The largest edition of the forum will take place on September 18 at Inter Expo Center and will gather in one place the most interesting ideas, people and organizations from the business and the creative industry in Bulgaria and the world. Invest Sofia is an organizational partner of the event and will participate with its own stand in the exhibition. The CEO of the Agency, Dr. Maria Hristova PhD., and Viktor Gusev, head of the “Investment Analysis” department, will take part In the new edition of “Kosher”.
The forum will feature more than 50 inspiring speakers, more than 150 companies will offer career opportunities, and more than 3,000 visitors are expected. The event space of Kosher 2024 will be double the size compared to previous editions and with more attractive program in 14 interactive zones.
The 93rd edition of the International Fair of Izmir is taking place from August 30 to September 3rd in the Turkish city of Izmir. The event combines a commercial and cultural mission and is the first in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Dr. Ludmil Ivanov PhD, chief expert in the “Investment Analysis” department at Invest Sofia, will take part in the event. Among the exhibitors at the international fair in Izmir are companies in the fields of agriculture, pharmaceuticals, automotive industry, electronics, environmental technologies, health care, education, security systems and many others.
For another year in a row Invest Sofia will be part of the largest professional event of the year – @Kosher. On September 18, our team will be at the Inter Expo Center, where the most interesting ideas, people and organizations from the business and creative environment in Bulgaria and the world will meet! You can reserve your ticket now or register for free.
Full information here.
Intertaxer Ltd. is the new company that joins our #SofiaIS program. It becomes part of the process of support for business and the development of the business environment in Sofia Municipality and in the country, said during the signing of the #Memorandum of Cooperation Dr.Maria Hristova PhD, CEO of Invest Sofia.
The company offers global services that digitize core management processes and data analysis. Intertaxer’s focus is human resource management, general business management and project/task management.
The main advantage of working with the company is that it can organize, digitize and automate manual or poorly organized processes. The team offers reduced handling and processing time,full activity traceability, clear tasks, comprehensive activity reporting, low cost and maximization of existing licenses, as well as fast implementation and high security. By partnering with Invest Sofia, Intertaxer Ltd. can support companies in Sofia by improving their digital transformation efforts, leading to a more efficient business environment, said Daniel Radoykov, the company’s managing director.
The two sides agreed to jointly participate in accelerator programs, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and other similar activities, as well as to work on joint projects at national and international level.
“Intertaxer has been on the market since 2017.
The Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria unites the efforts of experts, scientists, practitioners, research and academic institutions, start-ups, established global companies, incubators, technology transfer companies, journalists, etc. The main activities of the Cluster are in the sphere of cooperation and innovation, support of scientists, inventors and start-ups, marketing and public relations. The memorandum of cooperation that Invest Sofia signed with them aims at unifying our efforts to promote and facilitate investors in the capital. The document was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Dr. Maria Hristova PhD, and the Chairman of the Management Board of the Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria, Kristina Eskenazi. Our partnership will also contribute to the promotion of Sofia as a world center for innovation, encouraging the growth of the high-tech sector and the synergy between academia, entrepreneurs, investors, institutions and start-ups.
Sofia ranks first for female startup founders in DEEP Ecosystems’ 2024 Startup City Signals Report. The data reviews the second quarter of the current year and covers investments and new opened jobs.
According to the information provided, the women who founded start-up companies in Sofia are 25.40 percent. The study lists the Top 20 sectors with the largest investments, where the first three positions are taken by biotechnology, software and information technology.
For more detailed information please see here
Invest Sofia took part in the official presentation of the pan-European macro project PRECISEU, in which we participate as partners together with the Health & Life Sciences Cluster – Bulgaria. The Regional Prime Minister of Catalonia, Pere Aragones, presented the project and identified it as the best example of how investing in science plays a major role in improving people’s lives. The ceremony took place in Barcelona, where the first meeting of all partners in the PRECISEU consortium is undergoing. It was attended by the CEO of Invest Sofia, Dr. Maria Hristova PhD and Kristina Eskenazi – President of the Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria, who are the official representatives of our city in the initiative.
The PRECISEU project aims to accelerate the deployment of personalized medicine in Europe, facilitate the digital and sustainable transformation of health systems and support the development of highly innovative products based on advanced therapies and health data. The budget of the project for the next 5 years is almost €23 million, half of which is provided by the European Union and the other half by the budgets of the participating European regions.
The project partners are now 12 regions of 10 Member States – Spain, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden, the Netherlands and Greece and one country associated with Horizon Europe – Ukraine. The organizations and companies in the pan-European consortium are:
BioRN Life Science Cluster Rhine-Neckar
Biocat, BioRegion of Catalonia
Sistema de Salut de Catalunya
Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Plataforma de Organizaciones de Pacientes
ACCIÓ
AstraZeneca Farmacéutica Spain
North-East Regional Development Agency / Agentia pentru Dezvoltare Regionala Nord-Est
Asociatia Digital Innovation Zone Zona De Inova
Clusterul Regional Inovativ De Imagistica Molecu
Biotehnologichen I Zdraven Klaster
Sofia Investment Agency
Clust-ER Health – Emilia-Romagna
ART-ER S. cons. p. a.
