{"id":5176,"date":"2017-02-17T08:44:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T06:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/?p=5176"},"modified":"2017-02-24T13:27:19","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T11:27:19","slug":"sofia-meets-oslo-oslo-meets-sofia-first-stage-live-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/sofia-meets-oslo-oslo-meets-sofia-first-stage-live-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"Sofia Meets Oslo. Oslo Meets Sofia \u2013 First Stage Live"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5171 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia-300x169.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia-600x338.png 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia-260x146.png 260w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia-50x28.png 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia-133x75.png 133w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OsloSofia.png 633w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over 30 representatives from leading Bulgarian and Norwegian companies and organizations discussed business development opportunities in the fields of green technology, smart cities, and entrepreneurship during the first stage of the event Sofia Meets Oslo. Oslo Meets Sofia, on 24 &#8211; 26 January 2017, organized by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia Investment Agency in cooperation with <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia office of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.innovasjonnorge.no\/en\/start-page\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Innovation Norway<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sofia is no longer just an outsourcing partner but a business destination that creates new products and solutions, said Vladimir Danailov, CEO of Sofia Investment Agency at the conference.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">matchmaking event<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> set the beginning of series of initiatives aiming to strengthen trade relationships between Bulgaria and Norway and to facilitate business contacts among companies and institutions which want to share experience, exchange ideas and best practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia Investment Agency partners in this project with Sofia office of the Norwegian state agency \u201cInnovation Norway\u201d which offers financial support for companies focused on the integration of innovative business practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The conference started with welcome speeches by the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and Hon. Tove Bruvik Uestberg, Ambassador of Norway to Bulgaria. \u201cSofia Municipality is ready to support any business practices that share the vision for the development of our capital as an innovative and green city.\u201d, Fandakova said. The conference outlined the advantages and the perspective areas for future cooperation between Bulgarian and Norwegian companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ventseslava Yanchovska, Manager of \u201cInnovation Norway\u201d for Bulgaria, presented funding opportunities for Bulgarian companies planning to integrate innovative and high technology projects. \u201cTo help and stimulate competitiveness is the main focus of \u201cInnovation Norway\u201d \u2013 said Mrs. Yanchovska. \u201cThe financial and methodological support we provide to Bulgarian companies helps them grow and step out on international markets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an interview after the event Ventseslava Yanchovska commented on the innovation agenda in the green industry for the period 2009-2014 by announcing that the interest was extremely high. &#8220;The interest in such initiatives and tools is huge because Bulgarian companies experience difficulties in setting aside funds for innovation and new technologies, and this is a great opportunity for them to devote resources that help them optimize production and improve its competitiveness.&#8221;, Yanchovska said. By the end of 2017 a new program will be launched and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.norwaygrants-greeninnovation.no\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Norway Grants<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> hope for another round \u00a0of promising and long-term green projects. Watch the full<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloombergtv.bg\/video\/ventsislava-yanchovska-za-norvegiya-i-inovatsiite-u-nas\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interview<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with Ventseslava Yanchovska.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The second stage of the project \u201cSofia Meets Oslo. Oslo Meets Sofia\u201d comes in May when Bulgarian companies will meet Norwegian institutions and business representatives in Oslo. To apply for the \u201cOslo meets Sofia\u201d phase of the project, please visit: <\/span><a href=\"\/?page_id=3510\" target=\"_blank\"><span>http:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/oslo-meets-sofia-events\/<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 30 representatives from leading Bulgarian and Norwegian companies and organizations discussed business development opportunities in the fields [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}