Mrs. Sabine Ohler, head of International Business Development, and Mr. Nikolay Rodimov, regional manager of Vienna Business Agency, visited Sofia on June 25-27 at the invitation of Sofia Investment Agency. They took part in Meet Vienna Business Agency: Opportunities for Bulgarian Companies, an open meeting held on June 25 with Sofia entrepreneurs. In addition, they also attended and participated in the presentations on June 26-27 in the exhibition area of Sofia at Webit.Festival Europe 2018. The presentations at the meetings covered topics on Vienna’s business environment, good examples of the city’s management and opportunities that Sofia entrepreneurs can benefit from in case of interest in business start in Vienna and Austria.
The meeting Meet Vienna Business Agency: Opportunities for Bulgarian companies, organized by our team with the support of Eurocomm-PR, gathered more than 60 Sofia-based companies interested in business in Vienna. Mrs. Sabine Ohler presented the city’s policy in support of private business, priority industries and incentives which startups can benefit from in the Austrian capital.
In Vienna, only in 2017 a total of 190 companies started business, thus opening 1000 new jobs and bringing investments of over half million euro in the city. The Austrian capital is attractive to foreign investors not only due to its favorable geographic location in the heart of Europe but also because Vienna is an international center for organizations all over the world, home to 14 international schools and over 1500 research and development organizations. International companies feel good in this environment and have access to numerous talents among more than 200 000 students from all over the world.
Foreign investors within the Information and Telecommunication Technologies sector are interested in Vienna as the city is home to both large international companies and numerous startups with small teams of less than 10 people. Another priority sector with strong traditions is the biotechnology sector and the so-called life sciences. A number of co-working spaces and business incubators offer startup support packages for foreign entrepreneurs willing to set up business in Vienna. In addition to grants, startups in certain sectors also benefit from various tax reliefs.
It was very important to the businesses in Sofia, which show increasing interest in partnerships in Vienna, to find out what incentives the city offers for Sofia companies. A cooperation agreement between the two cities will allow more Austrian businesses to access more easily and with more
The Digital Transition partnership Programme was presented at SOFIA’s PLACE in the exhibition area of Webit.Festival Europe 2018. The partnership is part of the EU initiative Urban agenda for the EU. Sofia was selected as a co-coordinator of the partnership at the end of 2016 with Estonia and Oulu, Finland.
The project’s coordinators Veronika Manova and Mika Rantakokko presented the objectives of the program – to identify and implement new measures and solutions for improving the legislation in Europe, to finance urban policies and training programs to facilitate digital transition in Europe.
The European administrations, together with society and businesses, should envisage in the action plan of the program activities to provide better public services to citizens, promote innovation and create new business opportunities for growth for the European cities.
The team of Sofia Investment Agency initiated the presentation of the project at Webit 2018 because of the importance of its goals for the future of cities, society and business, as well as its similarities with the goals of Digital Cities Challenge (DCC), another project of the European Commission which Sofia will take part in. The DCC initiative aims to support the 15 European cities in initiatives for digital transformation of the urban environment and society. The implementation of the project is coordinated by a team of Sofia Investment Agency. Joint working meetings with the Digital Transition team are scheduled in July and September, as stakeholders in both projects are the institutions, the academic community and the private business. We believe that their guidelines and cooperation in the initiatives will help to identify specific implementation projects that are beneficial to the goals of both programs.
The development of the action plan for the partnership on Digital Transition is in its final stage. An introduction to the draft action plan is available here and the presentation of the coordinators Veronika Manova and Mika Rantakokko at Webit 2018 – here.
You can read more about the Digital Transition partnership on the EU’s website for the program: https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/digital-transition
Introduction to the Draft Action Plan of the Partnership on Digital Transition is available here.
Locally, the initiative is coordinated by Sofia Development Association – http://www.sofia-da.eu
The Innovative Enterprise Week Sofia 2018 conference took place in Sofia Tech Park on June 14-15.
The event was organized by the European Commission, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of Europe and the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, in association with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Investment Fund (EIF) and representatives of the Bulgarian entrepreneurial ecosystem, supported by Tech Tour Global.
The topic of the conference was ‘Financial Instruments Fostering Research and Innovation’, and its main aim was to raise the levels of awareness regarding the role of the various European financial instruments, programmes, facilities and measures, such as Innovfin, COSME, the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the European Innovation Council, as well as many other regional, national and local instruments, in fostering research and innovation in the EU and the world. The main focus of the discussion was on the potential of startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for growth and development.
More than 300 key participants from different sectors and backgrounds, such as policy-makers, financial intermediaries, entrepreneurs, representatives of the research, innovation and the business community, came together to discuss the current bottlenecks, opportunities, and the further needs of the financial instruments fostering research and innovation in Bulgaria, the EU region and the world.
