At the end of December 2008 the EOS project had finished. It was financed by the FP6 program of the European Commission.

Intermediary Organizations (IOs) of the program Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs from EU participated at the networking meeting in Brussels. The event aimed to generalize the results achieved during the pilot phase and to mark the start of the second phase of the program. Intermediary organizations with experience in implementation of the different phases in the project and new organizations participated in the event.

Representatives of European Commission and EUROCHAMBRES, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Support Office made presentations and answering of questions for successful realization of the pilot phase and the launch of the second phase.

The first day of the conference finished with “speed dating” between participants with the aim to establish first contact and exchange of information. During the second day 4 workshops were organized and each one were devoted to variety stages of the program realization.

Bulgarian ICT Cluster took part as Intermediary organization in the second phase of the program too, in the consortium Exe More.

On January 27th - 28th, the second conference on clusters took place in Budapest under the slogan Mobilizing Clusters for Competitiveness. The objective of the conference was to improve the Central European cluster development practices in the light of the cluster policy recommendations of the EU and good European and Asian cluster practices.

In addition to the representatives of the European Commission, speakers from the following countries shared their experience: UK, Germany, Czech Republic, China, Greece, Japan, Russian Federation among others. The Chairman of the Bulgarian ICT Cluster, Mr. Peter Statev made a presentation in the event.

Sofia, was the place of the last thematic workshop planned within the B3 Regions project Consortium. The meeting was focused on issues concerning Public Private Partnerships  and funding models.

Mr. Peter Statev, Chairman of the Bulgarian ICT Cluster made a presentation "Bulgarian Broadband Initiative and PPP models"

An event as a part of the project Medchip/ Lazio, organized by Assodel and ANIE, together with Regione Lazio, Sviluppo Lazio and ICE, took part on 2-4th December 2009 in Roma, Italy.  The aim of the event was to promote partnerships between Italian companies and foreign associations, organizations and institutions.

On 2nd December meetings with representatives of the delegates ASSODEL held, during which each delegate presented a national market. On 3rd December there was an exhibition (mini Fair) with a presentation of products and solutions of companies from Lazio region.

The event was attended by delegates from Bulgaria, Morocco, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey, and Greece.  Mr. Peter Statev, Chairman of Bulgarian ICT Cluster also took part in this forum.

On 29th October 2009, Tbilisi, Georgia - „Georgian IT Innovation Conference 2009” and „Georgian IT Innovation Award 2009” took place.

The event was organized by the ICT Business Council of Georgia and the State Commission of E-Governance Development of Georgia, with the support of USAID – Georgia – RCI Project

The purpose of this conference is to describe the significance of information technology in terms of creating an engine of growth for socio-economic development of Region; network with stakeholders and build awareness regarding IT importance among high-level governmental officials, private sector representatives and the society at large.

Mr. Peter Statev – Chairman of Bulgarian ICT Cluster, participated at the conference and presented the Public-Private Initiative for Telecom Market Development - Bulgarian Broadband Initiative.

The event included specialized ICT Expo exhibition and conference part. ICT Expo is part of the first of its kind DAYS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES 2009. The seminar program started the same day. The forum was organized by the support and active collaboration of ICT Media, BASSCOM, ASTEL, SEC, ICT Cluster, BAIT and Bulgarreklama Agency with aim to provide a platform for dialogue and meeting between representatives of the new state administration and the ICT business.

Among the participants in the first panel, "State policies and strategies in the ICT sector” were Mr. Parvan Rusinov, Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, and Mr Preslav Borisov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food and representatives of the Information Services Plc, the Ministry of Health and the NHIF, BAIT, BASSCOM, ICT Media, Microsoft Bulgaria and others.

Ms. Anna Naydenova, project manager of the ICT Cluster participated in the second panel "Public-private partnership - a tool for cooperation between the ICT business and public administration”. In this panel participated leaders of programs, projects, regional managers, agencies and companies in the ICT - field.

Workshop on “Clusters, Cluster Associations and Incubators – Environment for Development of SMEs” took place on 25 September 2009 at Hotel Holiday Inn, Sofia.

The prestigious event was organized by Bulgarian ICT Cluster with the financial support of European Commission and TAIEX.

The workshop is the first event in the country devoted to development of clusters, cluster associations and incubators. It gathered representatives of many existing and potential clusters and gave them opportunity to receive very useful information and best experiences from outstanding European cluster practitioners and managers.

