National Projects
Connect IT Project: Connecting students and industry to digitize business processes.
EU for Innovation programme in Albania is funded by the European Union with additional support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) the project aims to strengthen the eco-system for innovation and start-up promotion in Albania.
The project has a budget of up to 7.539.238 EUR (EU contribution: 6.600.000 EUR, German contribution: 719.238 EUR; Swedish contribution: 220.000 EUR). The programme will be implemented by GIZ Albanian and the Swedish Embassy Tirana.
Digitalization of processes within the Albanian industry payers is lagging greatly. Basic processes like employee presence or inventory management, to more complex tasks, are done manually. This presents an opportunity for IT oriented students to assess these processes and present solutions that would innovate them into more efficient tasks.
As part of EU for Innovation’s objectives to strengthen capacities for innovation as well as build better links with industry, the Connect IT program is partnering academia with private enterprises and matching industry challenges with student teams that are up to the task to solve those challenges. By selecting students from relevant programs across all high education institutions, and then matching them to companies, the program aims to identify and later promote potential start-up spinoffs. The student teams may be the first breed of companies that arise from demand-driven interventions like this.
Access to an experienced IT Coach will assist teams in their work towards designing and implementing the digital solutions. Together their work closely with each company to implement a feasible solution, as well as address potential roadblocks along the way.
