In the period between April and September 2017, MASIT with the support of USAID / REG Project started working on a project for pre-qualification. It is a project for the pre-qualification of staff, which includes employed and unemployed persons, where the interested candidates have the opportunity to retrain in order to gain some other skills, knowledge and practical experience (beyond those already  obtained) for IT profiles needed by ICT companies, which in future would potentially be employed by ICT companies. The ultimate goal of the project, and after the program visit, is to get people into ICT companies in junior or senior ICT programming positions. The pre-qualification program will last approximately 5 months, starting in April 2017. Through the pre-qualification process trainees will gain theoretical and practical knowledge through many hands-on activities, work on a specific project or case study that will be upgraded from subject to subject, but will also enrich their competencies with organizational culture and soft skills that will make them immediately ready for employment and productive engagement within IT companies. Based on the results of the questionnaire completed by thirty IT companies that are potential employers, two pre-qualification programs were selected that will produce, at present, two most attractive and most inefficient IT profiles: .NET Developer andFront End Web Developer. The pre-qualification program will be implemented in three phases, from April to September 2017. PARTNERS AND USERS: MASIT – MASIT will be responsible for coordinating the entire project and will be responsible for carrying out all activities as planned. MASIT will find a training provider, HR recruiter, and coordinate ICT companies for the purpose of executing the project. MASIT will also carry out all necessary public relations, marketing and project promotion activities in order to reach and inform as many potential applicants as possible. Seavus Educational and Development Center – Will be fully responsible for the topics and curricula of the training program as well as having relevant trainers for the identified profiles. The training provider prepares the program, the content, a clear specification of courses (courses) that will go into each of the two profiles; number (fund) of classes; list and CV of trainers and has a complete training facility / facility. Companies – MASIT member companies will be involved in this project in defining the content of the program and providing mentoring and internships for 1 – 3 months for selected participants. The companies will have the opportunity to offer the candidates who have undergone the trainings, immediately after the training, according to the need of the company. Program Participants – Program participants must have a minimum high school diploma, not older than 35 years, employed or unemployed, have the interest and predisposition to pursue a career in ICT. Potential candidates may also be graduates of any faculty other than electrical engineering. For non-IT candidates, the focus will be on people who are math and programming savvy and have a logical way of thinking. Unemployed candidates will have an advantage in the selection process. All interested participants can send their CV to contact@masit.org.mk by 21.04.2017.

WINS-ICT “Western Balkan Countries Inco-Net Support in the field of ICT” is an initiative funded by the EC 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development under the ICT theme of the Cooperation Programme. As a support action, WINS-ICT intends to strengthen S&T cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkan countries by deepening the bi-regional strategic relations in the ICT field and promoting the participation of WB ICT researchers in FP 7. The specific objectives of the WINS-ICT project are to: 1Provide comprehensive understanding of the current framework of EU-WBC ICT RTD policies and RTD collaboration, realizing a one-stop information point directed both towards researchers and policy makers in the Western Balkans as well as the Member States of European Union. Optimize the policy framework and research collaboration by addressing the relevant stakeholders, using the contacts that the carefully selected project partners can provide. Support the building of sustainable networks between innovative WBC ICT researchers and their EU counterparts with regard to collaboration in the 7th Framework Programme and in ICT Priority in particular. Enhance the capacities and capabilities of WBC researchers to successfully participate and compete in the Framework Programme on equal terms with the Member States, enabling them to take on the challenge to submit their own project ideas as coordinators. Project partners: ZSI  – Austria TESEO – Belgium GRNET – Greece ZENIT- Germany EFB-UK TUBITAK – Turkey SC IPA SA  – Romania Croatian Chamber of Economy – Croatia Central European Initiative – Italy Ministry of Telecommunications – Serbia CIVET – Albania EXIT- Bosnia&Herzegovina MPIN-Montenegro BOS – Serbia MASIT –  Macedonia All details regarding project activities can be found at http://wins-ict.archiv.zsi.at/  and https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/231648.

