At the invitation of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), the Chief Executive Officer of Sofia Investment Agency, Vladimir Danailov, commented on the data from the Agency’s third annual ‘Sofia Tourism and Air Transport Market Report’ 2019.
Listen to the interview (in Bulgarian). For English translation, read below.
On the phone, to talk about the opportunities Sofia offers as a tourist destination, we have Vladimir Danailov, he is the CEO of the Sofia Investment Agency. Hello Mr. Danailov!
Hello!
How is Sofia positioned among other capitals in Southeastern Europe? What are the reasons for the increase in the tourist flow and the overnight stays in the city?
Sofia is becoming an increasingly recognisable tourist destination. If we look at the factors driving this growth, these include the increasingly better connectivity, as flights connect
Sofia with dozens of new destinations every year. In the last four years, we have 50 new destinations that connect the capital to various cities around the world. Sofia is considered one of the safest cities for tourists, we have a very rich cultural calendar, Sofia Municipality
also diversifies its initiatives every year, we have over 30 international events in Sofia that attract foreign tourists and we think that the Bulgarian
Presidency [of the European Union] also attracted a large audience , who then spoke about Sofia. These are some of the main factors that determine the growth of tourism in Sofia in recent years.
Is the second place in terms of tourist growth in Sofia realistic? What percentage is the annual increase?
It’s realistic, yes. According to one of the rankings, that of Mastercard, the growth is 15.2%, which puts us second among European cities. Sofia is opening up to tourists. Every year we increase the tourist attractions in the city. The capital is becoming more connected, economic
development is also among the factors contributing to the more intensive flow. So the place in the ranking is absolutely deserved. Cities like Lisbon and Paris are behind us. Sofia is doing very well.
From which markets are our guests and what is the average stay of a tourist? How much does a tourist spend in the town for the cost of accommodation and stay in the city?
We heard a moment ago from our German colleagues. German tourists are really one of the main audiences for the city. They are number two in
BalREc – the most influential real estate conference platform in Bulgaria and the region – was held in two halls and with 10 thematic panels.
More than 400 professionals participated in the forum on November 7, and over 60 distinguished experts from Bulgaria and Europe participated in panel discussions on the state and investment environment of key market segments: offices, retail, residential, industrial and logistics areas, hotels, proptech.
Among the experts invited to participate in the forum’s program was the Chief Executive Officer of Sofia Investment Agency, Vladimir Danailov.
In the panel “Office Space Market 2019. Perspectives and Growth Potential of the IT/BPO Industry”, he noted: “Since the beginning of the year we have worked with over 70 companies with an interest in investing in Sofia. They are no longer just talking about low costs, but about engineering talent, added value, about the environment we have and is developing rapidly. Companies that we couldn’t even dream of before now have their sites in Sofia and today we are proactively inviting them to invest in the city.”
The forum started with an opening address by Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria in 2012 – 2017. In his address, he noted that Bulgaria is seeing sound and sustainable economic growth, banks are doing well, and the evaluations and forecasts of international organisations are positive. He pointed out that even if the slow growth of the major European economies is reflected in our country, Bulgaria is well enough positioned to overcome such a period without a crisis, but rather a correction in expectations due to over-supply in some segments.
In the panel “Real Estate Invеѕtmеnt Outlооk – Bulgaria and CEE 2019”, the executive director of Forton|Сuѕhmаn & Wakefield, Michaela Lashova, drew attention to the interesting trend of increasing Asian investment in Bulgaria. She also noted the fact that the rental levels in Bulgaria are lower compared to the region and the return on investment – higher. According to the company, 45% of the investments are in offices, and 25% are in retail space.
Posts with highlights of all discussions in the forum can be found on the Facebook page of the organizers The City Media Group, and a photo gallery of the event can be seen here.
Every year participants from around the world gather in Lisbon for the world’s largest technology conference, according to the Financial Times.
This year 70 469 participants from 163 countries gathered in Lisbon, including over 1 200 speakers across 22 stages, 2000 start-ups and 2500 media.
Sofia Investment Agency was there for the first time meeting partners and colleagues from across the world.
