Completed/terminated procedure

In connection with the approval of the assessment of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan the Council of the European Union made recommendations to Bulgaria in the context of the European Semester. It has been recommended the investments to be focused in the area of ecological and digital transition, in particular in the area of clean and efficient production and use of energy and resources. In response to the Specific Recommendation 3 (SP 3 of 2019), the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) of Bulgaria includes measures aimed at strengthening competitiveness and enhancing the research and development activities. The inefficient management of research and innovation policy, its inconsistency with the needs of industry, which weakens the links between academia and business and hinders the transfer of knowledge and technology, has been also referred. Therefore, reforms and investments should support the improvement of the ecosystem for scientific research and innovation, thus to increase the results of innovation in Bulgaria, to encourage the transfer of technologies and the commercialization of the results of scientific research, which should permanently stimulate economic growth. These measures are consistent with the major focus of the RRP, namely accelerating the dual transition.

The investment to support the strengthening of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS)'s innovation capacity and its specialization in key areas of development, such as green and digital technologies, is part of efforts to develop the national ecosystem and support the country's smart economic transition at national and regional levels. This undoubtedly includes the building of scientific research capacity and a high level of scientific research developments in thematic areas that are related to the needs of business and would support and accelerate technological transfer in the country. That is why the Plan contains investment measures aimed at providing funds for scientific research and innovation activities, in particular funding of scientific research projects of the BAS in the field of environmentally friendly and digital technologies. These measures are part of the investments that aim to provide a favorable environment for the realization of new products and processes and for the development of innovative enterprises. This is a key precondition for the creation of a high-tech base that will provide opportunities for accelerated economic growth.

The main objective of the investment is aimed at increasing the innovation capacity of the BAS (Investment C2.I2) is the Academy's active participation in the national research and innovation ecosystem with a view to accelerating the country's economic transformation. A major problem related to the technological transfer and innovation activity of the BAS is the insufficient connection of research and development activities with the needs of business. Therefore, one of the specific goals of the investment is the creation of innovative solutions by BAS scientific teams in response to specific topics defined by business, related to the green transition and digital technologies. In order to fulfill this goal, it is planned to support scientific teams from the units of the Academy for conducting independent applied research, in thematic directions identified by the business, i.e. development of technological areas in which business shows interest.