The Professional Association of Robotics and Automation (PARA) has published its annual report “Bulgarian Success Stories in Robotics and Automation” dedicated to the achievements in the sector. The fourth edition contains data from 2021 and features good practices from companies and organizations specified in four groups – startups, industrial automation, service robotics, and education. The document also includes a mapping of the key stakeholders in the ecosystem – companies /with Bulgarian ownership and multinationals/, universities and educational centers, integrators, R&D centers, as well as government, industry, media, and tech supporters.
In the mapping, 100% of the included robotics and automation multinational companies have their headquarters in Sofia, as well as over 75% of the Bulgarian companies. All R&D centers listed in the mapping are also in Sofia. These are the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Technology (INSAIT), the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia Tech Park and the co-innovation hub Resonator. Sofia-based companies such as FESTO, OCADO Technology, Schneider Electric, Zuhlke Engineering, Gimatic, ABB, FANUC Bulgaria, SPESIMA, Giga Automata, Allterco Robotics, Kimex, Neurorehabilitation Robotics, Amygda Labs, ZekEng, Ondo, Technology Valley, IRise Mechanics, Biodit has been featured among the main players in the ecosystem.
This year’s edition also includes an overview of the activities of Innovative Sofia – the digitalization and innovation department of Sofia Municipality. The document features some of the initiatives led by the department that aim at consolidating and guiding all of the city’s digital and smart city projects and supporting high-tech and R&D companies in the city, the Sandbox for innovative solutions and the partnership in the GATE’s project for the first of its kind for Bulgaria city digital twin, being among them.
According to the report, there is a new trend among enterprises regarding the most desired activity to automate. While in previous releases, it was production, last year, the attitudes have changed and more than half of the surveyed enterprises (58%) stated data collection and processing as the activity they most want to automate. This, according to PARA, shows that in the Bulgarian industry there is an increased deployment of infrastructure that generates more and more data.
Companies’ reasons for introducing automated processes are also changing. Until now, it has been an “increase in production capacity”, but currently there is a new predominant motive – “cost optimization” (58%), followed by process integration (54%), improved quality (50%), increase in production capacity (42%) and shortage of talent (38%). When asked “What type of robots would help your manufacturing process?”, the top answer is component assembly robots (33%).
Among the good practices are the stories of four capital startup companies – the software robot company RPA Consulting, the industrial AI startup Amygda Labs, the Neurorehabilitation Robotics’ solution for accelerated recovery process through AI-based software and devices, and the digital twin startup MYX. The BGN 19 million investment of Nestlé Bulgaria for a new automated factory in Sofia, the activities of Festo’s engineering center on projects and products for medical and laboratory automation, the work of Ocado’s Sofia-based robotics team on automation of orders in e-trade robotics and many more successful examples from companies in Sofia and the country have also been included in the “Bulgarian Success Stories in Robotics and Automation” report.
PARA’s report is available for free download from the website of the Association. You can access the full document here.