Funding Opportunities and Upcoming B2B Events
The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) organizes the last event from the Go International project. The event will be held on March 22 at Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia with the participation of representatives of the Bulgarian embassies in Greece, Vietnam, Italy, Germany and Israel, representatives of foreign missions in our country, and chambers of commerce. The event will present information on the export opportunities to multiple markets and includes direct B2B meeting sessions. BSMEPA will provide the list of companies registered for participation. The event is free to attend upon registration here: https://forms.gle/hfzHsEaabSVecJCx9
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Startup companies in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare can apply for the Labena Ventures accelerator. The project is initiated by the Slovenian pharmaceutical company Labena and aims to promote innovation and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in CEE in the specified areas. Young companies and individual participants can gain access to enterprises, investors, and VC funds. Universities and R&D centers can also apply for the accelerator. Part of the accelerator is an intensive programme for business development and presentation skills, strategic positioning of an idea or project in the market, and more. Participants will work closely with almost 80 certified mentors from around the world, experts in areas such as business, finance and biotechnology, and investors who will help them further develop their ideas and attract funding.
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Until March 26 companies can apply for participation in the Eastern Europe 2023 accelerator, organized by the Founder Institute – one of the largest accelerators for start-up projects in the world, active in over 200 cities and with a network of over 25,000 mentors. The programme will start on April 4 and will last for 14 weeks with a workload of 15-25 hours per week. Eastern Europe 2023 aims to help young founders successfully validate their business model, build an MVP, gain first customers and revenue, refine their pitch, and meet experts and investors. See more about the program here: https://fi.co/program/eastern-europe
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The Ministry of Innovation and Growth launched a third procedure under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan with a total budget of BGN 200 million. The funds are available for companies that want to build their own new RES installations in combination with batteries for local energy storage. Companies can receive between BGN 75,000 and BGN 1 million. There is no limitation in the sector of activity, but the number of employees should be up to 3,000 people. The funds aim to stimulate Bulgarian enterprises to invest in their own electricity storage facilities, reduce energy spending and become less dependent on the free electricity market. Documents can be submitted electronically at https://eumis2020.government.bg/bg/s/800c457d-e8be-4421-8ed9-9e78d0a75c39/Procedure/Active by May 15, 2023.
By the end of 2023, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth will also open procedures under the new Science and Innovation program. You will find more on this topic here.
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Within two on-site days and one virtual day, between May 5 and 10 in Vienna, the seventh edition of the International B2B Software Days 2023 – the Future of Digital Business, to be organized by FFG, WKO/Advantage Austria, the Vienna Business Agency, TU Wien, VÖSI and in cooperation with the Enterprise Europe Network. The event includes workshops, pre-arranged 20-minute B2B meetings, and a physical and virtual exhibition area. The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce is the local partner of the event. For more information and registration please follow the link.
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Under the European Commission’s TrustChain initiative, a call for decentralized digital identity has been launched. The call will help 15 projects from European countries get up to 117k €.
Developments should focus on:
- Decentralised user-centric identity management framework for supporting automated privacy preserving, legal and regulatory compliant infrastructure (e.g., GDPR) potentially in alignment with emerging European regulations and standards (i.e. eIDAS).
- Protocols for trustworthiness assessment of entities by means of verifiable credentials and decentralized reputation systems.
- Smart oracles assessing the trustworthiness of data associated with digital identities.
All types of solutions that can apply in the call are listed on the website https://trustchain.ngi.eu/open-call-1/
TrustChain aims to create a portfolio of Next Generation Internet protocols and an ecosystem of decentralized software solutions. The closing date for proposals is 10 April 2023 via the above mentioned website.