Mr. Vladimir Danailov, CEO of Sofia Investment Agency, was invited as an expert in one of the parallel interactive workshops dedicated to the ways in which innovators can scale-up in order to compete internationally. (Co-panelists of Mr. Danailov were Mr. Christian Dubarry from BPI France, and Mr. Milen Vrabevski, owner of Comac Medical. Chair of the panel was Prof. Dr. Marco Cantamessa from the Polytechnic University of Turin, and rapporteur was Mr. Antonio Carbone from the Agency for the Promotion of European Research.)
During the panel called ‘Scale: How Can We Offer Innovators Continental Scale to Compete at a Global Level?’ Mr. Danailov shared his observations and recommendations regarding the role of financial instruments in the development of the business environment in Bulgaria. ‘Bulgarian SMEs and startups have achieved lots of progress in the last 11 years, since Bulgaria became part of the EU, especially in terms of improving their abilities, increasing their credibility, diversifying their products, making use of various financial instruments, and slowly but steadily expanding internationally. Although in the past Bulgaria was
JOIN US AT WEBIT.FESTIVAL EUROPE
25-27 JUNE 2018, SOFIA
With the mission to fulfill the potential of our city to the full extent, Sofia Municipality, Sofia Investment Agency, Sofia Development Association and Sofia Tourism Administration invite entrepreneurs, politicians, city administrators and business representatives to visit our SOFIA’s PLACE tent at Webit.Festival Europe 2018.
Check out the Agenda, find us on the exhibition area map and join us!
Sofia Investment Agency is pleased to invite you to the Vienna Business Agency‘s presentation “Opportunities for Bulgarian companies”.
Ms. Sabine Ohler, International Business Director at Vienna Business Agency, will present Vienna’s Business Welcome Programme and opportunities for Bulgarian companies to establish presence and to open an office in Vienna.
The presentation will be held on June 25, 2018 (Monday).
Time: 3 p.m.
Venue: 1 Paris St, Sofia
Working language: English
Please confirm your presence by 20.06.2018 (Wednesday) by email to ana.georgieva@investsofia.com
Vienna Business Agency
Vienna Business Agency has been actively supporting the development of national and international companies from various sectors in the Austrian capital for more than 30 years by providing financial support, real estate, and urban development incentives as well as free service and advice. With its activities, the Agency is developing Vienna as a competitive business destination in Europe and as a stimulating environment for new companies, while constantly boosting the growth of existing businesses in the city. Vienna Business Agency offers financial support to companies through its own fund, settles a real estate, office and housing issues, and offers grants, advice and consulting.
The Agency employs more than 160 people and the Vienna Еxpat Center international department has 11 employees who speak 15 languages and work to provide consulting and easy adaptation to foreign companies that have chosen to establish a presence in Vienna. The team of the organization works to promote the city outside the country and helps foreigners who have chosen to work and live in Vienna to settle more easily in the local environment. The other departments of the organization provide support to start-ups or development in specific industries – creative, scientific, technology, etc.
Invest Sofia is a partner to the BBBA’s Bulgarian ICT Roadshow taking place in London and Liverpool this week.
The roadshow is the first of its kind bringing 17 leading Bulgarian IT companies with close to 30 delegates and is included in the official programme of the London Tech Week and the International Business Festival in Liverpool.
The participating Bulgarian companies are BGO Software, Scale Focus AD, mishmash.io, Accedia, R&D Solutions Ltd., Newtrend Agency, Athlon, eLando AD, Bulbera, Grafixoft, DataStork, MiNDS Technologies, Futurist Labs, Next Consult, Interconsult Bulgaria (ICB), Questers, Telelink Business Services.
The roadshow is organized by the British Bulgarian Business Association in partnership with Sofia Investment Agency and will take place between June 11th and June 15th.
The event started this Monday with a market briefing presentation to the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce by Invest Sofia’s CEO Vladimir Danailov and a big interest from the Chamber’s members. Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce is the 5th largest accredited chamber in the UK with over 4 000 members from one of the world’s most impressive and vibrant international business communities, including the M4 corridor, a launchpad for global brands; Oxfordshire, home to science, research and collaboration; and Buckinghamshire, the UK’s hub for enterprise and creativity.
Invest Sofia’s CEO also attended a panel discussion at London Municipality, as a part of London Tech Week.
As a part of the roadshow’s programme, the Bulgarian Embassy in London organized an official reception on June 12th.
The programme continues with a networking event hosted by the Gatwick Chamber of Commerce. During the event, the interested British companies will have the opportunity to meet all of the participants from the Bulgarian delegation, have face-to-face meetings with them and learn more about the IT sector in Sofia and Bulgaria.
On June 14th and 15th, the Roadshow continues in Liverpool, where the Bulgarian delegation will join the International Business Festival and meet with representatives of Northern Powerhouse, Sci-tech Daresbury and Science and Technology Facility Council to discuss the potential for cooperation.
