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Information and analyses relevant to establishing business activities in Sofia, including strategic
strengths, business climate, investment incentives, business costs and location factors such as
distribution, work environment and human resources
A comprehensive opportunity and benchmarking service. Quality-cost matrix compares Sofia with
other locations in the region.
Facilitating contacts and networks with potential partners, public authorities, research and
educational institutions.
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Aftercare programme to grow your business once you are here.
As the regional ICT center, Sofia is home to over 50 000 IT professionals.
The city has attracted global IT R&D leaders like SAP Labs, HP, VMware, IBM, CISCO that already operate large R&D centers in Sofia employing, educating and developing thousands of highly qualified professionals.
The city has been gaining popularity as a start-up destination with a developing start-up ecosystem.
Sofia has already proven itself as an attractive global BPO center, with professionals working in more than 30 different languages.
The city’s new focus, however, is to shift to smart-sourcing, building on its highly skilled and competitively priced talent pool - over 50% of the city’ population holds a university degree - that can offer attention on innovation and excellence.
Sofia has great manufacturing traditions and the main focus of the capital is the establishment of high-value added productions and the introduction of cyber-physical systems, automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
The competitive real estate, energy and labor costs, as well as business-friendly tax frame and large labor pool, make greenfield development an attractive option.
Many Bulgarian producers are looking for partnerships with foreign companies and offering the advantages of market knowledge and established logistics networks.
The life sciences industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Bulgarian economy.
Bulgarian pharmaceuticals have strong traditions in the production of generics and, more recently, the clinical trials sector has grown into a 400 million leva per year industry.
Favourable cost base, competent medical personnel and developed mechanisms for technology transfer and know-how sharing are the factors contributing to the further growth in the sector.
The high level of digital skills and the developing start-up ecosystem make Sofia an interesting place for medical tech start-ups and bio/pharmaceutical R&D.
The focus on life sciences innovation will only increase in the coming years due to the demographic and economic circumstances in Europe.
Sofia is one of the greenest capitals in Europe - the ratio of trees to people is one of the highest on the continent.
The city has an extensive public transit system and is surprisingly compact for its population of 1.3 million people.
After a period of intensive infrastructure development that included the construction of 61 km of metro line by early 2020 to serve 500 000 passengers daily, the focus has now shifted to implementing comprehensive urban environment solutions. These should solve specific urban issues like air pollution, energy efficiency and water & waste management.
Sofia is 2nd in Europe in growth of international visitors for 2017 – 15.2%. Sofia is also among the TOP 5 cities in Europe with the highest overall growth of international visitors for 2009 – 2017, with an average increase of 9% per year. The strong upward trend continues with several new airlines announcing direct flights to destinations in Europe and beyond.
Many new cultural attractions, vibrant street life in summer and rich festival and event calendar year long make Sofia an increasingly recognizable tourist destination.
Major international hotel chains are due to enter the Sofia market in 2019 doubling the number of 5-star rooms in the city.
NDK - the biggest convention center in the city, has undergone a major renovation in preparation for the Bulgaria’s EU Presidency in 2018.
Sofia is the Bulgarian national center of cultural and creative industries: 3/4 of the Bulgarian CCI workforce is located here.
About 5% of all people employed in Sofia are working in the creative sector that includes, among others, advertising, architecture, crafts, design, film, interactive leisure software i.e. video games.
With high-level of digital penetration, Sofia is a great place for R&D in the area of smart city solutions. Those are solutions that improve the quality of life of the citizens by enabling the city to use technology, information and big data to improve planning, infrastructure and services in all areas.
The areas of development are e-governance and citizen services, urban mobility, energy, waste & water management.
With 406 660 m² of shopping centers, Sofia is a mature retail market that is expected to grow steadily over the next several years.
Two trends to keep in mind are the increasing share of non-grocery retailing and the growth of e-commerce. Close to 90% of the purchases were made from Bulgaria-based online sellers and over 70% of the orders were in the Fashion segment. Тhe e-commerce market is projected to grow to 3.4 million users by 2021.
The absence of major e-commerce players like Amazon combined with high digital penetration and well-formed e-commerce habits makes Sofia a good test market for new business models, while the low use of e-banking services and Cash On Delivery payments may pose a threat to the sector’s growth.
The sector includes the production of aircraft, drones, rockets, satellites and related software and appliances. The aerospace industry is a strong engine of technological development since it integrates high technology from multiple sectors such as mechanical engineering, computer science, electronics and materials.
The University of Sofia and the Technical University have strong traditions in training engineers for the industry, with private educational initiatives already in place. After Sofia became European leader in aircraft maintenance, the city has now become a destination for its production. According to a large EC study from 2013, Bulgarians are the biggest supporters of the idea of the EU developing as a space power.
Striving to become the regional ICT center, Sofia is home to over 50 000 IT professionals and boasts one of the highest average internet connection speeds in Europe.
The city has attracted global IT R&D leaders like SAP Labs, HP, VMware, IBM, CISCO that already operate large R&D centers in Sofia employing, educating and developing thousands of highly qualified professionals.
The city has been gaining popularity as a start-up destination with a developing start-up ecosystem.
Sofia has already proven itself as an attractive global BPO center, with professionals working in more than 30 different languages.
The city’s new focus, however, is to shift to smart-sourcing, building on its highly skilled and competitively priced talent pool - over 50% of the city’ population holds a university degree - that can offer attention on innovation and excellence.
