On behalf of the organising team, we would like to invite you to take part in the forthcoming 15th South-East European Exhibitions & Conferences on Smart Cities, EE&RES and Save the Planet to be held on 16 – 18 April 2019 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The event is organised by Via Expo, and Sofia Investment Agency will partner the events.
Smart Cities, EE & RES and Save the Planet will present intelligent solutions for buildings, infrastructure, transport and mobility, public services; sustainable alternatives for energy production, distribution, storage and saving; waste utilization and recycling. The event is one of the most important B2B initiatives in South-East Europe that brings novelties to the market, meets buyers and suppliers. The synergy of the good business environment during the show and the numerous promotional services will help the exhibitors get the maximum value out of the participation and to achieve their marketing goals: to enter a new market, to launch innovations, to find local distributors and clients from SEE. For a tenth year in a row the event will include an Austrian Pavilion.
Exhibiting companies from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, the Netherlands will join the events.
Some of the exhibitors expected at the events:
Smart Cities
iSentinel®, a smart earthquake protection system, will be presented to the Bulgarian market for the first time.
Innovambiente – a system for municipal waste collection processes management, from startup to collection monitoring. It will be presented by the Italian company Innova.
Intracom Telecom (smart lighting, parking, metering, eHealth), Comicon (building and home automation), VAiOS (video surveillance, alarm systems, access control), the National Cluster for Intelligent Transport and Energy Systems (smart systems in transport) etc. will also join Smart Cities.
EE & RES
‘In Sofia, we will present M7-A03D – one of the most efficient gas turbines in its power class with the industry’s lowest levels of NOx emissions.’ announced Mr. Cristian Athanasovici, Business Development Manager at Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe.
Herz will draw attention to its latest developments: the first wood chip boiler Herz firematic Condensation 20/35 and the Air-to-Air heat pump with inverter technology.
The Uniconfort product range comprises: biomass boilers, cogeneration installations, remote heating systems.
Save the Planet
Lindner-Recyclingtech sees a growing potential in the SE European market and has
already realized various projects there. The focus of its participation will
Applications for the Most Innovative Company Competition and Best Innovative Project for 2018 of the Innovation Council at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) will be accepted until 22 April 2019. The sixth edition of the competition is organised by the Europe Enterprise Network at BCCI, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and with the assistance of the Bulgarian Development Bank.
The categories in which the companies can apply are two: ‘Best Innovative Project of 2018’ and ‘Most Successful Company that Introduced an Innovative Product in 2018’.
The applications for innovative ideas and developments introduced in 2018 will be reviewed with complete confidentiality by a committee of representatives of the scientific community and the business. The evaluation will proceed following the criteria approved by the Bureau of the Innovation Council. You can check them here.
The annotations for an innovative project should be up to 5 pages long and include up to five addenda – blueprints, 3D illustrations, tables, diagrams and charts, or other supporting documentation that meets the criteria.
The annotations for a company that has implemented an innovative product in 2018 should be up to 12 pages long and should include a description of the company’s production list: models, designs and drawings of the innovative products, description of the equipment required for their production, implemented patents and useful models of inventors from Bulgaria and abroad. In addition, they could include their models and blueprints, or other supporting documentation that meets the criteria.
The applications will be accepted by 17:00 on 22 April 2019 and should be submitted electronically to the Technical Secretary of the BCCI Innovation Council at innovationbcci@gmail.com; ivan.iliew@gmail.com. The awards ceremony will be held in May in the presence of representatives of the media, universities, branch organizations, ministries, banking institutions, entrepreneurs and others.
A wide public discussion about the options for amendment of the Common City Plan of the Sofia Municipality took place on January, 17th. The forum was organized by Vision Sofia 2050 and FOR Urban Development, and gathered over 300 citizens and experts.
The goal of the forum was to discuss the process and the content of a future amendment to the Common City Plan in order to address the needs of all of the groups of stakeholders and the dynamics of the life in the modern cities. The Common City Plan combines urban planning tools that determine and guide the development of the city environment. It has a significant impact on the quality of life, economic activity, mobility, environmental status, resource usage and many other aspects of urban life.
