site.btaPresident Plevneliev Participates in Innovation Forum in Sofia

President Plevneliev Participates in Innovation Forum in Sofia

Sofia, December 8 (BTA) - Speaking at the Eleventh National Innovation Forum "Development of Innovation Eco-system for Sustainable Economic Growth in Bulgaria" here on Tuesday, President Rosen Plevneliev said that the path to development is in education and the support for technologies and innovations.

He outlined key priorities for economic development, noting the need of adaptive and innovative education and of cadres for innovative companies. He also put an emphasis on the need of effective institutions. "We cannot prosper if we do not strengthen the institutional capacity, the e-government should be introduced quickly," Plevneliev said.

He underscored the role of Bulgaria as a regional centre of information technologies.
In the last ten years, the revenues of Bulgarian IT companies grew by 600 per cent and the number of jobs increased from 5,000 to 17,000. This year 35,000 Bulgarians work in the outsourcing industry and its annual turnover is 1 billion euro, which is expected to double by 2020.

Within the framework of the Forum, the head of State presented the awards to the winners of the 2015 Innovative Enterprise of the Year National Contest. Among the winners are MAKE Bulgaria Ltd, Triada Soft Ltd, Alex 1977 Ltd, Solvey Sodi Inc, Mobile Systems Ltd, and the Srednogorie Med Industrial Cluster.

Ognyan Shentov, head of the Applied Research and Communications (IRC) Fund, said that 2014 saw the biggest annual growth - by 26 per cent - of the expenditures for research and development activities in the last fifteen years.

Representation of the European Commission (EC) in Bulgaria head Ognyan Zlatev said that despite the EU's problems in the sphere of security, the first and key priority remains the intelligent economic growth, based on innovations and investments. Zlatev said that if Bulgaria wants to get closer to the EU-average revenues, the country has to create conditions for growth at a speed higher than the average in the EU. This goal could remain unachievable with the present growth of labour productivity, therefore Bulgaria should move at a faster pace, Zlatev said.

The Forum was organized by the ARC Fund, ARC Consulting, Еenterprise Europe Network - Bulgaria and the Representation of the EC in Bulgaria, with the support of the European Commission's Directorate General GROW and Executive Agency for SMEs, and the Norway Grants.