Contacts
Related Links
Publications
Interregional Cooperation and Smart Specialisation: a Lagging Regions Perspective
Jayne Woolford, Effie Amanatidou Elisa Gerussi, Mark Boden
Projecting Opportunities for INdustrial Transitions (POINT). Concepts, rationales and methodological guidelines for territorial reviews of industrial transition
Pontikakis, Dimitrios; Fernandez, Tatiana; Janssen, Matthijs Guy, Ken; Marques Santos, Anabela; Boden, Mark Moncada-Paternò-Castello, Pietro
RIS3 Monitoring System in Greece – Pilot Study
Michalis METAXAS
Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s economic performance was significantly affected by the global financial crisis. Despite the fact that subsequent annual growth rates have been robust its GDP was 52% of the EU average in 2018. The country had recovered its pre-crisis employment levels by 2017, and its 5.2% unemployment rate in 2018 compared favourably to the EU average of 6.9%. However, levels of poverty, social exclusion and income inequality are still among the highest in the EU and regional disparities are growing. Five of Bulgaria's six planning regions are among the 20 poorest regions in the EU, whilst the Sofia region (accounting for just 18.8 % of the population) generates nearly half of the country’s GDP.
Bulgaria is a Modest Innovator according to the European Innovation Scoreboard, ranking 27th in the EU in terms of innovation performance. Its GERD (expenditure on R&D as a % of GDP) was 0.75% in 2017. The public sector’s R&D spending is among the lowest in the EU amounting to only 0.21 % of GDP in 2017, far from the EU average of 0.69 %. Business R&D expenditure is 0.53% of GDP, with the private sector the main actor within the national innovation system. Nevertheless, Bulgarian enterprises show low levels of innovation, competitiveness and collaboration with academia. The country has a large number of universities and research institutes, but most of them show low performance in research and production of high-quality scientific publications.
Bulgaria has a National Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation 2014–2020 as well as some regional / local S3s (Severen – Tsentralen Region, Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Ruse). The national strategy identifies four thematic priority areas for the whole country: Mechatronics and clean technologies; Informatics and information and communication technologies; Industry for a healthy life and bio-technology; and New technologies in creative and recreational industries.
The Bulgarian S3 is managed at the central level by the strategic body. This is supported by an Interinstitutional Working Group and an Administrative Partnership Network. A central technical body ensures overall coordination of S3 governance in the country and the bottom-up body consists of the centrally appointed Regional Partnership Network and other stakeholders.
Events
Strengthening University-Industry-Government Cooperation in Romania - TRAINING WORKSHOP SERIES
17 Nov 2020 - 20 Nov 2020S3 Targeted Support to Lagging Regions 2 – Horizontal Activities on International Cooperation
02 Jul 2020Interregional Collaboration Workshop: S3 Targeted Support – Horizontal Activities
25 Feb 2020
Latest News
Regions in Industrial Transition - Pilot Action: Capitalisation Phase
20 Aug 2020New Report Out! The role of Open Data, Open Science and Open Innovation in S3 monitoring
10 Mar 2020
Related Publications
Open Data, Open Science & Open Innovation for Smart Specialisation monitoring: Lessons from the project “S3 Targeted Support in Lagging Regions”
Elisabetta Marinelli, Enric Fuster Martí, Sabine Plaud, Arnau Quinquilla, Francesco Massucci
Layers, levels and coordination challenges: comparing S3 governance in Puglia and Extremadura
Marinelli, E., Bertamino, F., Fernandez,A
An expert view: framing S3 evaluation
Dr Yannis Tolias