Our Head of Business Development Nadia Soultanova took part in the panel discussion ‘Gothenburg and Sofia: Complementing Ecosystems’ at the invitation of Business Region Göteborg and Business Sweden at the Sweden Co-lab.
The similarities and the differences between the ecosystems of our cities and countries are such that we can be partners in innovation.
Sweden is interested in collaborating with Sofia-based companies and is looking forward to seeing more companies open offices there. Gothenburg’s areas of strength in ICT are in embedded systems, infrastructure & cloud, mobile technology, microwaves, visualization & gaming.
The Mobility X Lab in Gothenburg helps young companies with pioneering ideas by offering mentorship and access to competence, networks, tools and insights from leading subject matter experts, as well as workspace. The Lab’s partners are leading Swedish companies like CEVT, Ericsson, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, Veoneer and Zenuity. The Lab is hosted by Lindholmen Science Park in Gothenburg.
We would like to express very special thanks to H.E. Ms Helena Pilsas – Ahlin, Sweden’s Ambassador to Portugal and Ambassador to Bulgaria until 2016. It was a great honor to have Ms Pilsas Ahlin with us during the panel.
Web Summit in Lisbon is arguably the hottest tech conference in the world and the biggest in Europe. The Summit is a highlight on the event calendar of tech professionals, enthusiasts and visioners from around the world.
The second edition of Sofia Game Night took place on November 2nd in Sofia.
Sofia Game Night explores and expands the concept of games: from the entertaining computer, board and role-playing games, through e-sports, the game development industry and cosplay to the intersection of art, politics, education and social experiment.
The organizers of Sofia Game Night – Goethe-Institute and Game Dev Summit – prepared an exciting program in over 30 locations across Sofia, dedicated to gaming, anime and manga, board games, and including competitions, music and performances, and special events for children.
The Invest Sofia team was happy to join the ‘Games Made in Bulgaria’ Expo at the kind invitation of the organisers. We joined over 30 Bulgarian companies, independent studios and developers of board and computer games, and presented the development of creative industries in Sofia and Invest Sofia’s activities at our own stand.
Creative industries are among Sofia’s priority sectors, and Gaming is among the fastest-growing creative sectors with highest added value. We were glad to gain first-hand experience about its development, to meet game designers and game developers and receive their insights about Creative Sofia, as well as to get acquainted with some classic titles and new, never seen before games.
We thank the organizers from Game Dev Summit for the invitation!
Creative Sofia in Figures
– Creative industries account for 6-8% of Sofia’s economy, which is above the EU average
– Ubisoft, Gameloft and SEGA, some of the biggest global gaming companies, have studios in Sofia
– The gaming sector in Sofia experienced a 127% growth of value added between 2008 and 2015
– There are over 35 gaming companies in the city, most of which are indie studios
Sources: Observatory of Cultural Economics and Sofia Municipality; Game Dev Summit.
Photography: Lina Krivoshieva
The third edition of the annual report Sofia Tourism and Air Transport Market Report is available for download from our website.
Sofia Tourism and Air Transport Market Report 2019 takes a close look on the tourism sector in Sofia as of September 2019. The aim is to provide potential investors and all stakeholders interested in the development of the tourism sector in Sofia with comprehensive and accessible information.
The document presents an overview of the latest data, analyses and reviews of the key tourism indicators, as well as current statistics on Sofia Airport aircraft movements, the number of tourists by country of origin and by the purpose of their visit, the accommodation capacity of the city, the development of the urban environment in Sofia, the potential of the MICE industry, and the most important trends in the sector today.
Sofia Tourism and Air Transport Market Report 2019 is prepared by the Investment and Business Development Department of the Sofia Investment Agency.
Here are some of the key points from the report:
- – The number of nights spent in Sofia increased by 122% and the number of tourists – by 110% since 2010. There is a tendency that annually around 60% of Sofia’s visitors come from abroad, and around 2/3 of the number of nights are spent by foreigners.
- – In 2018, Sofia Airport serviced almost 7 million passengers, a 7.3% growth on 2017. In the last five years the total number of passengers has doubled, making Sofia Airport one of the top airports in terms of passenger increase among the top 100 busiest airports in Europe. This growth can be attributed both to the opening of 44 new destinations since 2015, mainly by low-cost carriers, and the improved performance of the Bulgarian economy.
