ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SERVING THE SOUTHERN REGION INNOVATION · ENTREPRENEURSHIP · CIRCULAR ECONOM PHASE II · 1 Jan – 31 Jul 2026
“From partnership to implementation: artificial intelligence brings the circular economy closer to the Southern region.” In the first seven months of 2026, the international AI-InnoScEnCE project, funded by the EIT Higher Education Initiative (Horizon Europe – Pillar 3), entered Phase II of implementation at the “B.P. Hasdeu” University Center in Cahul (UTM). The team supported 4 start-ups, mentored 35 students and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with RWTH Aachen University.
ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
Business Summit Cahul (2 July 2026): staff and students of the Faculty of Economics, Engineering and Applied Sciences (FEISA) joined the dialogue “Integrating Artificial Intelligence into the Economic Development of the Southern Region”, together with entrepreneurs, experts and public decision-makers.
Strategic workshop (12 May 2026): “Validation of the Innovation and Circular Economy Ecosystem through Artificial Intelligence in the Southern Region”, at the Inotek Center. In World Café sessions, 35–50 participants validated the AI generated ecosystem maps and set the priorities of the future regional “Innovation Roadmap”.
Iceberg Bootcamp, 4th edition (4 May 2026): about 60 participants, 4 of them from USC, worked with the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship (BMOE): from identifying real problems and interviewing customers to business models, financial planning and the final pitch, guided by international experts.
“Stop DeepFake” Hackathon (23–24 April 2026): 56 young people built 15 prototypes for detecting video manipulation and fake news. The event was organised by the Inotek Center in partnership with the “B.P. Hasdeu” University Center and ziuadeazi.md, with European Union support.
“Environmental Solutions Developed by Youth” Hackathon (4–5 April 2026): co-organised with UNDP under the project “Facilitating an Inclusive Green Transition in the Republic of Moldova”. Interdisciplinary teams of FEISA students proposed solutions for a sustainable future.
VibeHack Hackathon (20–22 March 2026): organised by the Inotek Foundation; USC students developed digital prototypes for the education system.
Open Doors Day and IT Career Expo Cahul (14 March 2026): more than 400 visitors learned about the university’s European projects (Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, DIGITRANS, NeedEDU4.0, AI-InnoScEnCE), while the IT Career Expo workshops showed real career paths in IT.
Public defence of interdisciplinary projects (3 February 2026): students of the “Operations and Production Management” course presented industrial solutions for the circular economy, also assessed by Mr Nicolae Dunaș, director of “NICO ART” LLC.
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