The overall objective of this research project is to advance knowledge based evidence on the scientific diaspora of the Republic of Moldova in main destination countries and to offer a number of recommendations for the Moldovan Government, the scientific community, as well as the scientific diaspora of the Republic of Moldova, that can be useful to leverage the potentialities of the scientific diaspora, and enabling ways of establishing a permanent mechanism of cooperation between all interested actors, in order to get involved in the development process of the home country.

At the Conference launch, acad. Gheorghe Duca, the President of ASM, emphasized that important efforts that have been made by the ASM to enhance the collaboration between the scientific community of the Republic of Moldova and its scientific diaspora, but further steps are required to be undertaken in order to take advantage of the huge human potential of the expatriated Moldovan scientists. Prof. Jean-Claude Bolay, Director of Cooperation at EPFL, stressed the importance of international scientific cooperation and of leveraging the skills and resources of the expatriated human capital for the advancement of home development. This is why designing specific mechanisms to connect the scientific diaspora of the Republic of Moldova to the scientific and economic development of the home country on a permanent basis is the overall aim of the joint research project recently initiated by ASM and EPFL.

The project is financed by the SCOPES Programme Phase 2010-2012 of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Further information is available at www.asm.md.