Vlaamse Gewest, Medvia
Inovacijų agentūra
BRG, BUSINESS REGION GÖTEBORG AB
Sahlgrenska Science Park
EATRIS
Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH)
Rivne Interregional Medical Cluster
ProMIS – Programma Mattone Internazionale Salute Internazionale Salute
APSS Trento
NÖ Landesgesundheitsagentur
Carinthia University of Applied Sciences / Fachhochschule Kärnten
BioValley France
HSLU Hochschule Luzern
UKC Maribor / University Medical Centre Maribor
Bayern Innovativ GmbH
Invest Sofia and the Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria have been approved to participate as partners in the project with the working title “PRECISEU – PERSONALIZED MEDICINE EMPOWERMENT CONNECTING INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS ACROSS EUROPE” under the Horizon Programme.
This is crucial for the development of innovation ecosystems for the exchange of best practices in healthcare across Europe.
The main objective of the project is to connect innovation ecosystems across Europe to effectively advance towards personalized healthcare, transferring practices and solutions from region to region. It focuses on the deployment of technological innovations in healthcare built on advanced therapies, medicines and health data from all European countries. Increased collaboration and shared resources are expected to enhance the effectiveness of regional innovation ecosystems. Through PRECISEU, fragmentation and inequalities in the EU can be reduced by supporting the deployment of technological innovations in different ecosystems. The project is aligned with the New European Agenda for Innovation and Smart Specialisation strategies.
The PRECISEU (personalized medicine Empowerment Connecting Innovation ecoSystems across EUrope) consortium itself has prior approval from Europe and includes participants from 8 European regions. These are Sofia-Bulgaria, Flanders-Belgium, Catalonia-Spain, Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Lithuania, North East Region-Romania, Emilia-Romagna-Italy and Gothenburg-Sweden. The consortium is supported by clusters, universities, research centres, NGOs and networks of regional and European innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs in the field of health innovation in the EU .
BioRN Life Science Cluster Rhine-Neckar
Biocat, BioRegion of Catalonia
Sistema de Salut de Catalunya
Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Plataforma de Organizaciones de Pacientes
ACCIÓ
AstraZeneca Farmacéutica Spain
North-East Regional Development Agency / Agentia pentru Dezvoltare Regionala Nord-Est
Asociatia Digital Innovation Zone Zona De Inova
Clusterul Regional Inovativ De Imagistica Molecu
Biotehnologichen I Zdraven Klaster
Sofia Investment Agency
Clust-ER Health – Emilia-Romagna
ART-ER S. cons. p. a.
Vlaamse Gewest, Medvia
Inovacijų agentūra
BRG, BUSINESS REGION GÖTEBORG AB
Sahlgrenska Science Park
EATRIS
Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH)
Rivne Interregional Medical Cluster
ProMIS – Programma Mattone Internazionale Salute Internazionale Salute
APSS Trento
NÖ Landesgesundheitsagentur
Carinthia University of Applied Sciences / Fachhochschule Kärnten
BioValley France
HSLU Hochschule Luzern
UKC Maribor / University Medical Centre Maribor
Bayern Innovativ GmbH
The CEO of Invest Sofia Dr. Maria Hristova PhD., and Kremena Stoyanova, Manager of ElcaBG signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.
The goal is to promote, support and facilitate economic cooperation between business partners of Invest Sofia and ElcaBG, in line with the goals and objectives of Sofia IS.
„I welcome the continuation of our partnership because the expertise you have will allow us to work together for the development of the business and the economy of Sofia Municipality“, said Dr. Hristova.
For energy consumers on the free market elca.bg is a partner in finding the best conditions for electricity supply. Their team assists not only in negotiating with suppliers, but also in developing strategic energy solutions whose implementation leads businesses to improve sustainability, increase productivity and minimize risks. Advice is also provided to renewable energy generators, giving clients an orientation to regulations, changes and technological innovations in the energy and utilities sector. Driven by the same goal, a digital platform has been created to enable small and medium-sized companies to handle their switch from one supplier to another free of charge and independently, by objectively comparing different offers and directly requesting a contract with the most suitable conditions for them.
„ELCA.BG Ltd. makes the free energy market in Bulgaria understandable, and its opportunities accessible to all businesses“, said Kremena Stoyanova after the signing of the Memorandum.
Invest Sofia at the largest forum in Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to the European Green Deal
“Green Transition 4.0 – New Prospects for Central and Eastern Europe” is the event that became a platform for open discussions on the economic, technological and social aspects of the Green Deal. The Chief Expert in the Investment Analysis Department, Dr. Lyudmil Ivanov PhD, took part in the forum, which has established itself as one of the key events promoting dialogue and supporting the creation of plans and initiatives for change towards a more sustainable and environmentally conscious development model. The fourth edition of the event brought together more than 1,000 business leaders, leading politicians, commissioners, experts, government representatives and NGOs from Central and Eastern Europe. In the focus of the event were topics like “Green Finance”, “Energy Transition and Zero Net Consumption Industries”, “Organic Agriculture and Food Security” and “Digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security”.
11 Bulgarian startups participated in IBM Sofia Accelerator and received the unique opportunity to collaborate with the company’s technology experts, mentoring from IBM business partners, corporate clients and entrepreneurs from Bulgaria and the USA.
The program, which lasted 12 weeks, ended with a demo day where they presented their solutions to investors and representatives of regional funds. The event was attended by the CEO of Invest Sofia, Dr. Maria Hristova PhD, and a special guest was Solomon Passy. “In 2004, at the Bulgarian Embassy in Paris, I met Mr. Passy, who had invited us – the Bulgarian students in Paris, to a meeting. Now in 2024, we are together again at the meeting of Campux X, IBM and Accelerator Sofia, where good partnerships are deepened and further developed”, said Dr. Hristova. IBM plans to organize two 3-month programs per year, one of which covers the period from April to June and the other from October to December.