ARC Fund has recently laucnhed a new initiative titled Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) for the South West Region of Bulgaria: Bridging the Innovation Disparities Between the Capital Sofia and the Rest of the Region, which is supported by the European Commission’s 6th Framework Program. Its objective is to enhance the economic growth potential of the South-West planning region of Bulgaria by creating innovation-driven sustainable competitive advantages, and thus transforming the region into a knowledge-based engine of innovation-driven economy.
The initiative, to be implemented over the period June 2005 – January 2008, has been designed so as to account for the diversity in economic development that is observed in the region. Thus medium-to-long-term challenges for boosting innovation and creating an innovation-friendly environment will be tackled through approaches tailored to the city of Sofia and the Rest of the South-West Planning Region of Bulgaria.
Through this project the South-West Planning Region of Bulgaria joins the Network of Innovating Regions on Europe (IRE Network) which is a joint platform for collaboration and exchange of experience for regions that are developing or implementing regional innovation strategies and schemes.
In the IRE Network journal of May 2005 innovation is regarded both in a human and social process the outcome of which should be the region’s capacity to shape the future that is desired. DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission states: “In preparing its new action plan on innovation, the Commission wants all relevant actors to consider the significance of innovation. It can and should be an ever-present component not only of our economies but of our cultures. At European level, we have limited scope to change attitudes, and it is at the regional level that such cultural change can most effectively be encouraged.”
Innovation requires people who can see beyond today’s products and services, and have the creative spirit and ideas to develop entirely new ones – often, for entirely new markets. Entrepreneurship needs to be recommended by careers advisors, facilitated by universities, supported by local authorities, given positive coverage in the mainstream media, and welcomed by families and friends.
Regional authorities face a huge challenge in seeking to open their inhabitants to innovation – as entrepreneurs, as consumers, and as citizens. A wide range of initiatives, including measures to fund start-up firms or to encourage universities and firms to work together, have had a positive impact. But for a region to become a self-sustaining ‘dynamo’ of innovation, a longer-term outlook is essential. Every innovation-support initiative contributes, but only by implementing a coherent strategy specifically aimed at developing a culture of innovation will regions make real progress towards this objective.
In this context the ultimate outcomes sought in ARC Fund’s initiative are a Coherent Regional Innovation Strategy for the whole region accompanied by two Action Plans – one for each economically diverse sub-region, namely the capital Sofia and the Rest of the South-West Planning Region. Thus the initiative will help for bridging the innovation disparities within the region and will build regional absorption capacity for the structural funds after Bulgaria’s accession in the EU.
ARC Fund, as one of the key actors in Bulgaria in the field of innovation policy , has recently completed a pilot RIS project for the South-Central Planning Region of Bulgaria over the period 2001 – 2004 supported under the 5th Framework Program and the implementation of its Action Plan is now underway.
On December 5, 2003 ARC Fund organized an information day that raised awareness among target groups in Bulgaria about the regional innovation strategy (RIS) projects and promoted the forthcoming call for RIS-NAC projects launched by the European Commission under FP6 in March 2005. As a result of this information day and the pilot RIS project all planning regions of Bulgaria successfully applied in the call for proposals and were supported by the European Commission to develop regional innovation strategies with the respective action plans.
More on ARC Fund’s work in the field of innovation policy
Innovation.BG newsletter (only in Bulgarian)
Second National Innovation Forum, October 2005
National Contest: Innovative Enterprise 2005
First National Innovation Forum, October 22, 2004
National Contest: Innovative Enterprise 2004
