Maria Gabriel: Investments in startups in Bulgaria have increased 10 times in a year
Source：Dir BG (Bulgarian Media Portal)
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2022/08/08
Bulgaria has a lot of potential to be among the leading countries in Europe in terms of the participation of women in ICT companies
Investments in startups in Bulgaria have increased tenfold in Bulgaria in just one year. They have risen from 16 million euros in 2020 to 174 million euros in 2021. This was explained by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Maria Gabriel, who took part in the national round table on the topic: "Innovations - opportunities for Bulgaria", held under the auspices of President Rumen Radev.
European Commissioner Gabriel recalled that throughout Europe, investments in startups have tripled and reached 100 billion euros. "We are also witnessing a new wave of innovations related to deep tech investments. It is a software and hardware component that jointly helps innovation in key sectors. This is happening in sectors such as energy and defense, agriculture, healthcare, construction, noted Gabriel.
"Our ambitions are to connect the European ecosystems for innovation," said the Bulgarian European Commissioner. She added that the goal is to create new jobs, to help startups and companies realize their full potential.
Bulgaria also has a lot of potential and we are among the leading countries in Europe in terms of the participation of women in information and communication technologies, said Maria Gabriel.
According to her, it is extremely important for innovators to have experimental spaces where they can realize their ideas. Similar spaces can also be business incubators in universities or laboratories, it became clear during the discussion.
Also, five main initiatives are targeted through the new European Innovation Programme. The first is to improve access to financing for startups - for this purpose, investments must be mobilized and startups must become unicorns. Tax preferences in countries for these innovative companies are important. According to the European Commissioner, a new stock exchange registration regulation would also help facilitate investments in startups, or at least make them more attractive to businesses.Another important topic is not to forget the potential of women in the field of venture investments.
Among the interesting ideas for development in our country is the intention to create a platform for testing pure hydrogen. The European Commissioner recalled that our country wants to build one of the "hydrogen valleys" that are already being talked about all over Europe. This is related to technical assistance - guidelines for businesses and laboratories, Gabriel also shared.
The other important topic is the connectivity of startup ecosystems across all regions in Europe. Currently, these systems are not connected, and this remains one of the main problems for the EC to solve in the context of the digitalization of the economy. By connecting the ecosystems in this way, it will be easier to exchange experiences between different organizations.
Without people and knowledge, there is no innovation
The most important element for innovators is people and knowledge, because without them there will be no innovation, European Commissioner Gabriel also recalled. According to her, it is important to support talent and women in business. The goal is to train 1 million talents and this is part of the EC's Deep tech talent initiative. This program aims to train these talents within the next 3 years.
According to Gabriel, it is important to continue the creation of connectivity policies at the European level, so that the European ecosystem can compete with those of other regions such as the USA for example. In Europe, however, there is still no precise definition of startup and scale-up companies, the European Commissioner also shared.
Source: https://business.dir.bg/ikonomika/mariya-gabriel-investitsiite-v-startapi-u-nas-sa-se-uvelichili-10-pati-za-godina