Knowledge, innovation and regional dimension of competitiveness were the focus of the third consecutive edition of the conference series "Competitiveness of Bulgarian Economy” organized by the Economic Policy Institute and the Hanns Seidel Stiftung, Bulgaria on March 30, 2010 in Hilton Hotel.

 

Dr. Ivanka Petkova, Chairman of EPI and Bogdan Mirchev, representative of the Hanns Seidel Stiftung for Bulgaria opened the event in the company of Evgeni Angelov, Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism. Thus, the tradition to provide conference space for dialogue between the executive branch, business, economic analysts and researchers, representatives of NGOs and educational institutions was followed.
Mr. Angelov outlined the trends in the introduction of innovation in the Bulgarian economy, took stock of the action of OP Competitiveness and the opportunities of the European scheme JEREMIE.

 

The first part of the conference was devoted to knowledge and innovation as sources of long-term competitiveness. Tzvetan Simeonov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, presented a study on innovative strategies of Bulgarian business, which showed low levels of trust on behalf of companies in universities as centers for the development of innovative knowledge. The effect of OP Competitiveness towards sustainable development and the implications for SMEs were presented by the Executive director of Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency, Mrs. Mariana Velkova. The positions of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science and the opportunities of the Seventh EU Framework Programme for the development of the research potential of Bulgaria were communicated across by the presentation of Diana Peeva from the Scientific Research Directorate. Despite the objectively existing problems and challenges facing knowledge and innovative progress in Bulgaria the panel concluded optimistically. The reason for this was the presentation of Prof. Stoyan Maleshkov which clearly demonstrated that in the country units that develop new technologies for the benefit of business still exist. He impressed the audience with a presentation of research and virtual reality laboratory at the Faculty of German Engineering Education and Industrial Management in the Technical University, Sofia.

The second part of the conference extended the theme to the regional aspects of competitiveness. Prof. Andras Inotai who is the Director General of the Institute for World Economics in Budapest and President of the Economic Policy Institute in Sofia outlined the prospects not only for Bulgaria but also for other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The provocative analysis of Mr Vasil Shtonov of "AT Kearney" disproved myths about the sources of long-term competitiveness, and in addition provided an index of the competitive advantages by countries, developed by his company. The financial sector and banks in Bulgaria in the post-crisis perspectives were analyzed by Mr. Kristofor Pavlov, chief economist at Unicredit Bulbank. The final chord was played by Yasen Georgiev, Executive Director of EPI, who introduced the present trends in the FDI inflows in the country and their impact on the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy.

Panelists’ papers and conference materials will be published in a collection by the Economic Policy Institute. Publications from the previous two editions can be found here .