In the first part of the forum, some previously identified problems were presented as well as suggestions for their solutions. These topics were generated during a series of focus groups research with the participation of professionals from different fields, held at the end of 2018.
The open discussion that followed was focused on the following case studies, defined as major ones by the focus groups :
– How to reach a consensus on the city policies, shared by as many stakeholders as possible
– What should be the core concept and the content of the Common City Plan and how it can become more accessible, transparent and clear
– How can a public-private consensus be achieved and how could the public interest be protected
– How the process of creation, monitoring, implementing and modifying the Common City Plan should be managed
– Why is the data important and why is the data-based planning necessary
– What is the legal framework and is there a need for implementing changes into it
Here are some of the opinions and suggestions from the public discussion:
– The plan should be better suited for the opportunities and the resources of the municipality. Also, there should be a search for a better balance between the local and central government in favor of Sofia Municipality.
– The plan should have more flexible and dynamic elements for its implementation, and a Dictionary , part of the Common City Plan, should be created. It would help the people to better understand the problems as well as their own engagement with them.
– The Common City
Sofia Municipality has applied for participation in the eight edition of the BAIT Awards for significant contribution to the development of information and communication technologies in 2018. The Municipality plans to participate with its Call Sofia mobile application in the ‘Municipal Administration’ category. The application allows fast submission of alerts for any deviation from the normal urban environment directly to the relevant administrative unit.
Call Sofia is fully integrated with the web-based information system of the Call Center of Sofia Municipality, the Administrative Information Systems of the Central Administration, the District Administrations as well as Sofia Inspectorate and Sofia Municipal Companies. The built-in features allow automatic location of the problem through the location of the mobile device, visualization through images or other files, connection of the alert with other already submitted alerts for the same location.
The app provides the users with follow-up information about alerts submitted by them, status updates and other notifications. After downloading and signing up to the app, access is also possible through Google and Facebook.
The application is part of the policy of Sofia Municipality to build electronic service through continuous, systematic and purposeful improvement of the access of citizens and guests of the capital to the municipal administration in a 24/7 regime for reporting, analysis and solving of emerging cases or necessary services. The application is free of charge and will be active as of the end of January 2019.
This year, the ‘Municipal Administration’ category attracts great interest. A total of 15 applications have been submitted by 14 Bulgarian municipalities for projects implemented by them in the field of administrative service of the citizens and the business. The jury will announce the nominees in this and the other 9 categories in mid-February.
Registrations for the 5th International B2B Software Days 2019 in Vienna are now open. The event is the biggest software B2B meeting in Central Europe featuring industrial keynotes, pre-arranged face-to-face business meetings (B2B), networking sessions, thematic workshops and start-up pitching.
Existing companies, startups and R&D institutions from Sofia and Bulgaria with a focus on software development and new technologies looking for technological, research and business cooperation in the Software Sector are invited to apply until February 28, 2019.
The event is free of charge.
In order to pre-arrange your B2B meetings:
- Register online and submit your own cooperation profile.
- State what kind of technology/product/expertise you are offering and what kind of cooperation/partners you are looking for.
- You will be notified by email when you can start booking B2B meetings by checking which cooperation profiles are most promising for your business.
- Once you have shortlisted your potential business partners you can select them for B2B meetings.
All cooperation profiles will be published online and will be for everyone to see. Furthermore, all published profiles will be extensively promoted by the organisers of this event. A few days before the event all registered participants will receive their personal meeting schedule (schedules will be also available online). At the event, each participant will receive an updated meeting schedule including last minute bookings, in chronological order, the name of the conversation partner and the location for each meeting
The 5th International B2B Software Days are organised by FFG, WKO/Advantage Austria, the Vienna Business Agency, Austria Wirtschaftsservice in collaboration with the Enterprise Europe Network, Eureka, and the go-international initiative.