- – The ongoing urban rejuvenation projects like the expansion of Sofia’s metro, which now connects Sofia Airport’s Terminal 2 with all of the key destinations in the city, are another important factor for the tourism growth in Sofia. The extension and modernization of the Sofia Metro plays an important role in the currently developing concept of intermodal urban transport: by 2020 the first 12 kilometres of the third line of the subway are expected to be completed, and will be later connected with the Vitosha lifts.
- – The hotel market in Sofia is still recovering from the setback experienced during the global financial crisis in
On behalf of the Bulgarian Trade and Economic Affairs Office in Ljubljana, Slovenia (STIV – Ljubljana), we invite Sofia-based start-ups from all sectors to apply for participation in a conference dedicated to Industry 4.0 to be held on November 19th and 20th, 2019 in the city of Velenje, Republic of Slovenia. The conference aims to facilitate meetings of start-ups in the Southeastern Europe region with leading corporations based in Slovenia. The participating companies are over 20 this year, including Gorenje, Kolektor, Iskratel, Skaza, BSH, Akapovič, SAP, among others.
Meetings will be held between company managers and representatives of pre-selected start-ups to discuss future opportunities for collaboration. The business is interested in start-ups in phase 2 and with developments in Industry 4.0 (digitalization, robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, etc.).
The costs for accommodation and transport of the companies selected after registration are fully borne by the organizers. Bulgarian companies who wish to register must fill in the following code in their application: I01STARTUPBG.
More information about the event can be found at https://www.future40.si/. You can also call 00 386 40 234 220, Ms Sedina Sarajlic. If necessary, companies can also contact STIV Ljubljana via tel. +386 30 719 197 or e-mail address: m.chavrakova@mi.government.bg, Ms Mariana Chavrakova, Head of STIV – Ljubljana.
The Digital Transformation Strategy for the City of Sofia has already been published on the European Commission’s website. You can find the translation into Bulgarian on our website.
Our team worked on the development of the Strategy together with over 100 experts, companies and organisations from Sofia and under the mentorship of European experts within the European Commission’s Digital Cities Challenge program.
What’s Ahead
We are starting work on an evaluation and action plan for the implementation of the activities identified in the Strategy with the support of the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Advisory Hub.
The project that will succeed the Digital Cities Challenge is dubbed 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge, and we will participate in it as representatives of Sofia. The project is expected to start in early 2020.
We have applied for support for the development of a comprehensive policy on standardisation, storage, processing, sharing, data security, including the definition of data interaction processes. The resulting policy can be used in other municipalities in Bulgaria as well.
We continue to expand our partner network in Sofia involved in the city’s digital transformation process. Get in touch with our team if you want to take part in the upcoming initiatives, projects and affiliate programs.
Nadya Sultanova Mark-Aleks Eftimov
nadia.soultanova@investsofia.com mark.aleks.evtimov@investsofia.com
Vladimir Danailov, CEO of Sofia Investment Agency, will join the panel discussion ‘Office Space Market 2019’ during the BalREc Conference on November 7th at Sofia Event Center. The conference is organised by Gradat Media Group and is the most popular real estate investment conference platform in Bulgaria and the region, providing the opportunity to the major players on the market to meet and discuss the latest industry trends.
Leading investors, developers, financial institutions, consultants, project managers, law firms and other parties involved in the major projects and deals in the sector will take part in focused panel sessions, emphasizing the current situation and investment environment in the key market segments: office, retail, residential, industrial & logistics, hotels & hospitality, and the growing alternative asset classes.
Highlights 2019:
– The economic environment 2019-2020: forecasts, risks and perspectives
– The big picture: investment environment 2019
– Residential market 2019: demand, supply, price levels, forecasts
– Offices market: projects, drivers and market challenges
– Workspace trends: flexibility is the new normal – a threat or opportunity
– Logistics and industrial space market: potential and perspectives
– Urban and holiday hotels: trends 2019
– Retail space market: the transformation in progress
– Proptech: the digitisation and the real estate market – a talk for tech and innovations
For more information, speakers, programme and registration, please visit www.balrec.bg/en/
The Robotics Strategy Forum – the first specialised technological event for robotics and automation in Sofia and Bulgaria – took place at the Inter Expo Center on October 22. Invest Sofia was a partner of the event. We had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Bulgarian industry, academia, industrial zones and start-ups – the ecosystem of stakeholders in building a comprehensive strategy for the robotics sector in Bulgaria.
