On March 8th, 2023, a meeting was held in Burgas between representatives of the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub and the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the “Hello, Cosmos! Speaks Bulgaria!” festival, which is organized by the national Space & STEAM cluster and the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria.
The Atlantic Club in Bulgaria was established in 1990 with the mission of working towards the full integration of Bulgaria into Euro-Atlantic structures and strengthening the unity, security, and defense capability of the West. Their focus is on the role of young people in imposing a new vision in Bulgaria, NATO, and the EU, and recognizing the importance of the transatlantic relationship for the security of Europe. The club has expertise in policy innovation and is dedicated to exploring how innovation can help reform global security, international relations, and democratic governance.
The Southeast Digital Innovation Hub provides one-stop services for SMEs and the public sector to access the right experts, advisors, and IT solution providers. They are part of the European Network of Digital Innovation Centers and have played a key role in the development of the National Strategy for Regional Development, as well as the Integrated Territorial Strategy for the Development of the Region (2021-2027).
The meeting discussed the “Hello, Cosmos! Speaks Bulgaria!” festival, which has had two successful editions in 2021 and 2022. The festival aims to increase participation of children in science and technology and promote STEM education. The next edition is planned for June 29th, 2023 in Sofia Tech Park, and the festival organizers hope to expand the event by including more children and locations outside of Sofia. The Southeast Digital Innovation Hub sees Burgas as a city that invests a lot in the development of science and technology and plans to include children from the “Alexander Georgiev-Kodjakafaliyata” elementary school to talk about their STEM Space Research Center.
The meeting ended with a discussion of future cooperation between the Southeast Digital Innovation Hub and the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria. The chairmen of both organizations, Petko Georgiev and Dr. Solomon Passi, expressed their desire to continue working together to promote innovation and education in Bulgaria.