For detailed information, please visit the website of the event.
This announcement is part of the City-to-City cooperation agreement between Vienna and Sofia for sharing knowledge and opportunities for business growth in the two cities. The Agreement was negotiated by Sofia Investment Agency and Vienna Business Agency and aims to facilitate business cooperation between the two cities and to offer information and access to contacts and support that will help Sofia-based entrepreneurs in growing their business in Vienna and support entrepreneurs from Vienna to establish an office in Sofia.
Applications are now open for the Vienna Start-up Package 2019 programme. Start-up Package: Start Up in Vienna and Grow is a two- month accelerator that supports selected international start-ups that want to develop their business idea in Vienna and explore the Austrian and other German-speaking markets. The startups will not only enjoy free flight tickets, housing, office space and coaching, but get an exclusive introduction to the Austrian start-up ecosystem and its players.
The Vienna Start-up Package is an initiative of the Vienna Business Agency. It aims at encouraging more international startups to opt for Vienna as their business location. The Vienna Start-up Package is a tool kit on doing business in Austria that gives the opportunity to validate your product-market fit and to explore the active and vibrant startup scene.
The Vienna Start-up Package includes:
- Cost of travel to Vienna
- Accommodation for 2 months
- Place in a Co-working space for 2 months
- 10-hours coaching worth EUR 2.000
- Exclusive introduction to Vienna´s startup scene
- Participation at Pioneers Festival 2019
For general Information and guidelines, please follow this link.
For applications, please visit Vienna Start-up Package.
This announcement is part of the City-to-City cooperation agreement between Vienna and Sofia for sharing knowledge and opportunities for business growth in the two cities. The Agreement was negotiated by Sofia Investment Agency and Vienna Business Agency and aims to facilitate business cooperation between the two cities and to offer information and access to contacts and support that will help Sofia-based entrepreneurs in growing their business in Vienna and support entrepreneurs from Vienna to establish an office in Sofia.
The British Embassy in Sofia and the Biotech Atelier invite you to take part in Biotechnology Business (2B) Workshop “Shaping the UK-Bulgarian Biotech Future”.
The workshop aims at creating a sustainable business network and fostering a successful collaboration between the UK and Bulgaria in the field of biotechnology. The event will showcase the British excellence and innovation, and will develop commercial opportunities in this strategic sector.
The 2B workshop will present the UK biotech companies as partners of choice for Bulgaria, and UK as an excellent destination for collaboration in biotech, which will match the interest of Bulgarian companies to meet their UK counterparts.
The meeting will help to identify the most promising areas for business collaboration, incl. new technologies leading to open up new avenues for R&D and commercialisation projects and to build a network of new contacts in biotechnology for fostering the establishment of sustainable business collaboration.
The event will be held on 15 March 2019 in the Laboratory Complex of Sofia Tech Park
Biotech companies from Bulgaria can still apply for participation in the 2B workshop. Due to the limited number of participants, the applicants will be pre-selected and contacted prior to the 2B workshop.
Please send your Expression of Interest by filling in the form on the website of the event.
Sofia holds a leading position among the cities of the future, according to the “fDi Global Cities of the Future 2018/19” report of fDi Intelligence. The report assesses the attractiveness of cities around the world for foreign investment.
The “fDi Global Cities of the Future 2018/19” ranking includes seven categories:
- TOP 25 Emerging and Developed Markets
- Top 25 Emerging markets (with a GDP per capita of less than USD 35 000)
- Megacities
- Major cities
- Large cities
- Medium and small towns
- TOP 25 in the “Editor’s Choice” special category
Our capital is included in the “Large cities” category and ranks 4th in the “Cost Effectiveness” subcategory and 9th in the “Business Friendliness” category.
For the third consecutive year, the winner among all markets in the ranking is Singapore. It is followed by London and Dublin is ranked 3rd, both keeping their last year’s positions.
The whole report is available here.
