The Innovation.bg report provides an annual assessment of the innovation potential of the Bulgarian economy and the state and development opportunities of the Bulgarian innovation system. It includes recommendations for improving public policy on innovation in Bulgaria and in the EU, drawing on the latest theoretical and empirical research and taking into account the specific economic, political, cultural and institutional framework in which the country’s innovation system develops.
Twenty years ago, in 2004, before Bulgaria became a full member of the European Union, it was in the group of catching-up countires, ahead of Romania and nine other countries – old and new EU member states. The progress was more than 15% on a one-year basis. The indicators that secured the country’s leading positions in the European ranking in 2004 included patents in high-tech fields in the European Patent Office, patents in the US Patent and Trademark Office, ICT expenditure, and STEM graduates.
In 2024, the country registered a positive change in its innovation potential of only 1.9% compared to 2023, which leads to an increase in the gap from the EU average of 10%. Against this background, the aggregated innovation indices of Bulgaria and the EU-27 over the last ten years have outlined trajectories that are increasingly diverging over time.
Link to Innovation.bg 2024 report in Bulgarian (Аdobe PDF, 2MB)
