Материалът Call for Participation: METACITIES Joint Hackathon е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

DIGIHUB Burgas supported the participation of five Bulgarian companies by facilitating their matchmaking process, helping them prepare their profiles, and guiding them through B2B meetings with potential international partners. The companies explored collaboration opportunities in technology development, market expansion, and EU-funded projects.

In addition to supporting the delegation, DIGIHUB advisor Ina Agafonova conducted several strategic meetings with Turkish stakeholders to promote regional cooperation and explore investment and soft-landing opportunities in Bulgaria.

The mission reaffirmed EEN’s role in fostering cross-border business partnerships and strengthening the internationalisation capacity of SMEs.

Материалът DIGIHUB Burgas Supports Bulgarian SMEs at ICTürkiye2025 in Istanbul е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

Digital4Burgas 2023 is part of the large-scale Digital4Bulgaria project, which this year will be held in a total of 10 cities in the country. The mission of Digital4Burgas is to create conditions for sharing expertise, improve the conditions for doing business and bring value to the economy.

At Digital4Burgas2023, we presented the mission of EEN and highlighted the successes achieved by the network over the years.

Petko Georgiev, Chairman of the Board of Digital Innovation Hub – Burgas, presented EEN at the conference and revealed how the network supports small and medium-sized enterprises in their growth and innovation.

“The network has been working extremely successfully for 15 years. Every single day, 835 small companies receive support for innovation, 525 companies receive support for special training of their employees, and 112 enterprises benefit from professional and extremely in-depth consulting services. At least five companies a day sign useful partnership agreements. Pay attention – every day,” said Petko Georgiev. He reminded that the registration in the network is done entirely online on the website of the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub. “There are organizations that visit the network’s database daily. It provides enormous opportunities for cooperation between companies in over 60 countries around the world,” Georgiev said.

Important success cases include the Finnish company OiOi, which with the help of EEN achieved international success, the Spanish Life Length, which secured funding to develop innovative technology, and the Dutch Beefy Green and Irish Achill Oysters, who have successfully expanded their business internationally with the support of the network.

By participating in Digital4Burgas2023, DIGIHUB continues to support the growth and development of the local digital industry, while benefiting from the support of EEN and expanding its network of partners and customers.

This event was an excellent example of uniting the efforts of all participants in the pursuit of a digital community in Burgas and the region.

Learn how you can become part of the EEN network here: https://digihub.bg/enterprise-europe-network/ 

Материалът DIGIHUB and 15 years of Enterprise Europe Network: Celebrating the success and business support at Digital4Burgas2023 conference е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

The Recovery and Resilience Plan, the operational programs of the European Union and the possibilities for support from the EU were presented at the event.

Petko Georgiev, chairman of DIGIHUB, presented to the participants the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), which helps small and medium-sized enterprises to become more competitive and expand their business.

It is important to note that the entire EEN database is now available on the DIGIHUB website – https://digihub.bg/bg/enterprise-europe-network/, where anyone can discover various opportunities for business or academic partners for production, distribution, co-development and delivery of products, ideas and services.

Registration is completely free and is quick and easy through the DIGIHUB website.

By registering in the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), small and medium-sized enterprises will have access to important information, resources and tools that will help them grow and compete successfully in the European market.

Материалът “European Funding Opportunities” conference with the participation of DIGIHUB and Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

We are grateful to TripleP – Cyber Security Experts for partnering with us and contributing to the event’s success. Among the attendees were Digihub board representatives Mrs. Ina Agafonova, Prof. Sotir Sotirov, and Chairman Petko Georgiev.

Chairman Petko Georgiev offered a statement expressing his support for similar events in Burgas: “At DIGIHUB, we are committed to nurturing a culture of knowledge-sharing and collaboration within the cyber security field. We eagerly anticipate hosting more initiatives like this in the future, benefiting not only our company but also the city of Burgas and the wider cyber security community.”

During the meeting, the EEN network in Bulgaria and the opportunities it provides for businesses in the Southeast region were presented.

Материалът DIGITALL Burgas Celebrates Successful Cyber Security Conference е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

Water as an economic engine was the focus of an international forum that brought together representatives of 6 different maritime regions of Europe and was organized by the Provincial Council of Tarragona, Spain. It took place in the capital of the Costa Daurada, Salou, on March 10, 2023.

Ina Agafonova, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the DINT Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub, participated as a panelist on the topic “Regional Policies to Promote a Sustainable and Innovative Blue Economy: Strategies of the European Sea Basins”, at the invitation of the Administration of the Province of Tarragona, Spain.

