The National Agency for Research and Development (NARD) or 'Agenția Națională pentru Cercetare și Dezvoltare' (ANCD), is the successor of the following Moldovan public institutions: the 'Agency for Scientific Research and Development', the 'Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer' and the 'Center for International Projects (CIP)' of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova.

According to the Government Decision No. 196 from 28 February 2018 about the organization and the functioning of the National Agency for Research and Development, NARD is the central administrative body subordinated to the Government, which implements the state policy in the spheres of activity entrusted to it. In the areas of its activities, the Agency cooperates with central and local public administration authorities, as well as with international organizations.

The Agency is called upon to ensure high quality and efficiency for the implementation of national priorities in research, innovation and development.

The basic tasks of the National Agency for Research and Development are:

1. implements state policy according to the action plans approved by the Government in order to implement the National Program in the fields of research, innovation and development, as well as the sectoral strategies; 
2. manages the approved budget for project financing, according to the normative framework;
3. manages national development funds and funds from bilateral and multilateral programs launched under cooperation agreements with international organizations and foundations, according to the Government's normative acts;
4. organizes and conducts project contests, including ensuring independent appraisal and evaluation of projects submitted to competitions, in order to distribute the public funds allocated to project financing;
5. selects for financing, within the limits of the approved budget and according to the action plan approved by the Government, the projects submitted to the competition, following the evaluation carried out by local and / or foreign researchers according to the project financing methodology approved by the Government;
6. organizes and ensures the contracting of the winning projects;
7. monitors the implementation of projects and reports annually to the Government on their implementation;
8. receives the scientific reports for the implementation of the financed research projects, accompanied by the consultative opinion on them, publicly discussed and issued by the respective science department of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova;
9. create, maintain and give broad public access to research, innovation and development databases, including national databases of national and international researchers participating in project evaluation, national databases with all the material components of public infrastructure in research, innovation and development, and related specialized equipment;
10. promotes the interests of the state over objects of intellectual property resulting from projects selected for funding;
11. organizes the selection by competition of the administrators of the scientific-technological parks and of the incubators for innovation;
12. monitors the activity of science-technology parks and innovation incubators in which residents implement innovation and technology transfer projects, as well as the activity of their managers;
13. Facilitates the partnership between organizations in the sphere of science, innovation and development and public or private companies;
14. attract private means for the realization of research and innovation projects, experimental development projects, innovation and technological transfer, the development of the activity of science-technology parks and innovation incubators, the creation and development of their infrastructure;
15. organizes exhibitions, seminars, workshops and roundtables to promote research, innovation and development achievements;
16. provide assistance to the scientific community, promote cooperation in the field of research, innovation and development at national and international level and carry out related activities;
17. elaborates, approves and manages the budget in accordance with the principles, rules and procedures established by the Law on Public Finances and the fiscal-fiscal responsibility no.181 of July 25, 2014 ;
18. ensures the independent evaluation of the proposals for international projects, the financing and monitoring of their implementation, systematizes the results obtained;
19. carries out the activities related to the participation of the Republic of Moldova in the EU programs and projects for research, innovation and development, including information, training and promotion activities, as provided by the normative acts;
20. delegates representatives to carry out activities related to the Republic of Moldova's participation in research, innovation and development through the tools of the international programs;
21. participate in intergovernmental negotiations on research, innovation and development;
22. approves instructions and methodologies on matters related to the organization of the activity;
23. other attributions deriving from the provisions of the normative framework.