Sofia has great manufacturing traditions and the main focus of the capital is the establishment of high-value added productions and the introduction of cyber-physical systems, automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
The competitive real estate, energy and labor costs, as well as business-friendly tax frame and large labor pool, make greenfield development an attractive option.
Many Bulgarian producers are looking for partnerships with foreign companies and offering the advantages of market knowledge and established logistics networks.
The life sciences industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Bulgarian economy.
Bulgarian pharmaceuticals have strong traditions in the production of generics and, more recently, the clinical trials sector has grown into a 400 million leva per year industry.
Favourable cost base, competent medical personnel and developed mechanisms for technology transfer and know-how sharing are the factors contributing to the further growth in the sector.
The high level of digital skills and the developing start-up eco system make Sofia an interesting place for medical tech start-ups and bio/pharmaceutical R&D.
The focus on life sciences innovation will only increase in the coming years due to the demographic and economic circumstances in Europe.
Sofia is one of the greenest capitals in Europe- the ratio of trees to people is one of the highest on the continent.
The city has an extensive public transit system and is surprisingly compact for its population of 1.3 million people.
After a period of intensive infrastructure development that included the construction of 61 km of metro line to serve 500 000 passengers daily, the focus has now shifted to implementing comprehensive urban environment solutions to answer specific urban issues like air pollution, energy efficiency and water & waste management.
The number of visitors to Sofia grew by 15% in 2017, continuing a strong upward trend with several new airlines announcing direct flights to destinations in Europe and beyond.
The many new cultural attractions, vibrant street life in the summer and rich festival and event calendar year long make Sofia an increasingly recognizable tourist destination.
Major international hotel chains are due to enter the Sofia market in 2019 doubling the number of 5-star rooms in the city.
NDK, the biggest convention center in the city, underwent a major renovation for Bulgaria’s EU Presidency in 2018.
Sofia is the Bulgarian national center of cultural and creative industries: 75% of the Bulgarian CCI workforce is located here.
About 7% of all people employed in Sofia are working in the creative sector that includes, among others, advertising, architecture, crafts, design, film, interactive leisure software i.e. video games.
With high-level of digital penetration, Sofia is a great place for R&D in the area of smart city solutions. Those are solutions that improve the quality of life of the citizens by enabling the city to use technology, information and big data to improve planning, infrastructure and services in all areas.
The areas of development are e-governance and citizen services, urban mobility, energy, waste & water management.
With 406 660 m² of shopping centers, Sofia is a mature retail market that is expected to grow steadily over the next several years.
Two trends to keep in mind are the increasing share of non-grocery retailing and the growth of e-commerce.
In 2015, 25% of the population of Southwestern Bulgaria (a region that includes Sofia) made an online purchase. This amounts to nearly half a million people.
Close to 90% of the purchases were made from Bulgaria-based online sellers and over 70% of the orders were in the Fashion segment.
With 70% of Bulgarians expected to have internet access by 2019, the e-commerce market is projected to grow to 3.4 million users by 2021.
The absence of major e-commerce players like Amazon from the market combined with high digital penetration and well-formed e-commerce habits, together with the expectation of same or next day delivery, makes Sofia a good test market for new business models, while the low use of e-banking services and Cash On Delivery payments (60-70% of transactions in 2015) may pose a threat to the sector’s growth.
The sector includes the production of aircraft, drones, rockets, satellites and related software and appliances. The aerospace industry is a strong engine of technological development since it integrates high technology from multiple sectors such as mechanical engineering, computer science, electronics and materials.
The University of Sofia and the Technical University have strong traditions in training engineers for the industry, with private educational initiatives already in place. After Sofia became European leader in aircraft maintenance, the city has now become a destination for its production. According to a large EC study from 2013, Bulgarians are the biggest supporters of the idea of the EU developing as a space power.
The upcoming IMI2 information day aims to bring together representatives and key figures from research and business area in Bulgaria and SEE in order to boost
Event Details
The upcoming IMI2 information day aims to bring together representatives and key figures from research and business area in Bulgaria and SEE in order to boost application and participation of CE and SEE countries in different IMI calls and projects. The first of two planned events will be held on 17th of January 2020 in Sofia.
Along with the general information about IMI, a representative from the initiative will join the workshop and will present detailed information about the upcoming funding opportunities in 2020, as the focus will be on IMI2 – Call 20.
Sofia Game Jam is a 48-hour hackathon where everyone is free to experiment with game mechanics, explore their imagination and try out new ideas. Everyone is welcome - from those who are
Event Details
Sofia Game Jam is a 48-hour hackathon where everyone is free to experiment with game mechanics, explore their imagination and try out new ideas. Everyone is welcome – from those who are really into game development to those who are just gamers or want to try making games.
SGJ Week is a completely non-profit event organized by volunteers with the support of the Bulgarian game dev community. The event os a proud member of the Global Game Jam family – one of the fastest growing initiatives in the world. In 2019, 47,200 participants from 860 sites in 113 countries around the globe created 9,010 games for 48 hours.
Sofia Game Jam Week 2020 is co-organizer by ARC Academy and supported by Institut français de Bulgarie, Instytut Polski w Sofii, Sofia Tech Park, Incineration Productions JSC, V-Ray Chaos Group, Ubisoft Sofia, Creative Assembly – Sofia, SEGA, Black Sea Games, 11 bit studios, SUPERHOT, ChibiPhoenix, TELUS International Bulgaria, Global Game Jam.
Register to be a participant in the official SGJ page here.
Time
January 31 (Friday) 0:00 - February 2 (Sunday) 0:00