The “New Approach for a Sustainable Blue Economy” approved by the European Union in 2021 and in line with the Green Deal seeks synergies in the maritime space, emphasizing the need to invest in research, capacity building and innovation of all actors in the blue ecosystem.

In this context, an interregional meeting “Approaches to a Sustainable Blue Economy” brought together 15 leading experts, practitioners, educators and researchers to exchange and share their experiences and research findings on various aspects of a sustainable blue economy and for attendees to learn first-hand about the challenges, proposals and good practices to promote a sustainable blue economy, with the aim of contributing to the generation of new opportunities in Southern Catalonia and Europe and to promote the connection between actors from different European sea basins from the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

The sessions were aimed at public and private actors from Southern Catalonia and Europe, representing different regions and entities related to blue economy activities, both in traditional and emerging sectors, facing challenges from research, policies, sustainable economic growth and technological and social innovation.

On the Bulgarian side, participated as speakers, Ina Agafonova, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the DINT Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub, Burgas, with a report “The Case of the Black Sea. The Blue Economy of Burgas, Bulgaria” and Nebi Kehaya, Executive Director of LIFG Burgas-Kameno with the “Black Sea Multi-agency Cooperation Model”.

The event was opened with a welcome from the representative of the Area of European Projects and the Region of Knowledge of the Council of the Province of Tarragona and a report on “The European Vision: Promoting a Sustainable Blue Economy” by Iglika Yakova, Deputy Head of the “Maritime Strategies” Department basins”, Unit for Regional Maritime Cooperation and Maritime Security, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission (online).

In the working session “Regional Policies to Promote a Sustainable and Innovative Blue Economy: European Sea Basin Strategies”, reports were given by:

• Rosario Allué Puyuelo – Deputy General Director of Maritime Policy, Control and Training at the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of Catalonia – “The Maritime Strategy of Catalonia”
• Ina Agafonova, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the DINT Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub, Burgas, Bulgaria – “The Case of the Black Sea. The Blue Economy of Burgas, Bulgaria”
• Paula Biveson, Project and Communications Advisor, Centrum Balticum, Turku, Finland – “The Case of the Baltic Sea”.

In the working session “The blue Economy as an Opportunity for Sustainable Growth and Interregional Cooperation”, speakers were:

• Erika Zavackienė, Innovation Manager, Klaipeda Science and Technology Park, Klaipeda, Lithuania
• Nebi Kehaya, Executive Director, LIFG Burgas-Kameno – . “The Black Sea Multi-Agent Cooperation Model”.
• Mayte Corbino Pubil, CEO, Blue Ocean Nutrition, Spain – “The Vision of the Final Beneficiary in Relation to the Opportunities for Interregional Cooperation”.

In the session “Opportunities for Interregional Cooperation in the Blue Economy”, reports were presented by:

• Lila Pera, Department of Marine Studies, University of Piraeus, Greece – “The BlueAir Project”.
• Marta Nello, Professor at the Department of Geography at the University Rovira i Virgilio, Tarragona, Spain and Alba Font, Researcher at the Department of Geography at the University Rovira i Virgilio – “The Blue Spaces and Coastal Wellbeing Project”.
• Javier Remiro, Sustainable Blue Economy Zone, Fundación Biodiversidad, Spain – “Funding opportunities related to the blue economy”.

The working session on creating an interregional network and generating possible projects for the blue economy with a European dimension ended with “Concluding Remarks” by Juan Antonio Duro, Vice-Rector of Economy, Infrastructure and Institutional Relations, Rovira y Virgil University, Tarragona, Spain.

Each speaker had 15 minutes to present the strategy/initiative, followed by a moderated discussion. The interest in the report on Burgas was great and it gave the participants the opportunity to get to know an active place for life and business, effectively using its potential for balanced and sustainable integrated development, with preserved local identity and access to a modern, resource-efficient, climate-adaptive and competitive economy, ensuring intelligent economic growth, spatial connectivity and access to services.

Материалът Interregional Meeting with Bulgarian Participation “Approaches for a Sustainable Blue Economy” Was Held in the Spanish Province of Tarragona е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

The conference brought together Network partners, representatives of EU institutions, and key external stakeholders to discuss how the Network’s business support services can best meet the evolving needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a representative of the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub (DigiHub), which is part of the pan-European network, Mrs. Ina Agafonova took an active part.

The opening session was webstreamed live and openly accessible to the public. The Network’s Twitter and Facebook accounts provided regular updates about the conference.

The conference has three main objectives:

1. Exchange ideas on how the Network can contribute to the European industrial transition.
2. Share best practices to improve the quality and visibility of the Network’s services.
3. Foster cooperation and synergies among Network members.

