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| Bulgaria’s first regional innovation strategy - found response in the IRE Network Newsletter |
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The South Central Region of Bulgaria was the first Bulgarian region to become a member of the Innovating Regions in Europe Network (IRE Network) having implemented its RIS initiative as a pilot one for the country. The project “Developing regional innovation strategy for the South Central region of Bulgaria” was implemented in the period October 2001 - May 2004 and had the aim of establishing a common platform for co-operation between the public and private sectors, research organisations and universities, and the financial institutions in the South Central Region in terms of innovation. The region went through an innovation audit that studied in-depth the regional innovation system and on the basis of its finings a strategic framework for promoting innovation in the region and the First Regional Innovation Plan were developed. The latter encompassed feasible project ideas directed towards enhancement of innovation and boosting the technology-absorption capacity of the region.
In elaborating the innovation strategy the project team sought the opinion of all stakeholders in the innovation system of the region – district and local authorities, representatives of ministries, NGOs and business support organizations, RTOs, managers of leading companies.
The successful completion of the project found response in the IRE Network Newsletter #56 reading:
Implementing Bulgaria’s first innovation strategy South Central Bulgaria was the first of the country’s regions to develop a Regional Innovation Strategy. The project partners aimed to improve the region’s innovation culture and encourage local firms to increase their innovative activities significantly. Their pioneering efforts are now being drawn on by other Bulgarian regions as they begin to draft their own innovation strategies.
South Central Bulgaria developed its Regional Innovation Strategy between 2001 and 2004 through a RIS-NAC project, drawing on support from business groups, the national government, NGOs and the indigenous research community. The European partner regions Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and Thessaly, Greece, contributed their experiences.
The project’s key aim was to develop a common platform on which the public and private sectors, financial institutions, and research and educational bodies could work together to boost the competitiveness of regional SMEs through the enhancement of the regional innovation system.
The complete IRE Newsletter could be downloaded here.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Zoya Damianova
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