“Our economy, manufacturing industries and service providers have long been in a state where they compete on the basis of productivity and quality,” said the CEO of Invest Sofia Mr. Vladimir Danailov in his welcome address to the participants in the forum. “In Bulgaria there are companies that are leaders in their area, including Ocado, Festo and many others. We already have over 15 venture capital funds, we have accelerators and incubators. More than 15% of our start-ups are in the field of deeptech, which includes the AI sector. These factors place us among the leaders in Europe and push forward the industrial automation in our country. Over the last 18 months, more than 70 companies have shown interest in investing in Sofia and Bulgaria, half of them are industrial companies. They are not just considering low production costs. They are already talking about engineering talent, that the ecosystem is evolving, they are talking about how they are able to develop automation and artificial intelligence here. All these factors show that we already have a dynamic environment.”
Highlights of the Robotics and Strategy Forum
In a special panel, the PARA team shared their initiative to create an expert council to work on recommendations in different directions and to draw up a roadmap for the development of the robotics sector in our country.
Visitors had the opportunity to see the robots of Giga Automata, Festo, ABB first-hand in the expo part of the event, and exchange ideas, impressions and enthusiasm during the networking part.
The event started with a survey on the high-tech sector in Bulgaria:
- – Two 100-liter boilers are being produced at Tesy‘s plant in Shumen per minute
- – Around 4,000 refrigerators are being manufactured daily at the Liebherr plant, 18,000 sensors at the Festo plant in Sofia, 120,000 manometers at the Watt Industries plant in Plovdiv.
- – Global leaders operate in Bulgaria, a fact that is not very well-known to the general public. Pentax Medical operates the
After 18-months of work the Digital Transformation Strategy for Sofia is ready.
The goal is to turn Sofia into a market for innovative products and solutions by strengthening the local ICT and start-up ecosystem and enabling local companies (small and big) to supply digital products to the city.
We are now looking to enlarge the 100-people-strong community of supporters and ambassadors who worked on the Strategy.
Join us for the event ‘The City of Sofia – Market for your Innovative Products and Solutions’ to learn about the vision for digital transformation of Sofia and share your thoughts with us!
Topics:
We want to turn the city into a market-creator by getting the local start-up community involved in solving local challenges and using the city as a test ground for new digital services.
We want to get organised by establishing an office that will stay in touch with you and keep track of the products you develop, while identifying the needs of the local market and managing the process of digitalisation in the city.
Come and meet:
Vladimir Danailov – CEO
Iskra Yovkova – Investment & Business Development Department
Mark-Aleks Evtimov – Investment & Business Development Department
Tuesday, 5 November 2019 from 18:30-20:00
Puzl CowOrKing, bul. Cherni Vrah 47, floor 4, 1407 Sofia, Bulgaria
There is no entrance fee or need to register.
——-
Factsheet about the Digital Transformation Strategy for Sofia:
- – In January 2018 Sofia Investment Agency on behalf of Sofia Municipality won a place in the Digital Cities Challenge Project of the DG Grow of the European Commission, along with 40+ EU cities.
- – The Strategy was developed following a methodology provided by the EC and it aims to map the road to the digitalisation of Sofia by turning the city into a platform for the digital products created in the city.
- – As identified in the Strategy, the city should create opportunities for the local ICT sector to get involved in solving local challenges and to use the city as a test ground for new digital services.
- – 18 operational goals and 14 activities were identified in order to create a specific action plan for digitalisation.
For more information, please visit our webpage Digital Sofia.
We are pleased to announce the panel discussion ‘Gothenburg and Sofia: Complementing Ecosystems’ to be held on November 6th from 13.00 h, as part of Web Summit 2019 in Lisbon.
