Bulgarian Liaison Office for Research’s Post

🇧🇬💶 Bulgaria on the Rise: A Thrilling European Chapter Ahead It was a pleasure to take part as a guest panelist at the recent IHK Munich event focused on doing business and investment opportunities with Bulgaria and Romania. A standout moment was the engaging discussion on Bulgaria’s planned adoption of the Euro on January 1st, 2026 – a milestone that signifies more than just a currency change. I emphasized that this move is a powerful vote of confidence in Bulgaria’s economic trajectory, and an important step in deepening our integration into the European Economic and Monetary Union. The benefits for investors and businesses are clear: 🔹 No more currency risk – simplifying cross-border transactions 🔹 Better financial predictability for businesses 🔹 Reduced conversion costs, leading to faster and more efficient payments 🔹 Deeper access to EU markets 🔹 Improved financing conditions through lower interest rates and greater capital access 🔹 Boost for tourism by removing exchange burdens and making price comparison easier But what’s even more exciting is Bulgaria’s transformation into a high-tech innovation hub: 💻 Top 3 in the EU for ICT sector contribution to GDP (nearly 7%) 🌐 Among the Top 10 countries globally for internet speed 👩💻 A young and skilled IT workforce, with 50% under the age of 35 🤖 Home to one of the six European AI factories – a €90M investment in Sofia 🧠 The INSAIT Institute – Bulgaria’s bold commitment of €85M over 10 years to build a world-class center for computer science, AI, and technology 🚀 Strategic incentives for SMEs to digitize and innovate 📈 Strong support via the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – backing R&D, digital transformation, and tech education This is the #Bulgaria of today – dynamic, future-oriented, and determined to lead in Europe’s digital and economic evolution. Grateful to IHK für München und Oberbayern for hosting such a forward-looking discussion and to all participants for their insightful contributions. Let’s keep the conversation going — the future is being built now. 🇧🇬🇪🇺 Photo: Stefan Baumgarth #Bulgaria #Euro2026 #DigitalTransformation #InvestmentOpportunities #Innovation #AI #TechLeadership #IHKMünchen #EUintegration #FutureofEurope #ICT #SoutheastEurope

Insights from VDS 2025 - Competing with the USA and China The panel explored a question that hits every founder in Europe: Can we really compete with the speed, funding, and scale of the US and China? The answers came down to three essentials - less friction, stronger narrative, and global mindset. The continent is rich in innovation but poor in ease. Founders still spend more time navigating systems than scaling them. The panel with Chris Broad, Alvaro-Miguel Cabrera (AMC)✅ .•., Lilach Dominguez, and moderated by Andres Ubierna, broke it down clearly: speed comes from simplicity, belief comes from story, and competitiveness comes from thinking beyond borders. The US moves fast because its systems allow it. China scales through alignment. Europe still hesitates between the two - a place of brilliance slowed by fragmentation. The next leap won’t come from chasing their playbooks, but from fixing our own: make it easier to build, clearer to communicate, and faster to collaborate across borders. That’s how Europe competes - not by copying Silicon Valley, but by connecting its own. ✦ What do you think Europe needs more right now - SPEED, SIMPLICITY, or STORY?

🇪🇺🤝🇯🇵 #EU and #Japan to Finalize Horizon Europe Association in 2025 The European Union 🇪🇺 and Japan 🇯🇵 reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen research and innovation (R&I) 💡, agreeing to conclude negotiations on Japan’s association to #HorizonEurope and related EU programs by the end of 2025. This will enable Japanese researchers to participate equally with EU counterparts in the 2026/2027 Work Programme, especially in Pillar II, which focuses on global priorities 🌍 such as climate 🌱, energy ⚡, mobility 🚗, digital 💻, industry 🏭, space 🚀, and health 🏥. At the Science and Technology for Society Forum in #Kyoto 🏯, both sides welcomed the Expert Group report on Advanced Materials, identifying five shared priority areas: construction 🏗️, energy ⚡, mobility 🚄, electronics 📱, and data-driven R&D 📊. These recommendations will guide joint projects and policy dialogues. Japan has been a strategic EU partner in R&I for over two decades, with agreements dating back to 2011, a Joint Vision in 2015, and a Letter of Intent in 2020 ✉️, supporting joint funding 💶, researcher mobility 🌏, open science 🔬, and collaboration on global challenges 🌎. Horizon Europe’s 2025 work programme includes two topics worth €60 million 💰 for cooperation with Japan, focusing on innovative advanced materials in construction 🏗️ and manufacturing 🏭.

