Conference and round table National Ecosystem for Support of Innovations and Competitiveness was held on 22 February 2012 in Sofia, Grand Hotel Sofia. The event was financed and it is within the framework of a project I3E SEE Promoting Innovation in the Industrial Informatics and Embedded Systems Sectors through Networking.
The conference was organized by a foundation ICT Cluster with a cooperation of all organizations in ICT area: ASTEL, BAIT, BASSCOM, BWA and Foundation for New Bulgarian University. Participants in the conference and the round table were representatives of the state administration, academia and the business.
The aim of the event was to open a public debate and to put accent on the problem that there is a lack of public ecosystem supporting and encouraging the innovations in Bulgaria. There are no funds for venture capitals supporting talents and people with innovative approach yet.
The participants in the forum point out that a big part of the companies in ICT sector are export-oriented, which means that even in crises time they achieve a high growth of their business. However, companies from well developed countries, where the society recognize the innovation as something very important for its progress, penetrates faster on the global market. Such countries provide public and private funds to create conditions for establishing of innovations and supporting their market realization.
The participants discern clearly the fact that even if Bulgarian companies have a good market realization on their own our economy faces one big problem: our country is not recognized as a place for high technology business. This results in market predominance of companies with well known brands. The fact that Bulgaria is still not recognized as a high technology destination and a place with traditions in innovations and development of technologies leads to following circumstance: Bulgarian companies sell their products at a lower price than if they had been branded correctly.
The conclusion of the discussion was that the three main factors that could have influence upon the situation – administration, business and science - should define accurately the current problems. The point of view of all participants in the triple helix must be heard and after this an adequate legislative and administrative measures must be offered to the state administration. This will make our country to be more effective and competitive in the global economy.