On May 14, Google launched its Digital Garage project /learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalengarazh/ in cooperation with SoftUni Digital /digital.softuni.bg/ and in partnership with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 12 consultants specially trained by Google, will hold free seminars and individual trainings in more than 37 cities in Bulgaria. The trainers will focus on the opportunities provided by the digital world and will train representatives and owners of small and medium-sized companies as well as anyone willing to expand their digital skills, in using online growth tools.
Google plans to train 15 000 people from small and medium-sized companies by the end of the year. Detailed information on the tour schedule and how to sign up for the program is published on the website.
What is Digital Garage?
Digital garage is a free of charge program that helps people to improve their digital skills. The program offers online and offline training created by Google that help the business to grow online at its own pace and through flexible and personalized training. The campaign in Bulgaria started in May 2018 and will continue until the end of 2018.
Why is online presence so important to small and medium-sized enterprises?
70% of people in Bulgaria use the Internet for personal purposes
55% of people in Bulgaria use smartphones
48% of people in Bulgaria using the Internet shop online
56% of people in Bulgaria using the Internet compare services and products online before buying
In order to reach the goal of the project, our digital consultants will hold a number of free seminars and individual consultations. You can also sign up for an individual consultation here. You can register on the official website of Digital Garage.
The Second Academy Seminar of the Digital cities Challenge project took place on May 16-17 in Brussels. Sofia took part as a participating city, one of the first seven European cities selected for the Challenge. As a participating city, over the next year, Sofia will be receiving field advisory services by a dedicated expert, a local expert and a pool of thematic experts, as well as access to various online tools and face-to-face interaction with representatives of the digitally mature mentor cities.
Additional eight more Challenge cities joined the project as of February 2018, together with over 20 follower cities. Follower cities will have access to the methodology and the seminars but will not receive dedicated expert support.
The second Academy seminar concluded the Digital Vision and Ambition Phase of the project which included an online self-assessment from local Sofia-based stakeholders – over 30 representatives from IT companies, utilities, telecoms, academia and the Municipality participated in this phase. Based on the insights from the interviews with the stakeholders and after a series of discussions and workshops, we agreed on the formulation of a Vision and Ambition for Sofia and we drafted an assessment report of Sofia.
In May, in Brussels Sofia presented its Vision and Ambition for digitalization during a peer review session. A special thank you to Mr. Alexander Tzonev, CTO at Bulpros for representing the Sofia IT sector and for his active role in the discussions. A big thank you to all business, academia and Municipality representatives who guided the formulation of the Vision and ambition of Sofia through filling-in the self- assessment tool and participating in personal interviews and workshops. We would like to thank the city of Amsterdam and Nice for their constructive feedback, as well as our colleagues from Iași, Romania.
If you would like to learn more about the Phase one of the Digital Cities Challenge, the assessment of the digital maturity of Sofia via the self-assessment tool, please review the presentation of the Vision and Ambition of Sofia, that includes Sofia Mission for digitalization.
The next steps will include workshops in Sofia on 10 July 2018 and a second one in September for roadmap development and identification of preliminary investment priorities.
Coca-Cola has opened a regional development center for intelligent technology in Sofia. It will be the second largest in terms of operational scale and volume of services provided, as part of the company’s global IT infrastructure. The hub will provide highly effective business solutions for Coca-Cola to the global market. It creates 130 new jobs, and the company announced that it is already working to expand its operations and jobs at a later stage.
The special guests at the opening ceremony for the development center included Ivaylo Moskovski, minister of transport, information technology and communications, Yordanka Fandakova, mayor of Sofia, Lachezar Bogdanov, deputy minister of economy, Eric Rubin, US ambassador in Bulgaria and Vladimir Danailov, CEO of Sofia Investment Agency.
I am happy that our city has been trusted by this powerful company namely in the field of development. I believe that investments in the IT sector are crucial to the development of our city for opening of high-quality new jobs. This is a chance for Sofia and its citizens, Fandakova said at the opening ceremony. She stressed that investing in this sector gives a chance to retain young people and provides opportunities for those studying or working abroad to come back to Bulgaria.
The most important factor is the people, but infrastructure is also crucial, the mayor of Sofia Municipality said. She reminded that the area around the new Coca-Cola development center has developed rapidly in recent years. We continue the works on Sofia ring road. Road Infrastructure Agency announced a procedure for the new 6 km stretch, which will be built from Mladost residential district to Trakia motorway. I hope that we will be able to extend the subway as well, Fandakova added.
On May 9, 2018, as part of the European Commission’s Digital Cities Challenge Project, Sofia Investment Agency organized a Vision and Ambition Workshop, part of the project’s schedule.
