DATASTORM 2025 – Innovation through Data

When ideas come to life and data become the engine of innovation, events are born that inspire, connect, and transform. This was DATASTORM 2025 – Innovation through Data, held on October 31 in the GLIA Impact Hub space of the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (ASEM). The event was organized by ASEM, through the IT4BA Innovative Incubator, in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics and the Faculty of Information Technologies and Economic Statistics.

The overall coordination was carried out by the IT4BA Incubator team, under the leadership  of Dr. Svetlana Ghetmancenco, who ensured the cohesion of the activities, the involvement of the partners and the quality of the content. The event was supported by strategic partners who actively contributed to the success of the entire program: Innovate Moldova (program funded by Sweden and the United Kingdom), maib and the E-Government Agency. The support of these institutions was essential for carrying out the activities, providing resources, expertise, mentoring and opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration.

The official opening was marked by valuable interventions by institutional leaders: Angela Casian, first vice-rector of ASEM, vice-rector with teaching activity, PhD, associate professor, underlined the role of universities in the formation of digital skills; Oleg Cara, PhD, Director General of the NBS, spoke about the strategic directions of the institution; Sergiu Rabii, director of the Innovate Moldova program, highlighted the international support for the development of the digital ecosystem; Mihai Furnică, Jurisconsult of the Data Exchange and Interoperability Service, E-Government Agency, presented the challenges related to interoperability; and Aurelia Salicov, director of StarNet, brought the entrepreneurial perspective on innovation through data.

The introductory presentation given by Anatolie Poiata, Head of Data Scientist at AC Tech Corp, provided a strategic look at the Moldovan ecosystem for data and digital innovation, with a focus on the opportunities for integrating data into decision-making processes and the need to strengthen the analytical infrastructure.

The four thematic panels of the DATASTORM 2025 event were moments of interdisciplinary dialogue and inspiration, in which topical, relevant and challenging topics for the development of a data-driven society were discussed. Each panel was moderated by an expert with experience in its field, and the speakers – representatives of public institutions, academia and private companies – provided examples from practice, applied solutions and strategic perspectives.

Panel I, moderated by Sergiu Reveneala, senior ICT expert at NTU International, was dedicated to building a data-driven society. Among the speakers were Dr. Oleg Cara, Director General of the National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Tudorel Andrei, President of the National Institute of Statistics of Romania and corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, Dumitru Budianschi, President of the National Commission for the Financial Market, and Mihai Furnică, Jurisconsult of the Data Exchange and Interoperability Service of the E-Government Agency.

Panel II, moderated by Liliana Spatari, Data Analyst and TECH Women Moldova ambassador, addressed Big Data applications in business. Speakers included Ludmila Babiuc, Marketing Director at Moldcell, Sergiu Mutruc, General Manager of Realist Estate Agency, Vitalie Ursachi, Chief Data Scientist at AC Tech Corp, Vadim Ambros, representative of ASBIS Enterprises PLC, and Oleg Pădurari, B2B Product Manager and IT Engineer at StarNet. The discussions highlighted how data is being used in marketing, real estate, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure.

Panel III, moderated by Dr. Dorel Noroc, President of the Association of Banks of Moldova, was dedicated to the financial ecosystem in the age of data. The speakers – Mihail Ursu, Head of Directorate at the National Bank of Moldova, Eugenia Grosu, Head of AI at MAIB, and Dr. Oleg Verejan, President of the Actuarial Association of Moldova – discussed the digitalization of the banking system, regulation, security and the use of artificial intelligence in the analysis of financial behavior.

Panel IV, moderated by Dr. Ion Pârțachi, university professor at ASEM, was dedicated to statistical education and data culture. It was a special moment, as the initiative to launch a national statistics contest began to take shape, with the involvement of the Ministry of Education and Research. The participants were Viorica Negrei, Head of the General Education Management Directorate within the Ministry of Education, Lilian Galer, Head of the General Directorate for Statistical Methods at NBS, Dr. Zinovia Toacă, Dean of the Faculty of Information Technologies and Economic Statistics, ASEM, and Dr. Daniela Stefanescu, Director of the International Relations Directorate of the National Institute of Statistics of Romania. Ms. Stefanescu presented Romania's experience in organizing the European Statistics Competition (ESC) 2024–2025, held under the aegis of Eurostat, in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Although the Republic of Moldova is not yet a member of the European Union and cannot officially participate in the ESC, the desire to initiate a similar national competition, dedicated to high school students, with the support of the Ministry of Education and Research, was expressed. The presence of these experts in the panel was essential to outline the strategic directions of this approach and to encourage inter-institutional collaboration in promoting statistical education. He emphasized the importance of training analytical skills from high school and integrating statistics into educational curricula.

Each panel was an opportunity for learning and inspiration, where topics such as interoperability, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, data-driven regulation, digital education and business innovation were discussed. The interventions demonstrated that the Republic of Moldova has expertise, initiative and openness to innovation, and collaboration between institutions is essential for building a smart, connected and data-driven society.

The keynote  presentation by Macar Stoianov, Vice President of the maib Management Committee, was a highlight of the event. With a clear and inspirational vision, Mr. Stoianov spoke about data leveraging strategies and lessons learned from global growth models, capturing the attention and admiration of the entire audience.

During the closing session of the DATASTORM 2025 event, moderated by Dr. Svetlana Ghetmancenco, administrator of the IT4BA Innovative Incubator within ASEM, the winners of theData Scientist Challenge, held on October 30, were awarded. The contest brought together 12 teams of students and pupils from various educational institutions in the Republic of Moldova (about 45 participants), who worked for two weeks on solving complex problems, using modern methods of data analysis, artificial intelligence and tools such as Python, SQL, statistical models and interactive visualizations.

Following the judging process, the First Place was obtained by a mixed ASEM-UTM team, consisting of five students who demonstrated excellence in approach, methodology and showed that through collaboration and openness truly remarkable results can be obtained.tag. The second place was awarded to the ASEM team and to the team of students from the "Mihail Berezovschi" Theoretical High School with Arts Profile, who impressed with their rigour, creativity and the applicability of the proposed solutions. The third place went to a team from UTM, which presented a well-argued and relevant solution. The Creativity and Innovation Award was awarded to a team from USM, which stood out for its originality and interdisciplinary approach. Also, two special mentions were offered by the jury: one for the team from the National College of Commerce of ASEM, and the other for the team from  the Center of Excellence in Informatics and Information Technologies, as a sign of appreciation for involvement, progress and collaboration.

The award ceremony was a moment of recognition of the talent, effort and passion of young people for the field of data science, confirming that the Republic of Moldova has an emerging generation of specialists capable of transforming data into real solutions for society.

Throughout the DATASTORM 2025 – Innovation through Data  event, the B2B Innovation & Interaction Fair was held, which brought together over 15 local and international companies and organizations, providers of digital solutions in AI, Big Data, Data Science and data analytics technologies. Among the participants were the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Bank of Moldova, the E-Government Agency, "maib", Trimetrica, ASBIS Enterprises PLC, Pinky CyberSafe SRL, Dreamups Accelerator, Eventica Grup SRL, Dron Assistance SRL, Moldcell, StarNet, Realist Estate Agency, independent innovator Cociorva Nicolae, etc. The fair was open to students, teachers, entrepreneurs and representatives of public institutions, offering networking opportunities, exploring emerging technologies and initiating partnerships.

DATASTORM 2025 was more than an event – it was a demonstration of intellectual strength, collaboration and vision. He showed that the Republic of Moldova has valuable human resources, institutions open to innovation and a digital future that can be built through data, education and strategic partnerships.