 Sessions wере revolve around four main strands: the Single Market and beyond, the industrial transition, innovation, and quality, as the overarching theme is: “New Network, new realities, new impact”.

Reports and discussions on the industrial transition reinforced the idea that:

• The sustainable and digital transition is at the core of European industrial transformation and the new portfolio of EEN services thanks to the newly established EEN Sustainability Advisors and digitalisation services.
• Businesses will need to transform their business models and operations to support circularity of materials, resource and energy efficiency, as well as using new technologies and data most effectively.
• The global scale impact of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have shown the importance for the European industry to strengthen its resilience to political and economic changes by increasing businesses capacity to react to sudden disruptions in the value chain.

Sessions explored how the EEN can continue to evolve to support this transition, including exchanging best practices.

In terms of the Single Market and beyond, the strengthening of the single market was discussed, which is crucial to strengthen the EU’s preparedness for value chain disruptions arising from external shocks. Reinforcing the Single Market is crucial to strengthen EU’s preparedness to value chain disruptions originating from external shocks. The EEN has already helped a lot SMEs get the best out of the Single Market, but more can be done. Tapping the potential of regions and European Regional Development Funds is also an integral part of this renewed effort to support access to the Single Market. Facilitating SMEs’ access to third markets is a key element of the service offer of the EEN including with the newly appointed International Network Partners who can facilitate commercial partnerships between European SMEs and companies in other continents. Sessions took a look at how these services can continue to improve and how the EEN can play a role in the EU’s Global Gateway.

With new EU funding instruments fully operational, such as Horizon Europe and its EIC, the Network has the opportunity to really make a difference and help SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups make the most of their innovation potential. Opportunities for innovation exist in many areas, from circular economy to digital technologies, from energy efficiency to bioeconomy. During the sessions, it was discussed how the EEN can best help SMEs benefit from these opportunities and the different tools and approaches available.

To improve the quality of EEN’s work Internal tools, improved operation management and strategic collaborations can strongly contribute to a better performance of the Network and thus deliver a stronger impact. In particular, collaborations with other European networks, such as EDIHs and European clusters, and cooperation with national and regional stakeholders are to be sought. Sessions took a look at best practice with a particular focus on improved communication and visibility.

The participants of the Enterprise Europe Network 2022 annual session came together around the following conclusions:

1. With the European economy dealing with the cumulative shock of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, it is vital that the services offered by EEN partners evolve to meet these challenges.
2. This means a stronger focus on the industrial transition: sustainability, digitalisation and resilience.
3. It means a continuous effort to improve SMEs’ access to the Single Market and global markets – including better integration within regions.
4. It means harnessing the power of innovation to support these goals and notably the twin transition.
5. And it means raising quality across the renewed Network to deliver the maximum impact in a way that is most visible to SMEs and stakeholders.

Материалът Enterprise Europe Network Annual Conference 2022 е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

The event will be held on November 5 at the International Congress Center – Burgas from 9:00 to 17:10 in compliance with the anti-epidemic measures.

The conference is organized by the Municipality of Burgas and Sofia Tech Park in partnership with the Professional Association of Robotics and Automation (PARA), ICT Cluster – Burgas, the School Board at the Vocational School of Computer Programming and Innovation – Burgas, Industrial Logistics Park – Burgas, Southeast Digital Innovation hub, University “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov ”- Burgas, Burgas Free University, American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria.

Speakers at the event are prominent representatives of business, academia and industry associations involved in robotics and digitalization.

In one of the panels of the conference the chairman of ICT Cluster Burgas Petko Georgiev will present the project “Southeast Digital Innovation Hub”, which aims to support the development of digitalization in the Southeastern region of Bulgaria. The hub will help companies find the right experts, advisors and IT solution providers in Bulgaria or in other European countries that can help them define and succeed with their digital transformation. Digihub is part of a pan-European network of digital innovation hubs.

After the end of the conference will be celebrated the 5th birthday of ICT Cluster Burgas, an organization that unites over 30 of the local technology companies and works actively for the development of the digital ecosystem in Burgas.

The event is sponsored by mobile operator A1, Telelink Business Services and FANUC Bulgaria.

In connection with the epidemic situation and the risks of spreading COVID 19 in the Republic of Bulgaria and worldwide, the organizers monitor the situation daily and will create the necessary organization for strict compliance with anti-epidemic measures during the conference and its accompanying activities.

Program and free registration – https://burgasdigital.com/

Материалът Southeast Digital Innovation Hub – partner in pilot edition of technology conference Burgas Digital 2021 е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.

Материалът Leading experts from Brussels present horizon Europe at Burgas Free University е публикуван за пръв път на Southeast Digital Innovation Hub.