Innovative IT Incubator IT4BA, and Drachmae Project are aligning along a strategic roadmap to create Moldova’s First Blockchain Student Laboratory. The partnership comes from the strong demand for blockchain technology, and encourages innovation through student projects, with the goal of providing inspiration to develop their own products and services.

As part of the initiative the laboratory will be hosting an open day on the 10th of January, and will invite members of the media, academics and students. Aspiring students will have to complete an application since there will be only 25 positions available within the laboratory. These will include roles in IT development, branding, public relations and marketing. The goals of the laboratory will include creating commercially viable solutions.

To start with several projects will be initiated in the areas of tourism, wallets, a digital currency exchange, tokenisation and social inclusion. A new event is planned for March 23rd and 24th at ASEM University to follow up on November’s workshops and hackathon. Students will be presented with e-diplomas, and work contracts, registered on the blockchain.

TamTam Travels, Moldova Discount Travel and Moldova Tours 2.0 are projects aimed at boosting tourism via platform 2.0 interaction, tokenisation and social impact incentivisation, Moldova Tours 2.0 was founded by Marc Pilkington, PhD, who is an associate professor of economics at the University of Burgundy, France, currently on entrepreneurial leave.

Refutravel is a travel incentive using social media to educate refugees how to accomplish social and digital media marketing in the areas they are located, promoting local business and tourist attractions.

Students will be encouraged to work on, amongst other things, the design and testing of tourism blockchain apps (e.g voting for the best hotel/restaurant/rural guesthouse in Moldova, blockchain registry of Moldovan tourism destinations, promotion and incentivization of the adoption within the Moldovan tourism ecosystem etc).

E-Diplomas and Work Contracts will be registered under the authority of IT4BA IT Incubator of ASEM University, headed by Dr. Sergiu Tutunaru (Associate professor at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, Director Innovative IT Incubator)

Chisinau will host the European Festival “Tourism and Strategy”, which will run from May 31st to June 3rd, 2017. During the event, about 30 cities from different European countries will present strategies for tourism development, which will be judged by a jury.

An agreement was signed by Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca and mayor of Rueil Malmaison and France, Patrick Ollier.

In 2017 the event will be at its third edition. The first two were held in Rueil Malmaison city, France, and Dubrovnik city, Croatia.

As part of the Travel and Blockchain with the Lab 2.0 we are aiming to present Blockchain technology solutions for promotion of Chisinau and provide internships to Students for blockchain projects for more information www.dtmoldova.md