President of Bulgaria Awards Innovative Companies at Forum Organized by ARC Fund ALL - 2009/2/27
The Applied Research and Communications Fund (a member of the ECAbit network and infoDev's Global Network of Business Incubators) the EC Representation in Bulgaria, the Ministry of Economy and Energy, and the World Bank Mission in Bulgaria organized the Fifth National Innovation Forum: Innovation Infrastructure and policy for Economic Growth on February 24, 2009. The Forum was held under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Georgi Parvanov. The President awarded the winners in the the Innovative Enterprise national contest: Sparky Eltos, ORAK Engineering and Saturn engineering were awarded for their outstanding achievements in 2008 among total of seven highly innovative companies.
In his speech, president Parvanov highlighted the appropriate timing for organizing the initiative - the start of the European year of creativity and innovation. Creativity and innovation are considered key factors for
securing the welfare of society. The measures already implemented have not yet had the intended impact. He pointed out drawbacks such as lowered financing, weak motivation, insufficient concentration of resources and the negative influence of the financial crisis. The measures now needed include stronger support for public-private partnerships, for innovation-oriented companies and for participation in innovation networks.
Among other keynote speakers were Ms. Meglena Plugchieva, the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Mr. Patrick Lambert, Director of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) at the European Commission, Professor Anders Flodstrom, Member of the Executive Committee of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, Deputy Minister of Finance, Directors at the Ministry of Economy and Energy, Heads of The World Bank Mission and EC Representation to Bulgaria, business representatives and others. The Forum was well attended by a mixture of enterprises and entrepreneurs, scientists and researchers, NGOs, media and diplomats.
The forum also featured the Innovation.BG 2009 report, the premium annual policy analysis of the National Innovation System.
For more information about the forum discussions and presentations, awarded enterprises and the innovation.bg report, please visit the ARC website.