchasing power High purchasing power

Commercial demand for the services to be offered by ICT Excellence

Centre in Cahul is not significant and the project will depend on
donor investments at least in the next 5 years

ATIC is expected to facilitate the development of other programmes

including those in business development, education and maybe even
high-tech agriculture to expand Centre’s service portfolio
Opportunities for physical location of ICT Excellence Centre in Cahul
Recommended location: site of State University in Cahul

Recommended size of the premises: 1,400 m2

Estimated investments: € 500-750 / m2
Estimated operational costs: € 6,000 – 8,000 / month
 Thank you!
Please, ask the questions
Fondul de Inovatii si Dezvoltare
Durabila

Address:
86, Gogolia str
MD-7401, Taraclia, Moldova

Director:
Natalia Suditu
Tel.: +373 6 0100495

Project leader:
Serghei Tcacenco
Tel.: +373 6 9212081