Japan’s entry into #HorizonEurope marks a new chapter in global #ResearchCollaboration. So far, 84 organisations have joined 169 projects, a modest start that could grow fast once Japan gains full access in 2026, strengthening #Science and #Innovation ties between #Europe and Asia. 📌 Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/dyWfcd-M

Europe is losing the race and here’s why. I’ve built companies all over the world and was involved with 26 unicorns globally. Nowhere else is the gap between talent and leadership as big as in Europe. And that’s exactly why we’re losing the race. 👇 Europe doesn’t lack talent. We have brilliant engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs. But we’re trapped in a system led by people who have never built anything. They talk. They analyse. They write reports. And then they call for more reports. And even more meetings and discussions. That’s not how you build successful companies or countries. Our EU leadership is not democratically elected. Their main goal often isn’t to serve citizens, but to climb to the next political position. No accountability. No ownership. And they are extremely well paid for maintaining this system. The ones who rise are the best at lobbying and speaking, not at building or executing. Meanwhile, our real builders are leaving. They go where they can innovate freely, move fast, and actually get things done. The problem starts at the top, not at the bottom. If we don’t change this structure soon, Europe will continue to slide down slowly at first, then faster. You can already see the early signs everywhere. More and more Europeans are losing trust in the system, frustrated by endless promises and no real progress. People feel unheard, and that frustration will only grow unless we start fixing the root cause. At the same time, more and more meaningless regulations are being created. Rules that slow down innovation instead of enabling it. We need fewer rules, not more. We need an environment where talent can experiment, innovate and grow, and where investors are encouraged to support those who build the future. Investing in innovation should never be punished; it should be rewarded. It’s time to bring builders, engineers and entrepreneurs into leadership. People who understand technology. Who decide, execute and take responsibility for outcomes. Only then will Europe stop talking about the future and start creating it. ⚡

Maybe add Canada to the growing list of countries that have invested more in process than solutions. Canada was once a thriving space for innovation but lost a complete decade on languages (Regulatory Tsunami) and totally kept the economy (or what was left of it) on the back burner. Great comments from Kees Koolen

I largely agree with this. European companies and institutions need to put more engineers in charge. More leadership must be deeply technical.

Excellent post, it says what many of us think but rarely express. We need more builders, engineers, and entrepreneurs in leadership. People who understand technology and delivery. Engineers and technical experts must be valued, engaged, and trusted. AI and technology are technical fields (we need less AI talks by non-experts). They require technical leadership. Yet experts are often undervalued and overburdened when they succeed. Still, there is a way forward. We can keep pushing boundaries, improving systems, and opening new paths for innovation. That means decentralising AI, reducing computing costs, and building open, distributed infrastructure that empowers people to create. Luckily, the rise of TinyML technology is a good step, affordable, accessible, and full of potential to accelerate adoption. If we want an environment where we thrive and our children and the next generations prosper, we need to change.

There is much that is true in this post. And I suspect not much new. We lobby on this topic via Bio Deutschland and BDI I am always surprised in my discussions with politicians by the responses I receive when I raise the issue of private pension funds for all Europeans... at least as a buffer for the state pensions They all say it is a non-starter... This despite the fact that it works very well in many countries The success of the US start up scene is very much pension fund driven. And then I ask about the positive effects of sovereign wealth funds with a Venture quota as a way of driving innovation... and hear that this is a definite non-starter in Germany. And then, when you look at the trajectory of demographics... And see that having children is surprisingly complicated for mothers who want careers. And I ask why is this so difficult to change and realise no real reform is proposed anywhere. Or consider the difficulties of raising retirement ages for different classes of workers...even though we are, as a population, fitter than ever (I have worked 43 years and I will need to work another 15-20 years to afford to retire) Or the fact that things like finding treatments for lethal diseases needs to be made even more complicated by a system more interested in innovating in barriers to entry by making GxP even more demanding than to trying new treatments - most of our time is spent writing applications for the right to do something, an experiment, a development, a building, a lab, a safety level, ethics permission, a right to use a technique... let alone finding money for any of it. Much of our working life in Europe is spent dealing with entities who wish to slow you down and we spend vast amounts of money slowing down pharma and biotech entrepreneurs because these processes are somehow established to do this, and anyway the public health system supposedly cannot afford any of it. but it is still possible to release first person shooter computer games with no proof that they are harmless, or launch snack foods full of addictive flavorings with no consideration of the harm they do. So, my dream is that we as a society think more about making innovation easier and not harder.

This perfectly captures Europe's innovation paradox. The world-class talent is being suffocated by a risk-averse leadership style that is more process and less action.