The aim of the workshop was to create public awareness  for the  processes of cluster formation and development  in Bulgaria, to stress the need of government support and focused state policy for clusters and incubators. The event was also opportunity to stimulate good dialogue between the government and business.

The event started with opening speech of  Mr. Peter Statev – Chairman of The Bulgarian ICT Cluster and opening address made by The Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism – Mr. Evgeny Angelov. It continued with the presentation of Mrs. Paulette Pommier, representative of UNIDO (specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability)

Speakers of the event were: Mr. Christoph Beer-manager of ICT Cluster Bern, Switzerland and Cluster Manager of 2008, Mr. Sascha Stöppelkamp - manager of ICT Cluster in Bavaria, Prof. Dimitrios Serpanos from ISI/R.C. Athena, Mr. Zoltan Bendo - representative of the Pole Programme, Mrs. Leena Zittling – president of Prodemic Group, Finland and Mr. Boris Krstanovic - C.E.O of the Association of Croatian ICT Clusters – cro.ict.

Bulgarian speakers of the event were Mr. Peter Statev – Chairman of Bulgarian ICT Cluster, Mrs. Genoveva Hristova – Chairwoman of the Association of Business cCusters in Bulgaria, Mr. Angel Milev – Mechatronics and Automation Cluster, Mr. Todor Stanev -  Chairman of the managing board of the “High Tech Business Incubator” – Burgas. Mr. Stanimir Barzashki  - Executive Director of the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprise Agency and Mr. Angel Kovachev – expert from the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism were the represenatives of state institutions responsible for the development of cluster policy in the country. They presented to the audience the futhure opportunities for cluster organizations in Bulgaria.

One of the most interesting presentation evoked many discussions was made by Mr. Jack Lang, professor from the University of Cambridge.

As a tradition the event ended with round table for discussions, questions and opinions.

The First Conference and the official presentation of the Association of Business Clusters in Bulgaria took place on 6th August 2009 at 12:00h at the press club of BTA. The event attracted a huge media interest.

One of the main activities of the ABC is popularization of such type of business organizations model as opportunity for development of the Bulgarian economy in time of global crises.

ABC was found on 24th July in Varna. Members of the association are 20 Clusters, but 18 are possible future members.

The Association unites over 150 companies, with 12 000 – 15 000 employees, 5 science – research institutes and 12 non – government organizations.

On 30th June 2009 the chairmen of Bulgarian ICT Business and Political Party GERB signed a memorandum for collaboration and sustainable development of the ICT Sector. The agreement was signed by:

Peter Statev (ICT Cluster), Teodor Zahov (BAIT, Association of Electronic Communications) Georgi Brashnarov ( Bulgarian Association of Software Companies), Dimitar Ganev ( Bulgarian Web Association) and the administrative secretary of Political party GERB Tsvetomir Paynov.

The aim of the memorandum is to unite the efforts of the Bulgarian politicians and the Business for acceleration of  the development of the information and communication technologies in Bulgaria.  By the signing of the memorandum GERB promised that after their possible coming into power they will create expert working groups together with the ICT business to make the principles of the memorandum main priorities of the government.

From 1 to 3 June 2009 the kick of meeting of I3E project had been held in Patras, Greece. The project is co-financed by the South East Transnational Program of EU and Ministry of Regional development and Public Work of Bulgaria.

Representatives of all 12 partners from 8 countries attended the meeting. The main objective of the event was official start of the project activities, detailed presentation of the partners, planning of future activities and definition of project objectives of the first period. The host institution of the meeting was ISI Institute, which is the leading partner of the project.

On May 15  2009 the chairmen of the Bulgarian ICT Business organizations (ICT Cluster, BAIT, BASSCOM, Bulgarian Web Association),  and Political party NMSS  signed memorandum for collaboration and  sustainable development of the ICT Sector in Bulgaria.

The agreement was signed by:

Peter Statev (Bulgarian ICT Cluster), Teodor Zahov (BAIT, Association of Electronic Communications) Georgi Brashnarov ( Bulgarian Association of Software Companies), Dimitar Ganev ( Bulgarian Web Association) and deputy chairman of NMSS – Mr. Milen  Velchev

The document was signed in the attendance of the chairman of Parliamentary Committee of Transport and Communications – professor Jordan Mirchev (NMSS).

The aim of the memorandum is to unite the efforts of the Bulgarian politicians and the Business for acceleration of the development of the information and communication technologies in Bulgaria.

By the signing of the memorandum, the NMSS agrees to include in its election program parts of the document, and to participate in expert working groups and to support its implementation by the government.