the public-private partnership seeking to promote Malta as a tech centre and support the National Strategy on Innovative Technology, has coordinated a Memorandum of Understanding between Tech.mt, the University of Malta and 8 Italian Universities to cooperate on the development of innovative technologies.
These include Cloud Applications, the Internet of Things, Distributed Ledger Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Regulatory Technology, and Big Data Analysis.
Thanks to this cooperation, the nine universities, together with both countries’ corresponding governments and regulatory authorities, as well as businesses and research educations in technology sector, shall have a closer working relationship with the scope of building stronger and more beneficial innovative technologies thanks to their shared knowledge and resources.
The signing ceremony for this cooperation was held on Friday 23 April 2021 at the Chamber of Commerce offices in Valletta, whereby Tech.mt and the University of Malta entered into agreement with the , the , , , , , , and
Minister for the Economy and Industry, Hon. Silvio Schembri, who presided over the ceremony, called this yet another initiative that proves the pro-activeness of the government, its entities, and the University of Malta and their common aim of seeking connection to improve Malta's digital economy.
He said the aims of this cooperation agreement are threefold; firstly, that there are undeniably important developments in various areas of technology that we need to play part in, secondly that the more time goes by, the more these technologies become a part of our daily lives, and we must invest in our present and future, and thirdly, we are, as a country, answering to the continuous and considerable demand for human resources, especially within the tech sector.
This agreement will enable the establishment of joint research opportunities, facilitate the mutual exchange of research findings related to innovative tech, build capacities through visits and exchange opportunities and educational training, and encourage the joint supervision of Masters dissertations and PhD theses, as well as joint peer-reviewed publications.
Prof. Alfred J. Vella, Rector at the University of Malta, called this is a momentous occasion, as it is a recognition of how necessary the element of mutual cooperation is for the development of technology, which in turn is needed to ensure that society keeps bettering itself and its condition.
On behalf of the Faculty of ICT, which also played a role in facilitating this agreement, Prof. Carl James Debono, Dean of the Faculty, expressed his pride and gratefulness at the increased opportunities this cooperation will translate to for students and academics who are part of the Faculty.
In his concluding remarks, Chairman of tech.mt, Mr Mark Bugeja remarked that whilst it can take a long time to figure out what one wants to do in life, such an opportunity is showing students that there is help to get them to achieve their goals in life faster.
