site.btaFinding Path to Real Support for Innovators Discussed in Sofia

On Friday, the last day of the Green Transition Forum 5.0: Competitiveness and Innovation in Central and Eastern European Countries, participants in the session From Policy to Practice: What European Innovators Need outlined the main challenges and necessary steps. The conditions for the successful development of European innovators and their business models require targeted actions, clear priorities and a supportive environment, the speakers said.

The forum is taking place at the Sofia Event Center and is organized by the Green Transition Forum and Dir.bg, with the Bulgarian News Agency as media partner.

The speakers at Friday’s session united around the need for a favorable environment for emerging and developing businesses.

"The question is how to accelerate innovation," Irina Obushtarova, co-founder and strategic advisor at The Recursive, said. According to her, unnecessary barriers should be avoided, and policies should be aimed at creating better conditions for innovators.

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund, said the goal is to implement investments as quickly as possible. "2.1 billion is the amount that our colleagues from the European Investment Bank have already negotiated," she said. According to her, the fund is becoming one of the largest investors in Europe, with the planned funds reaching nearly EUR 5 billion.

Stefan Tzalov, investment manager at the European Investment Fund, emphasized the growth and good liquidity of enterprises. "So far, we have invested over EUR 45 billion across Europe," he said. One of the problems, according to him, is the insufficient liquidity of stock exchanges, which makes it difficult to secure capital. In Central and Eastern Europe, access to capital is difficult, which is why many companies migrate to Western Europe and the US at an early stage of their development, Tsalov explained. The fund's team is developing partnerships in Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, he added.