site.btaInnovation and Growth Minister Takes Part in Three Seas Business Forum in Bucharest

The region can be a leader of a new wave of innovations, and Bulgaria and Romania have a good base for high-tech investments, and can attract world players who can transform the sector,  Bulgaria’s Innovation and Growth minister Milena Stoycheva said as she addressed a business forum held within the Three Seas initiative in Bucharest Wednesday and Thursday.

She dwelled on the ways in which the existing technological gap in European countries could be overcome. In her words, it is necessary to build a network for coordination between the countries, as well as common strategies.

“The business forum is a historical opportunity for the countries in the region and the potential new members of the Three Seas initiative to change their prospects for growth by investing in digital connectivity”, Stoycheva said. She urge the countries to think about where they want to go – “as countries, as a region and as Europe”. “Let’s create frameworks. And to position the region as a player,” she added.

According to Stoycheva, the countries in the region need to use the basis of their economies, the IT talent and education, in order to foster innovation and the instruments such as the Investment Fund, the newly created Innovation Fund, and organizations such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development can help in this direction.

Also participating in the innovation panel were the Romanian Minister for Research, Innovation and Digitalization, Ivan Bogdan-Gruia, OECD Deputy Secretary General Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, as well as representatives and experts from international companies and NGOs.