site.btaNew Strategy Under JEREMIE Prioritizes Competitiveness, Talent and Technology Transfer

The new investment strategy of the JEREMIE initiative brings together the European themes of competitiveness, the EU's strategic autonomy and the EU's global leadership in attracting talent, said Marjut Falkstedt, Chief Executive Officer of the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, speaking at a briefing in Sofia on Tuesday.

Falkstedt attended earlier in the day the forum "JEREMIE Bulgaria: New Opportunities" at Sofia's Hilton hotel, where the new investment strategy of the initiative for the country until 2035 was presented. EIB Vice President Marek Mora and the leadership of the EIB Group's office in Bulgaria were also present at the media briefing.

Falkstedt said that competitiveness, the EU's strategic autonomy and the retention and encouraging of talent in the EU are interconnected themes. She explained the existing points of contact between them in the new strategic horizon for the country.

The goal set for addressing the issue of talent, in her words, intersects with another one - accelerating the processes of technology transfer. Both of these are linked to the ability of companies, and of the ecosystem of equity and venture capital funds, to grow through the European Tech Champions Initiative, Falkstedt said. She described this interconnection as visionary.

Speaking about the effort to create European champions, she said that at this stage Bulgaria will be the only country from Central and Eastern Europe to take part in several pan-European initiatives during the ten-year strategic horizon of JEREMIE.

The development in the country of technologies for defence and cybersecurity will be encouraged through the capital mechanism of the EC and the EIF in the field of defence, aimed at creating fund managers in the defence sector, Falkstedt pointed out.

She went on to note that nothing can happen without the presence of infrastructure, the framework that encourages entrepreneurs to develop their companies. She highlighted the need for digital infrastructure, energy infrastructure and mobility, describing them as key to the development and competitiveness of the economy. She referred to the opportunities opening up under the Three Seas Initiative, which aims at the infrastructural connectivity of the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. According to Falkstedt, connectivity is one of the pillars of the new investment strategy under JEREMIE for Bulgaria.

Taking a question from BTA about how the entrepreneurial and investor ecosystems in Bulgaria will overcome during the new ten-year period the limitations they face at their current stage of development, so as to move to the next one, Falkstedt highlighted the success and the experience accumulated so far by the country in creating early-stage companies and later start-ups. The many good examples of new companies are, in her words, proof of that.

Despite this, growth-stage investment is very limited, and if Bulgaria wants to become a European leader, a champion, it will require a much more substantial resource – the investment needs are much greater. And it is precisely this "gap" that needs to be addressed, she continued.

The EU is the best incubator for start-ups for all foreign investors, but it should strive to become the best incubator of start-ups for its own investment in Europe, Falkstedt concluded.

According to the discussion at the forum earlier in the day, the first instrument to be developed under the new ten-year horizon of JEREMIE for Bulgaria will aim to encourage technology transfer and deep-tech, and will amount to EUR 80 million.

EIB Vice President Marek Mora outlined at the briefing the main highlights in the EIB Group's work in Bulgaria in 2025. He also pointed to the priority areas for the EIB in the country. These are the green and digital transitions; the energy transition and, more specifically, the decarbonization of the Maritza Basin and the joint work with Bulgaria's National Electricity Company on creating a portfolio of pumped-storage hydropower plants; healthcare; and support for small and medium-sized enterprises in cooperation with commercial banks.