1 December 2007
ECAbit member and infoDev grantee ARC Fund Bulgaria, jointly with the Ministry of Economy and Energy, the Bulgarian Industry Association and Bulgarian Academy of Science, the World Bank office in Bulgaria and with the kind support of the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency organizes for the fourth time since 2004 a National Contest for Most Innovative Enterprise of the Year. The annual Innovative Enterprise of the Year Award acknowledges Bulgarian enterprises for successfully introducing innovations or scientific results to transform their operation modes and achieve sustainable economic impact.
The entrepreneurship and business environment in Bulgaria continues to improve in line with the overall growth of the Bulgarian economy. Lasting macroeconomic stability has provided conditions for company growth and the establishment of productive partnerships for innovation. Yet, certain microeconomic factors, such as high entry barriers, low competitiveness and unfair competition, high market concentration, low protection of property rights, etc. continue to hinder the development of the Bulgarian innovation system and, thus the competitiveness of Bulgarian enterprises in the EU.
The Innovation Index of the Bulgarian enterprises (developed by ARC Fund) indicates that most of them (over 65%) have not implemented any innovations over the last year. The index illustrates the low ability of the Bulgarian companies to combine several types of innovations, it likewise illustrates that mostly innovations with low degree of novelty are introduced (novelties primarily within the company or on the national market but not on the international one). The average value of the innovation index for the Bulgarian innovative companies is 56.1. The highly innovative companies, i.e. those which score above 56.1, are less than 4% of all Bulgarian enterprises.
A company is considered to be innovative if it had developed and marketed new or advanced products (goods or services) and/or processes over the last three years. Innovation is defined in broader terms as application of new approaches or technologies that improve the economic performance and competitiveness of the respective company.
The innovation performance of participant companies will be evaluated by an expert panel against a set of criteria and data collected on the basis of a special application form – an entry questionnaire which companies willing to participate in the contest have to complete and submit at ARC Fund by 17 December, 2007.
**********
For more information about the 4th National Innovation Contest in Bulgaria, please visit the contest website.