MDIA Logo - Malta Digital Innovation Authority Logo

To protect and support users and encourage all types of innovations.

MDIA is the primary Authority responsible for promoting governmental policies that promote Malta as the centre for excellence for technological innovation, while setting and enforcing standards that ensure compliance with any other international obligations. The Authority seeks to protect and support users and also encourages all types of innovations, by allowing for flexibility when it comes to the certification of Innovative Technology Arrangements.

Why Malta ?

Creative, Innovative & Lean

From the very first historical records written about the Archipelago, Malta has always been a highly regarded and sought after location due to its strategic positioning in between the southern most tip of Europe and the northern coast of Africa. It’s a country known to have measured up to other, much larger, countries in mainland Europe on many fronts – primarily thanks to the people’s resilience and their innate capacity to present innovative solutions.

 

Malta as a Tech Hub
Malta - An EU Member State

A Well Connect EU Member State

The independent Republic forms part of the European Union, of which it became a member state in 2004; the Council of Europe; the United Nations and the Commonwealth, which all give Malta the opportunity and setting to discuss principal matters on an international stage. The country’s national agenda has always focused on securing, maintaining and where possible, improving, the political and economical stability of the island, ensuring it is at par with international progress, irrelevant of the its small footprint.

The country is centrally located in the Mediterranean with multiple daily flights connecting it to all major European airports within as little as two hours and regular connection flights linking it to other international airports, which make accessing and operating from Malta uncomplicated. The temperate climate the island enjoys, also comes with one of Europe’s highest recorded days of sunshine and a vibrant and accepting community, which will embrace and support your team’s shift to Malta, while ensuring their long term wellbeing and retention.

Throughout the years, Malta’s limitations when it comes to natural resources have forced the people to be creative in their thinking, innovative in their solutions and lean in their operations. With English as an official national language, a highly skilled work force and the celebrated Mediterranean lifestyle, Malta presents itself as a very attractive package for international investment due to its versatility and the support offered by the regulators in all the different industries. Essentially, Malta is a melting pot of different cultures, joined together by a forward thinking perspective, supported by a stable and blossoming economy. That is why Malta is considered a frontline player when it comes to welcoming new disruptive innovations, as it is one of the first countries to recognise the need to regulate them in order to provide legal certainty and stability in this technological progress.

Our Objectives

The Authority shall endeavour to achieve the following main objectives and policies.

Promote governmental policies that favour the deployment, within the public administration, of innovative technology arrangements, by the Government where necessary or appropriate.

Foster, promote and facilitate the advancement and utilisation of innovative technology arrangements and their design and uses.

Promote education on ethical standards and legitimate exploitation of innovative technology arrangements.

Safeguard, maintain and protect the reputation of Malta in the use of innovative technology arrangements.

Protect users of innovative technology arrangements, including consumers and the general public and to ensure standards are set that meet their legitimate expectations and protect them against misuse.

Harmonise practices and to facilitate the adoption of standards, on innovative technology arrangements in Malta, to be in line with international norms, standards, rules and/or laws particularly those of the European Union.

Assist the competent Data Protection Authorities in safeguarding the data protection rights of data subjects and assist other competent authorities in the protection of vulnerable persons and the promotion of fair competition and consumer choice.

Promote, and if required enforce, ethical and legitimate criteria in the design and use of innovative technology arrangements and any application, software or derivative product from it or intrinsically part of or connected to it as well as to ensure quality of services and security therein.

Support the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and the commission of any other crime in or through the use of innovative technology arrangements, through collaborations with other regulatory bodies and competent authorities with the same responsibility of preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism and crime in general.

Promote transparency and auditability in the use of innovative technology arrangements, and any application, software, or derivative product from it or intrinsically part of or connected to it.

Promote ease of accessibility to the facilities provided by publicly available innovative technology arrangements and the recognition and implementation of the right of exit, withdrawal or termination of participation from any arrangement in the use of innovative technology arrangements.

Promote legal certainty in the application of laws, in a national and cross-border context, and the development of appropriate legal principles for the effective application of law to innovative technology arrangements.

Promote the development of innovative technology in as wide a manner and for as many uses as possible, so as to achieve its benefits in as many economic and social sectors as possible, including, but not limited to, in financial services, health and education, voluntary organisations, public administration and transport.

Encourage the development of regulatory processes in relation to innovative technology arrangements to support all national competent authorities regulating different sectors to better administer the laws entrusted to their administration for the public benefit.