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Sofia is ranked 2nd among the 27 largest municipalities in Bulgaria, according to the Digital Governance Index of the Economic Policy Institute. The index is formed by 119 criteria in five categories: “Security and Privacy “, “Usability”, “Content”, “E-Services” and “Civil Society Engagement”.
The leader in the ranking is Burgas with 55 points and best performance in the categories “Content” and “Civil Society Engagement”. Sofia ranks 2nd with 54.56 points. The capital is the leader among all municipalities in the categories “Security and Privacy” and “E-Services”.
This year Gabrovo and Plovdiv are again in the top five. The new addition is Haskovo, climbing up 5 positions compared to the 2017 Index.
According to the findings of the Index, there is a considerable improvement over the previous years in the “Security and Privacy” category. The average score of the 27 municipalities this year is 6.53 points, while in 2014, when the study was launched, it was only 1.81 points.
This year, analysts from the Economic Policy Institute have also introduced a new component – online monitoring of the financial accountability of the municipalities. Sofia, Varna and Gabrovo are the municipalities that have improved the transparency of their accountability and have a complete set of financial information.
Details and link to the full index are available here.
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Sofia is ranked 2nd among the 10 fastest growing technology centers in Europe in terms of annual growth of
Journalists ft. Startups
The event Journalists ft. Startups is an occasion for startups and journalists to exchange some thoughts on how a supercool startup can be covered by media.
The meeting is organised by TrendingTopics.bg to set the stage for a more productive conversation between journalists and startups. Journalists ft. Startups is supported by Capital.bg and Bloomberg TV Bulgaria/Investor Group, the two local media that are doing it right and do understand what a startup is.
Who?
Anyone interested in getting to know how journalists tick
Anyone in need for advice on how to be featured in media
With:
Alexandra Kozbunarova, TrendingTopics.bg
Elena Kirilova, Investor.bg & Bloomberg TV Bulgaria
Konstantin Nikolov, Capital.bg
The event is free, registration is required.
First International Photographic Conference in Sofia
The First International Photographic Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, will meet its attendees with some of the most inspirational photographers in diverse genres of photography from Bulgaria and the world.
The Conference is planned as the biggest international photographic event in Bulgaria, organised by the biggest Bulgarian photographic club – Club Photo World.
100 Hours Astronomy
The event named ‘100 Hours Astronomy’ will be part of the international astromarathon dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Popular lectures will present a brief overview of the most exciting moments in IAU’s history, the most interesting astronomical events in 2019, as well as the recent missions to the Sun. Light will be shed on the manifestation of stellar magnetic fields and on the nature of some impressive astronomical objects, like flickering stars and supernovae. The guests will have the opportunity to observe cosmic rays and to understand how and why the main mirror of the 2m telescope at Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory is removed. The ’Above and Beyond’ exhibition, showcasing the key achievements of astronomy and space research, as well as the role of IAU over the past century, will be exposed.
The event will be held on Saturday, 12 January 2019 at Sofia Tech Park.
Electromobility
WIFI Bulgaria offers you a different and modern training in Electromobility.
The training presents a wide audience with the subject of electromobility, the incoming technologies for electrically propelling cars and other vehicles.
Who is it intended for?
– Users, electric vehicle owners (electric cars, electric vehicles);
– Traders and representatives of automobile companies;
– Electrical engineers, Engineers and
The German company Varengold Bank opened an office in Sofia. The branch in Bulgaria is part of the Bank’s expansion in Southeastern Europe. The Bank’s headquarters are in Hamburg, and in addition to Sofia, the company has only one other location outside Germany – in London.
Varengold Bank specializes in the so-called Marketplace Banking, a service to companies with difficult access to traditional bank financing. The company is focused on financing non-bank institutions providing fintech solutions – mostly companies offering peer-2-peer platforms. The bank model follows the forecast that this type of platforms will replace the current financing models for physical and legal entities. Varengold expects that the volume of this market in Europe will triple from the current EUR 3.8 billion by 2022 due to the rapid adoption of new technologies and the introduction of new regulations that make it easier for companies to attract customers.
