“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați is the only cross-border university in România, with several branches in Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, but also in Italy. A few colleagues from these university branches joined UDJG DA-SPACE project team.

Two of these colleagues, Adrian Cîrciumaru and Iulian-Gabriel Bîrsan presented and promoted the DA-SPACE project in universities and companies in Moldova and Ukraine, such as Pedagogical State University of Izmail (Ukraine), State University of Physical Education and Sport of Chișinău, Co-operative and Comercial University of Moldova of Chișinău, State University Gr. Țamblac of Taraclia, State University B.P. Hasdeu of Cahul, the last four being from Moldova.

During the meetings the participants seemed interested both by the open innovation approach and the challenges. Also, the young people seemed willing to test their knowledges and abilitites in solving challenges from real world. Our colleagues answered to a lot of questions about entrepreneurial training and the co-operation between young talents and seekers during the project development and the 1st cycle of co-creation projects. Many young people appreciated the importance and the significance of proposed challenges even for their communities. Some of them asked us to present further project achievements intending, perhaps, to better understand how they might be involved in such projects, even working from abroad via Internet.

Our colleagues promoted the DA-SPACE PROJECT mostly to young people with double citizenship: Moldavian-Romanian or Ukrainian-Romanian, with good knowledge of Romanian language. However, during the presentations the audience has been diversified (in Ukraine we had to use a translator), the age being the basic criterion of participation.

We appreciate that further visits in the same cities and locations might improve the development of this part of Europe valuing a resource that is almost invisible for decision makers. Meantime we had been asked to present the Interreg Danube program or the DA-SPACE project to small companies or even in some high-schools. Anyway, our public is expecting future visits to know about further progress of DA-SPACE project.

We already proposed during the last Skype project conference to organize one of the transferability workshops either in Ukraine or in Moldova.

Photos taken during the two meetings at the Pedagogical State University of Izmail (Ukraine)