The creation of the Strategy was initiated by the MASIT Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies in cooperation with the Investment Promotion and Export Project (IEP), which is being implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) at the behest of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs economic cooperation and development (BMZ). The Strategy is the first national document with a comprehensive approach to enhancing the international competitiveness of the domestic IT industry and is the result of months of dedicated work of the Strategy Working Group members, comprised of representatives from several relevant ministries and state agencies, MASIT, institutions in higher education as well as donor organizations active in the field of promoting the Macedonian ICT industry. The purpose of this strategy is to help promote exports, in close collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, to help the Macedonian software industry achieve the following main objective: Macedonia to establish itself as a recognized brand for specialized, quality outsourcing services and software products in Europe, based on systemic competitiveness, company excellence and superior customer value. In close connection with this main objective, the export promotion strategy pursues the following strategic objectives: Overcoming export-related obstacles and successfully positioning Macedonian software companies (especially SMEs) in international markets; Opening new markets and new consumer segments; Fostering export-led economic growth and increasing employment; Encourage international marketing and branding of Macedonia and its software industry; Prevent and reverse the direction of brain drain; Encouragement of technology transfer and access to new technologies and knowledge; Reducing risk through market diversification; Accelerating EU market integration; It can be summarized that the purpose of the export promotion strategy is not only to facilitate the internationalization of Macedonian software and IT services companies, but also to enhance the competitiveness of the Macedonian software industry on a sustainable basis and to strengthen its role as catalyst for growth, productivity, and innovation in the Macedonian economy. The software industry is an extremely dynamic sector. Therefore, the purpose of this strategy is not to define a static system of strategic measures to promote development that will be unchangeable. It should be seen more as a starting point and a strategic direction that will flexibly respond to future development of resources and opportunities, as well as changes in global markets and technology. Consequently, this document defines a system of proactive future-oriented strategic policies and measures that will need to be constantly reviewed, adjusted, and improved to ensure their effectiveness. This strategy has been developed with the help of GTZ in 2010. Стратегија за унапредување на извоз на софтвер и ИТ услуги 2010 (МК) Export Promotion Strategy for the Macedonian Software and IT Services Industry 2010 (EN)

SCORE Project – Strengthening the strategic cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan region in the field of ICT Research is a Specific Support Action that addresses the need for well-defined future research priorities that will enhance scientific and research co-operation between the Western Balkan region and the EU. SCORE addresses specifically the thematic area of Information Communication Technologies (ICT), which corresponds to one of the nine thematic areas of the FP7’s “Co-operation” Programme. Addressing the above need, the objectives of SCORE are to: Develop a Strategic ICT Research Agenda for the Western Balkan region that will define the region’s ICT research priorities following a broad consultation with affected stakeholders (e.g. national RTD policy-makers, research actors including academic, not-for-profit and private sector research organisations, and ICT companies). Develop a Policy Paper with “Recommendations for shaping EU scientific co-operation with the Western Balkan Region in the field of ICT research: 2007-2013”. The policy paper will contribute to the shaping of the FP7’s Co-operation programme. Transfer EU research results and technologies in the identified ICT research priorities / thematic areas in order to familiarise Western Balkan research actors with current research developments and state-of-art technologies in these areas. Facilitate the development of networks between research actors within the Western Balkan region and between the region and the EU in order to develop contacts, exchange ideas and pursue joint research collaboration. The SCORE consortium represents all countries in the Western Balkan region (Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia). The project’s key results i.e. the Strategic ICT Research Agenda and the Policy Paper will be delivered within the first 15 months of the project, in order to allow their timely contribution to the shaping of the FP7 programme and future calls. The project’s total duration is 24 months, start date 01.02.2007 – 31.02.2009. More info about the project can be found at https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/045384.

The project SEE Innovation – Facilitating Innovation for ICT SMEs in South Eastern Europe, is a Specific Support Action aiming to assist SMEs from candidate and third countries from the region of South Eastern Europe (SEE) to participate actively in EU-funded research in the field of Information Society Technologies. The specific aims of SEE-Innovation are to: map the capacities and needs of SMEs operating in the ICT sector in the countries of South Eastern Europe in order to identify those companies that have the potential and the strong interest to participate in RTD-related activities; provide training on opportunities offered by the EU FP6 for innovative ICT SMEs, in particular the IST and related programmes; to support the South Eastern European SMEs in shaping a competitive technological offer (even as a cluster of companies) to be attractive to the future project consortia that will address the calls of IST and related programmes; and facilitate the development of networks between SMEs in the region of South Eastern Europe in order to exchange ideas and pursue joint research collaboration as well as between SMEs and EU organisations, as this is the key to getting involved in joint project activities. SEE-Innovation is totally aligned with the objectives of the Economic and Technological Intelligence actions of the European Commission and contributes to the strengthening of the scientific and technological cooperation between EU member states, Associated Candidate Counties and Western Balkan countries. Seven countries from South Eastern Europe are represented in the project: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey. The project’s duration is 24 months in the period 01 July 2005 – 30 June 2007. More info about the project can be found at https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/23318 .