site.btaInnovation and Growth Minister Stoycheva Attends Burgas Blue Summit and Innovation Expo

A key objective for the Innovation and Growth Ministry is to show Bulgaria’s capacity through the entrepreneurial ecosystem, said Innovation and Growth Minister Milena Stoycheva, quoted by her Ministry Saturday.  

The Ministry’s efforts will be aimed at developing a good synergy between science and business, so that Bulgaria’s capacity and potential in the area of innovations can be commercialized on the market, she said. 

 In her words, with this capacity and the funds that have been provided under the Ministry, there are resources to support the process. 

Stoycheva pointed out that by the end of the year, the implementation of procedures under the two EU programmes managed by her Ministry - the Research, Innovation and Digitalisation for Smart Transformation Operational Programme 2021-2027 with a budget of BGN 2.14 billion and the Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises Programme 2021-2027 with a budget of BGN 3 billion - will start.

Minister Stoycheva announced that companies can apply for "blue innovations" under two CIP procedures - for innovation development with a budget of BGN 127 million leva and for innovation implementation with a budget of BGN 293 million. "We expect to open by the end of the year a procedure for the establishment of a national network of 12 innovation hubs with a budget of BGN 67 million leva, which will also be open for applications in the direction of "blue economy"," she said.

"Europe needs to unite its efforts in a common market, a common network of innovation valleys and ecosystems to be competitive with the US and China," the Minister said. 

In her words, the scientific community should be supported alongside small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs, universities, research centres.

Stoycheva visited Burgas Free University, where she met with the management. The possibilities of upgrading the digital halls for students were discussed. The Minister also met with the academic management of the Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarev University. The talks were related to the development and implementation of innovations in areas such as healthcare, biotechnology and green technologies.