The company’s office in Sofia is located in the headquarters of Eurohold Bulgaria, which holds a minority stake in Varengold Bank.
Varengold Bank was founded in 1995 as an asset management company and in 2013 received a bank license. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange, its assets are worth more than EUR 660 million and its equity totals EUR 28 million.
Intouro – Mercedes-Benz buses will run along lines 63 and 66 to Morenite of Vitosha Mountain, as announced by the ‘Transport and Transport Communications’ department of Sofia Municipality. The buses are well equipped for mountainous areas. Furthermore, they have large luggage compartments for ski equipment, snowboards, bicycles etc. They have 60 seats, which is three times the capacity of the buses, currently serving the lines. The first 6 of the 10 new buses became operational on December 22. Sofia Municipality is ready to put into operation additional buses during the peak hours.
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The presentation of Sofia’s draft budget to committees, councils, business and media has been launched. A total of BGN 1.58 billion is envisaged for 2019. No increase in taxes and fees is expected, except for the changes in the vehicle tax and the building tax for resorts, adopted by the Parliament.
Ecology and hygiene remain top priorities. In 2019, Sofia Municipality will allocate more funds to the sectors of education, healthcare, culture, social activities, defense and security and transport.
The largest amount of funds is envisaged again for the construction of the metro and the launch of the main part of the third metro line. A total of BGN 550 million is allocated for transport and infrastructure. BGN 51.3 million will be spent for construction and repair works of main streets and boulevards. Another BGN 133 million is allocated for new buses and trams. Reconstructions are planned as follows: Philip Kutev street in Lozenets district, Montevideo boulevard in Ovcha Kupel to the last section to the metro, Todor Kableshkov street from Bulgaria blvd. to Kostenski vodopad str., Peter Dertliev street, Lincoln street and Narodno Horo street in Ovcha Kupel, Skobelev blvd. and the tunnel of the National Palace of Culture, Nikolay Copernicus street in Slatina and Strossmayer street in Vazrazhdane district, as well as the connections with the North Speed Tangent through Vladimir Vazov blvd.
The budget also envisages BGN 4.5 million for street lighting, BGN 33 million for purchase of 13 low-floor trams and BGN 100 million for new electric and CNG buses.
A total of BGN 68 million is proposed for education, including the construction of 15 new kindergartens. Sofia Municipality will also re-cultivate the old landfills in Suhodol, Dolni Bogrov and Sadina with an estimated budget of BGN 18 million.
The draft budget of Sofia Municipality might be changed
A total of 54% of the Bulgarian companies expect an improvement in the business climate in 2019, and they are mainly concerned about the shortage of qualified staff and the prices of energy and raw materials, according to a survey of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). The survey is part of a large-scale European Economic Survey, EES 2019, involving more than 45 000 companies from 26 countries.
The results for Bulgaria are based on the opinion of 504 companies from all sectors in the country. The company managers have shared their expectations regarding the biggest challenges and difficulties, as well as the expected earnings, employment, investment and the business climate in general. The Bulgarian companies have positive expectations for 2019, but they are lower compared to 2018, when 63% of the companies expected an improvement in the business climate.
The worst fear of the companies in Bulgaria is that they will face great difficulty in finding employees with the necessary profile and skills. Furthermore, they are worried about domestic demand revenues and energy and raw material prices. The results for Europe as a whole are similar. In the overall results, the greatest concern is labor costs, followed by the lack of qualified staff and domestic demand.
In terms of the other indicators, Bulgaria ranks among all 26 countries in the survey as follows:
- 15th in terms of positive expectations for sales revenue in the country
- 13th in terms of positive expectations for sales revenue at foreign markets
- 13th in terms of employment
- 11th in terms of investments
- 8th in terms of positive expectations for the business climate as a whole
The main findings and link to the full report of the 26th Economic Survey in Europe of Eurochambers are available here.
Bulgaria participates in the survey for the 20th time. The BCCI report is published here.