An advertising video of biscuits shows a kid, trying to be smart and refusing a treat to his dad with the words: “No - because you are not ready yet”. In the same vein we should ask ourselves “Are Bulgarian companies ready to compete for funding with EU business?” We try to find the answer within the frameworks of an explanatory business conference, organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce /BCC/ with the idea to deal with the issues of the accession to EU funding of small and medium-sized enterprises /SME/, accentuating on innovations.

The new thing is that our companies and inventors can apply directly online, without having to go through Bulgarian administration under the Horizon 2020 EU programme, with a term by end-2020 and a budget of EUR 80 bln. A special module has been developed for SME, with budget to the tune of EUR 3 bln.

“The directions that recruit innovative projects with the goal of funding are: IT and telecommunications, nanotechnologies, medical appliance, integrated green transport, energy systems with no carbon emissions, production of organic food, innovative materials etc", commented Mr. Pierre Roubaud, head of the Trainings sector for SME under the Horizon 2020 programme.

However, requirements appear to be quite tough.

“Some 88 percent of projects this year didn’t meet the criteria and the success of the programme is rather poor. A project should meet several criteria, in order to step on the funding path, as this funding might reach 70 percent of the cost of the project. The idea should be innovative, with no analogue for the EU. Besides that its economic effect should be undisputed and it should open new jobs,” Mr. Roubaud goes on to say.

The “excellent students” funding absorption under the SME programme with Horizon 2020 are companies from Ireland with 20 percent of successful projects, Austria /15%/, Great Britain /11%/, Israel /10%/ and Spain /9%/. Enterprises from Hungary, Greece and Romania mark pretty good presence there as well. Only 1 Bulgarian project out of 30 has met the criteria in the green transport area, but has been rejected later. The case has been referred to the European Court of Arbitration.

The questions asked by the audience only confirmed the gap between Bulgarian managers and their colleagues in the other EU member-states. Representatives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences expressed their concern that their ideas might get stolen during the application process. Business representatives set the automation of production as a prerequisite for the opening of new jobs and increasing the company’s profit. The answer explained once again that the programme aimed at the funding of innovations, and also suggests the opening of new jobs, in order to be implemented.

If we look for the reason why Bulgaria and its business absorb such a small part of EU funds, we could say that the different attitude of mind sets the two different velocities in Europe, despite equal other conditions. The Bulgarian economy is strongly in need of investments and the EU offers a lot of opportunities. The question is whether we have the scope, responsibility and the artistic potential to offer competitive projects.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev