Since 1995, it has become a tradition that every year, at the end of June, a beautiful and significant professional holiday - Inventor’s and Rationalizer’s Day - is marked in Moldova. This event is organized by the Union of Inventors and Rationalizers “Innovator” and the State Agency on Intellectual Property. The solemn session, organized on this occasion, was attended by well-known researchers, inventors and rationalizers from the republic, representatives of academic and higher education environment, outstanding personalities from the fields of research and innovation.

In the greeting speech, Nicanor Solcan, President of the Union of Inventors and Rationalizers (UIR) “Innovator”, said that the Republic of Moldova has a rich innovative human potential that effectively contributes to the revival of the economy and deserves all the appreciation, support and stimulation on the part of the state and society as a whole.

Mr. Sergiu Solcan, Vice-President of UIR “Innovator” presented the main achievements of inventors and rationalizers: according to data of the National Bureau of Statistics, 683 inventions and 822 rationalization proposals have been implemented in the Republic of Moldova in the last five years and the economic effect obtained amounted to 18.5 million lei, this being assured by the contribution of 3,480 innovators. Only in 2016 the respective economic effect amounted to 2 million 721 thousand lei, while the profitability of inventive and innovative (rationalization) activity in the period under review constituted 388.7%.

The best results in the development of inventiveness in 2016 were made by the following institutions: State University of Moldova which filed 25 patent applications and obtained 20 patents; State University of Medicine and Pharmacy (SUMF) “N. Testemitanu” (21 applications, 17 patents); Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection (24 applications, 12 patents); Technical University of Moldova (TUM) (19 applications, 14 patents), etc.

In spite of the difficulties and the economic, financial and organizational challenges we face, inventors and rationalizers in the republic can handle any technical problem. These people are the golden fund of the technical and scientific elite of the country, concluded Mr. Sergiu Solcan.

Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu, Counsellor of the AGEPI Director General, on behalf of the Agency’s leadership and staff, conveyed a congratulatory message to the whole community of inventors and rationalizers from the Republic of Moldova on the occasion of the celebration and mentioned the following: “Innovation and creativity are the inexhaustible intellectual resources on which our present and future prosperity depends. Inventions improve everyday life, create economic value, generate jobs and even save lives. And the inventors and rationalizers we honor today contribute tremendously to advancing technology.”

In the AGEPI databases are registered 4,698 national inventors, of which about one third are women inventors (1,364). “Even if we are pressed by a precarious economic situation, we are pleased that more and more new inventors are emerging, only in January 2016, and so far 173 new inventors have applied for patenting inventions, 68 of them are women,” stressed. Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu.

Year after year, inventors from the Republic of Moldova increasingly confirm our status as an inventive nation, gaining multiple national and international distinctions. AGEPI continuously supports and promotes the innovative activity of the Republic of Moldova, ensuring the participation of the national inventors’ works in the international invention parks. In this respect, the International Specialized Exhibition “INFOINVENT”, organized once every two years by AGEPI and the International Exhibition Center “Moldexpo”, in cooperation with the Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer (AITT), enjoys a sustained popularity among the community of researchers, inventors and rationalizers. This year, on 15-18 November, the fifteenth edition of ISE “INFOINVENT” will take place and, on this occasion, AGEPI invites all inventors and rationalizers to participate in this exceptional event.

With a congratulatory message addressed to inventors and rationalizers also came Mr. Petru Chiriac, Vice-President of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova (NCTUM), who highly appreciated their contribution to technological progress and the development of the national economy.

Present at the manifestation, Mr. Boris Gaina, coordinator ccademician of the ASM’s Agricultural Sciences Division, urged inventors and researchers to be more insistent, more entrepreneurial in the implementation of ideas in practice. In his view, this requires a partnership between scientific institutions, producers and rationalizers.

The event has also become a good opportunity to appreciate by value the most active inventors and rationalizers of the year. Laureates of the current edition of the national contest of rationalizers, organized by UIR “Innovator”, jointly with NCTUM and AGEPI, were mentioned with diplomas and awards. So:

• “Best Rationalizer of the Year in the Republic of Moldova” was appointed Vasile Turcan, doctor of medicine, head of the Nosocomial Infections Epidemiology Section, the Balti Public Health Center.
• “Best Young Rationalizer of the Year in the Republic of Moldova” became Mrs. Doina Fosa, medical undergraduate, SUMF “Nicolae Testemitanu”.

Also during the festive meeting, AGEPI awarded the most active inventors. With the AGEPI Diploma “Most Active Inventor of the year 2016” and prizes were rewarded: Mr. Ion Bostan, TUM; Mr. Ciobanu Radu and Mr. Ciobanu Oleg, Doctors in Technical Sciences, TUM and Mr. Viorel Nacu, Dr. Habilitate in Medical Sciences, professor, SUMF “Nicolae Testemitanu”.

Celebration of Inventor’s and Rationalizer’s Day was a good opportunity this year as well to promote innovation, which is the key driver of economic growth and welfare, and can provide a real qualitative leap in the activity of small and medium-sized enterprises.