The workshop gathered local government and business representatives, as well as representatives from utility companies, telecoms, and academia. The aim was to formulate a vision and ambition statement, as part of the roadmap to the creation of a digital transformation strategy for the city.
Based on the insights from interviews with close to 30 stakeholders, held last month and the discussions at the workshop on May 9th, we agreed on a Vision and Ambition for digital transformation for Sofia, as well as on next steps, action plan, priorities, and milestones, a SWOT analysis assessing Sofia’s digital maturity, the strong points, and the areas that need to be developed in order to aid the digital transformation of the urban environment, society, business, entrepreneurial environment, policies, and institutions.
We will present the results from the discussion, the SWOT analysis and Vision and Ambition of Sofia for digital transformation at the Second Digital Cities Challenge academy seminar “Vision & Ambition seminar”, on May 16-17th, 2018 in Brussels. The seminar will mark the closing stage of the Vision and Ambition phase and will kick-start the Strategy phase of the project when each city will receive support in solving and implementing individual urban projects.
Digital Cities Challenge is a tailored programme of coaching and facilitation launched by the European Commission to help 15 European cities develop and implement digital policies that can transform day to day life for residents, businesses, workers, and entrepreneurs. Challenge cities entered into a 14-18 month programme to help develop and implement a digital strategy through tailored advice and support from high-level experts.
We would like to thank all participants for their interest and the strong commitment to the discussion and all the organizations and companies that responded to our invitation and attended the meeting sharing valuable insights and ideas for the digital transformation of Sofia. This will give us the opportunity to present in Brussels ideas that are supported by local utility companies, the IT sector, startup ecosystem representatives, academia and city administration.
Sofia Investment Agency presented the business climate in Sofia and the investment opportunities in the city before a business delegation from Portugal. The presentation took place at the invitation of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), which organised a number of meetings for the foreign delegation within two consecutive days – 11 and 12 May. The purpose of the visit to Bulgaria is to present the opportunities for doing business with Portugal and, in particular, with the city of Santa Maria da Feira.
HE Helena Margarida Rezende de Almeida Coutinho, Ambassador of Portugal to Bulgaria, and the Mayor of Santa Maria da Feira Emídio Sousa attended the meeting. They presented the economic achievements of the country and the industry developed in the region of Santa Maria da Feira – production of cork, insulations, other cork products, paper, footwear, metallurgy, agriculture, and food industry. According to the presented data, Portugal is ranked 39th in the world in terms of competitiveness. The procedures for registering new businesses are as easy as possible and take three days. In 2018, the country’s GDP growth is expected to rise to 3.3%. Portugal offers skilled labor force and 60% of staff speak at least one foreign language. HE Helena Margarida Rezende de Almeida Coutinho pointed out that the country is the world’s second largest exporter of footwear, wine and olive oil. Among the promising industries in Portugal are aviation, automotive industry, building materials including cork, textiles, footwear, etc.
On the Bulgarian side, Tsvetan Simeonov, President of the BCCI, and Stanimir Mihaylov, President of the Bulgarian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, spoke about the opportunities for business cooperation between Sofia and the Portuguese city. Anna Dimitrova, senior expert in the Investment Analysis department of Sofia Investment Agency outlined the economy of Sofia, the industries with the most dynamic development and the opportunities for starting a business in the Bulgarian capital.
The presentation shown to the Portuguese delegation is available here.
Sofia Municipality welcomed the members of the Budget Committee of the EU Council and introduced them to some of Sofia’s successful projects implemented with EU funds.
Doncho Barbalov, deputy mayor of Sofia, and Vladimir Danailov, CEO of Sofia Investment Agency, presented both larger projects already implemented in the city and various opportunities for investment and business development in the capital.
For the last programming period 2007-2013 Sofia Municipality attracted funds for 89 projects with EU funding of a total amount of nearly BGN 3 billion. A total of 53 of them were under EU Operational Programs amounting to BGN 2 848 billion. The remaining 36 projects were under EU Community programs and territorial cooperation programs and amounted to a total of BGN 7.5 million.
The largest project implemented with EU funds in the capital is the metro, having its third line currently in progress. The other projects are in the field of transport and water supply and sewerage infrastructure, energy efficiency, ecology, educational infrastructure, public leisure and recreation areas, etc.
The guests were introduced to Sofia’s advantages in terms of investment and business development, including strategic geographic position, highly educated population and excellent living conditions, education, tourism and sports.
Members of the EU Budget Committee are in Sofia as an informal meeting of the committee is being held in the National Palace of Culture. It is attended by representatives of all Member States, the General Secretariat of the Council and the European Commission.
The Budget Committee is a working body that examines the EU’s annual budgetary procedure and changes in the annual budget. It is also in charge of the legislative work in the field of EU financial legislation, including the amendments to the Financial Regulation.