Hristina Bakardzhieva

Sofia Tech Park JSC (STP) is the first science and technology park in Bulgaria, created with the aim to be established as a platform for exchange of knowledge and ideas between the academic field, the business, the government and the society. STP’s aim is to establish Sofia Tech Park as a prestigious location for world, regional and national researchers and innovation companies, giving a clear example for the knowledge economy in Bulgaria and throughout the Balkans. The priorities include the support of competitiveness of science and entrepreneurship in Bulgaria through the improvement of the exchange of knowledge between academic field and the business, by providing assistance to start-ups and innovation ideas and to catalyse the commercialization process of scientific research. The infrastructure of the park includes: • Incubator for innovative start-ups companies offers co-working open spaces for start-ups and SMEs where they can share knowledge, build peer-to-peer managerial and scientific capacity and develop their products and solutions; • an Innovation Forum hosting thematic events; • a Laboratory complex for research and development; • a TechnoMagicLand to spark the interest in technology and sciences in children. The Laboratory complex is one of the key elements of the park, consisting of 11 laboratories and managed by an independent Research and Development and Innovation Consortium. The laboratories provide opportunities to the academic field and the business to develop their own scientific projects, as well as the development of products and services with the help of the laboratory teams, so that they can reach successfully the market. STP’s mission is to unite the efforts of the business and science, by focusing mainly on development and implementation of projects in the three focal points of the park – ICT, life science and clean energy