site.btaEU Commissioner Ivanova, PM Denkov Confer Awards in Innovative Enterprise 2023 National Competition

European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova and Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov Tuesday conferred the eight awards of the 19th Innovative Enterprise of the Year national competition. Twenty-one enterprises from various sectors of the Bulgarian economy were the finalists.

The award ceremony was held within the Nineteenth National Innovation Forum "Innovations and Sustainable Growth" in Sofia on Tuesday.

The competition is organized by the Applied Research and Communications Foundation and Enterprise Europe Network - Bulgaria. It is supported by European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. The competition is held with the assistance of Sofia Tech Park, the Joint Innovation Centre of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies (BAIT), the Bulgarian Entrepreneurs and Startup Community (BESCO), the Professional Association of Robotics, Automation and Innovations (PARAi), Health and Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria, Artificial Intelligence Cluster Bulgaria, the Association for Innovation, Business Excellence, Services, and Technology (AIBEST), and the Bulgarian Association for People Management. 

Following are the winners in the eight categories of Innovative Enterprise 2023:

Innovation for Better Quality of Life: Algaia (a biomarine ingredients company producing and marketing seaweed extracts for food, cosmetics, dietary supplements and agriculture under the Vodoraslo brand)

Social Innovation: Outro Bulgaria (a company providing caregivers and personal assistants for older persons and persons with disabilities)

Innovation in Creative Industries: Zekeng (a software and hardware engineering company)

Digital Transformation: Gita Automat

Innovative Management: Loulis Mel Bulgaria (a flour milling company)

Innovative New Enterprise: Trasina Winery

Green Innovation: Balevski & Kirov (a producer of organic rosehip products) and New Energy Tech (a company specializing in incorporation of new energy systems)

Market Leadership: BizPortal (a global data mining and analytics solution provider), Barin Sports (creator of an integrated real-time decision-making tool for professional athletes), LogiSoft (a company in the field of industrial and intralogistic automation), and Melexis Bulgaria (a global engineering company offering solutions in microelectronics for the automotive industry, the consumer and medical sectors).

All 21 finalists have the right to use the High Achievements in Innovation brand of the Applied Research and Communications Foundation.