The panel is part of the program at the Sweden Co-lab, E229, Hall 2
We are joining the discussion at the invitation of Business Region Göteborg.
Our Head of Investment and Business Development Department Nadia Soultanova and Erik-Wilhelm Graef Behm, Area & Investment Manager ICT at Business Region Göteborg will talk about the similarities and the differences between the ecosystems of our cities, how do we cooperate to help companies grow and what comes ahead. The panel will be moderated by Niklas Knutsson, Secretary-General at The Swedish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce.
Join us and learn how Sweden’s second largest city, and an important hub with leading expertise in fields like embedded systems, microwave technology, gaming and digital visualisation cooperates with Sofia, one of the fastest growing ICT ecosystems in CEE. We will share success stories, good practices that help the two ecosystems complement each other, and next steps.
A big thank you to Business Region Göteborg and Business Sweden for this opportunity.
Web Summit in Lisbon is arguably the hottest tech conference in the world and the biggest in Europe. The Summit is a highlight on the event calendar of tech professionals, enthusiasts and visioners from around the world. The biggest names in tech will arrive in Lisbon this November to share vision and expertise with over 70,000 visitors from all over the globe.
If you happen to be around, let’s meet up!
Contact us to make an appointment:
Nadia Soultanova, Head of Investment and Business Development, Sofia Investment Agency
Sofia, Bulgaria
Erik-Wilhelm Graef Behm, Area & Investment Manager ICT, Business Region Göteborg ICT
Göteborg, Sweden
The seventh edition of the DA FEST international digital art festival will take place between 22 and 26 October, 2019 in Sofia. The festival is organized by the National Academy of Arts and the DA Lab Foundation.
Sofia Investment Agency will join the Festival as an institutional and communication partner.
The Festival’s program brings together distinguished artists and young authors from the international art scene. Many of the foreign participants are coming to Bulgaria for the first time, giving the audience a unique opportunity to get acquainted with their art.
DA FEST’s programme will include exhibitions, audio-visual, theatrical and VR performances, video art screenings, lectures and presentations, creative workshops, concerts presenting a variety of activities and creative practices in the field of digital arts.
The selection of DA FEST includes 60 artists from different countries and disciplines presenting different practices from digital video and photography, interactive performance and installation, audio-visual performance, virtual reality, streaming, 3D mapping, network art, sound-art, biotechnologies, robotics and generative systems and other interdisciplinary formats.
Venelin Shurelov and Galina Dimitrova-Dimova are the curators of the Festival.
The world-renowned performance artist STELARC (Australia) is the highlight of the Festival’s program. STELARC is a pioneer in the arts created with biotechnology, robotics and digital media. He is visiting Bulgaria for the first time and will participate in a number of program events.
The audience will be able to see the unique performances of Miwa Matreyek (USA), also for the first time in Bulgaria. Her performances create a magical reality in which she becomes a silhouette and a shadow interacting with animated images.
The exhibitions at DA FEST will take place at five locations: the Gallery of the Art Academy, Goethe-Institute Gallery, Credo Bonum Gallery, Serdika Gallery and the gallery space of the Triangular Tower of Sofia at the Regional History Museum.
The program also includes: Ken Rinaldo (USA), James Auger & Jimmy Loizeau (UK/France), Gerhard Funk (Austria) Anna Vasof (Czech Republic/ Austria), Karla Tobar Abarca (Ecuador/ France) Sara Bonaventura (Italy), Michaela Lakova (Bulgaria/ Netherlands), Georgi Georgiev (Bulgaria/Germany), Kamen Stoyanov (Bulgaria/ Austria), Maximilian Pramatarov (Bulgaria/ Austria), Pravdolyub Ivanov, Melformator (Petko Tanchev and Atanas Dichev), Iliyana Kancheva, Mario Stoynov, Momchil Aleksiev, Hristo Kolev, Pepa Parisheva, Yana Vasileva, Gergana Lazarova-Runkel, Daniela Nikolchova and others.
DA FEST will also present a program of audio-visual concerts and performances. Participants include: The Science, SoundCamp (UK), mimionix & Quantum space, Saturated Pixels, Zero One, Ivan Shopov