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The four digital innovation hubs, established in Bulgaria so far, will offer the official authorities to synchronise the rules for work under the two EU programmes, under which they will operate in the coming years. These are the Digital Europe programme of the European Commission and the Research, Innovation and Digitalisation for Smart Transformation programme, which is managed by the Ministry of Economy and Growth. The aim is to unify the rules at national level with the European procedure for the hubs, which have already been approved by the EC. This was agreed at a joint meeting of the representatives of the four associations – European Digital Information Hub (EDIH) in the construction sector, EDIH Thrace, AGRO Hub and EDIH Zagore.
At the meeting, the four organizations also agreed to establish mechanisms for permanent cooperation between the hubs, exchange of experience between them, coordination in the implementation of projects and identical activities of the different hubs, creating conditions for long-term partnership and cooperation at both national and European level. In order to make this partnership more successful, the idea of setting up an association was also given and is still to be discussed.
During the meeting, initiated by the Bulgarian Construction Chamber, the hubs presented their activities and objectives. The Association “EDIH in the construction sector” has the task to support the digitalization process in the construction sector by providing free training for small and medium-sized companies, purchasing software that can be used in the building of the association, introducing BIM / SIM technologies in the sector, creating an IT platform with building material codes that will serve for the subsequent stages of digitalization in construction, an annual program of training, training, product testing, access to laboratories and research institutes, annual events and confederations and more. The project covers the entire investment process in construction, which is also a significant step forward in the digitisation of the entire sector of the economy.
AgroHub.BG is the Bulgarian Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) for agriculture. It aims to bring together knowledge and resources for the agricultural industry to generate solutions to its problems and meet its needs. The portal allows the different parts of the agri-food chain related to agribusiness and technology – farmers, machinery, equipment and software manufacturers, organisations, institutions and all stakeholders – to communicate and interact with each other.
EDIH “Thrace” will work in the field of cyber security. The Centre, in collaboration with other Cybersecurity EDIHs across Europe through the European Cybersecurity Corridor EDIH, initiated by the European Cybersecurity Organisation, will offer a full range of cybersecurity services to all stakeholders with a special focus on SMEs, mid-caps and PSOs. In addition, EDIH Thrace will provide artificial intelligence and HPC services.
The “European Digital Innovation Hub Zagore” will work for the realisation of the digital transformation of industry and society, bringing together existing infrastructure, know-how, technologies and expertise in the field of big data, high-speed computing and artificial intelligence; it will promote the added value of digital transformation for industry and society and European development trends in the field of digital transformation.
Among the problems facing the activities of digital hubs in the country was mentioned the lack of rules for work under the Programme for Research, Innovation and Digitalization for Smart Transformation, which delays the implementation of the won European projects and is a serious obstacle to reporting on the costs incurred. This would also create a problem for compliance with project commitments and deadlines, as well as to possible subsequent discrepancies on which costs are eligible and which are not under the projects given possible differences in rules at national and European level.
An obstacle to the operation of the 4 hubs could also be the administration’s interpretation of the applicable state aid rules.
The meeting was attended by the President of the Bulgarian Construction Chamber (BCC) Eng. Ilian Terziev, the Coordinator of EDIH in the construction sector Mr. Lyubomir Peinovski, the Chairman of the Board of the Association “EDIH in Construction” Eng. Valentin Nikolov, the Head of the Association “EDIH in the construction sector” Maria Nakova, the Head of the Department “Digitalization in construction” at the BCC Eng. Lyubka Deneva, Executive Director of “Cleantech Bulgaria” Ltd. Mariana Hamunova, Chairman of the Board of the Union for Economic Initiative and Chairman of “EDIH Thrace” Vaska Baklarova, Chairman of the Bulgarian Cyber Security Association and Vice-Chairman of “EDIH Thrace” Svetlin Iliev, Ms. Svetlana Boyanova, President of the Institute for Agrostrategies and Innovations and Digital Innovation Hub for Agriculture, Dr. Rumiana Grozeva – Executive Director of the Regional Economic Development Agency and Coordinating Manager of the European Digital Innovation Hub Zagore.
