Inauguration of new offices of start-up company Archives International

The minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses Silvio Schembri and parliamentary secretary for Financial Services and Digital Economy Clayton Bartolo inaugurated the new offices of Archives International, a start-up company specialising in providing record and information management services, focusing on document scanning and imaging, as well as data capturing and document management systems. It has very recently established its offices at the Corradino Incubation Centre.

During the inauguration of the offices, minister Schembri commended the company’s bold decision in taking the leap forward and turning into reality their innovative ideas during such challenging times. “Even during unprecedented circumstances, government kept on listening to businesses and ensured to provide the ideal tools for their projects to take flight as we are witnessing today. Moreover, we are standing here today in a location which is part of a €450m industrial infrastructure investment, which shall see an overhaul in the area to provide with adequate space for startups to operate and flourish in an optimum ecosystem,” said minister Schembri.

“Undoubtedly, the pandemic has changed the landscape of doing and operating a business. This is a chance to grasp the opportunities and aid businesses to reengineer their business model to adapt to the current scenario on which necessary assistance will be provided. Hence, the upcoming budget will cater for start-ups and businesses to shift to digital methods to adapt in this new era,” said minister Schembri

Parliamentary secretary Bartolo higlighted that Archives International is a textbook example of the government’s vision in the years to come. “Having a start-up integrating digitization within its operations is the way forward to achieve our goal of creating a digital society,” remarked the parliamentary secretary.

He highlighted that Malta is positioning itself as the technology hub of choice, mainly due to its swift acceptance of emerging technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence and the agility to act and regulate without suffocating the market.

In his concluding remarks, Parliamentary secretary Bartolo envisioned Archives International to be that beacon of hope for other start-ups that want to pursue their technological operations here in Malta.

The directors of the company, Carlo Stivala and German partner Reinhard Bayer, explained the company’s focus, strategy, outlook and plans. Archives International is an initiative which focuses on digitisation and data capturing.

Stivala, chief Executive officer of Archives International, said: “With over 15 years’ experience and a workforce of 350 employees in their German establishments, Infoscan GmbH has been paramount in transferring their knowledge, skills and technical expertise to their Maltese counterpart – Archives International.”

This initiative is a collaboration between Infoscan GmbH and Maltese partners who have established themselves in Malta, one of many direct foreign investment projects.

Preparations to invest in Malta started last year and started to gain momentum at the beginning of 2020 when COVID-19 began and the demand for digitisation increased due to smart working.

The company’s initial investment will exceed €300,000 and is expected to create a substantial number of jobs.