Innovation is a key tool reflecting a nation’s ambitions for the future, President Rumen Radev said at the opening of the 15^th National Innovation Forum "Innovation and Economic Growth". According to him, Europe is lagging behind the world innovation leaders - USA, China, Japan, and Korea, where innovation is a national policy, while in his words "Bulgaria is still among the timid innovators in Europe". Innovators have difficulty in finding access to funding and in implementing their projects. Bulgaria is not only far from the European average for R&D, but also it does not meet its own goal - 1.5% of the country’s GDP, Radev noted. The main investor in this area is the Bulgarian business sector and foreign organizations, not the Bulgarian state. The president also called for an even distribution of research and development activities across the country, instead of concentrating them in only a few centres.