SONYA ENILOVA – project manager

1. SERBUL Project“REGIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR SOUTHEAST REGION OF BULGARIA”Palma de Mallorca31st January 2006 SONYA ENILOVA – project manager

2. SERBUL Project“REGIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR SOUTHEAST REGION OF BULGARIA” • Financed by: DG XIII of the European Union by the Sixth FrameworkFP-2004-INNOV-4 Research and Innovation • Duration: from 1st June 2005 till 31st January 2008 • Overall objective: To increase the competitiveness of the region in terms of innovative development by creating innovating culture as a locomotive for efficient policy making within the South-East planning region of Bulgaria

3. SERBUL Project“REGIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR SOUTHEAST REGION OF BULGARIA” The following goals have been identified: • To create and develop innovative capacity • To improve the capability of the regional business to implement innovations and benefit from them • To create an active regional network that supports the establishment and development of working partnerships for innovation • To support the successful integration of the South-East planning region of Bulgaria in the European Research Area

4. To create and develop innovative capacity The first goal will aim at: • Strengthening the existing R&D entities • Stimulating the development of new R&D units • Promoting innovation-oriented thinking within the institutions of High Education and the Universities

5. To improve the capability of the regional business to implement innovations and benefit from them The second goal will aim at: • Stimulating the establishment of innovation-oriented clusters; • Supporting the development of innovative SMEs; • Supporting the establishment of spin-off entities

6. To create an active regional network that supports the establishment and development of working partnerships for innovation The third goal will aim at: • Raising public awareness for the importance of innovative thinking and action both on policy making and implementation level • Building consensus among the main actors from the South-East planning region of Bulgaria for the main strategic innovation areas of development; • Creating a culture for shared responsibility among all the key players for the implementation of the Regional Innovation Strategy of South-East planning region of Bulgaria.

7. To support the successful integration of the South-East planning region of Bulgaria in the European Research Area The fourth goal will aim at: • Creating long-lasting and fruitful relationship on political level between the South-East planning region of Bulgaria and the EU partnering regions • Stimulating linkages between R&D and business entities from South-East planning region of Bulgaria and the EU partnering regions; • Supporting the process of integration of the South East region of Bulgaria within the European Innovation Area.

8. Participantsin the project • Agency for Regional Development and Innovation – Bourgas, Bulgaria • Business Innovation Centre of Epirus – Epirus, Greece • Balearic Islands Government. Regional Ministry of Economy, Treasury and Innovation, Spain

9. Partners • Bourgas District Administration • Yambol District Administration • Sliven District Administration With the support of Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works in Bulgaria.

10. Expected results (1) It will assist economic-intelligence-deprived areas to develop new competencies and acquire new mechanisms of the innovation process in such a way that existing firms manage to innovate and new firms evolve resulting employment and growth effects throughout the region.

11. Expected results (2) It will offer Bulgaria’s economic areas the chance to benefit from others’ experience in different innovation matters, economic sectors, etc. that they relatively lack behind. In this way regions will not have to “re-invent” the wheel.

12. Expected results (3) It will create an “innovation community”, where all members can benefit from the participation of the other members, which add value to the community (“network externalities” effects).

13. Expected results (4) It will collect experience, information and knowledge and interpret them in a meaningful way. In this way it will assist to the accuracy of policymaking process across Europe (bottom-up)

14. Expected results (5) It will help the assessment of the region’s real needs and address them in an appropriate way It will support the enlargement effort by contributing in the familiarisation of the pre-accession country of Bulgaria with EU policies, initiatives and procedures as well as unable the South East Region become part of the ERA

15. Project management • Steering Committee • SERBUL Management Unit • Subcontractors Foreign External Experts Local External Experts

16. WP 1 - Establishing the management framework of the project – month 1st – 7th WP 2 - Awareness raising of the key actors about innovation– month 1st – 10th WP 3 - Building regional consensus– month 2nd – 11th WP 4 - Definition of the project methodology and working plan– month 3rd – 11th Activities (1)

17. Activities (2) • WP 5 - Desk Research – month 9th – 14th • WP 6 - SWOT analysis and analyses of regional demand and supply– month 12th – 20th • WP 7 - Definition of a Strategic Framework – month – month 17th – 22nd • WP 8 - Elaboration of an Action Plan and launching testing projects– month 22nd – 27th

18. Activities (3) • WP 9 - Setting up a monitoring and evaluation system to follow the strategy and the actions– month 24th – 29th • WP 10 - Intra-regional networking– month 10th – 29th • WP 11 - Trans-regional clustering – month 4th – 29th • WP 12 - Project management activities– month 1st – 32nd

19. Approach Work with partners on four levels • International • National • Regional • Local

20. TOGETHER WE SHALL SUCCEED!

21. AGENCY FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION BULGARIA 8000 BOURGAS 5 B, TZAR PETER, STR., FL. 13, ROOM 4TEL./FAX: 00 359 56 841966, e-mail:ardi@mail.bg www.ardi-serp.org

22. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! SONYA ENILOVA PROJECT MANAGER E-mail: sonya_enilova@abv.bg