Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency is a governmental institution with the Minister of Economy of Republic of Bulgaria. All the activities, provided through the Agency are strongly connected with the national based strategies related to the government policy for improving the competitiveness of the industry, which are:
The National Strategy for Promotion of SMEs
The Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specialisation of the Republic of Bulgaria
Operational programme ‘Innovation and Competitiveness’ (OPIC) is the main program document at national level outlining the support for the Bulgarian SMEs. The Programme follows the objectives set out in the strategies above. Since the Political instrument is created on the basis of the both strategies, our suggestions are for changing the strategies in order to influence the instrument.
After discussions with the stakeholders involves the Managing Authority of the OPIC (the Political Instrument), taking into account the good practices of the projects, three action points were outlined:
1. Establishment of RIS3 Monitoring Unit charged with monitoring of the implementation of the strategy in 2018
2. Creation of National Energy Management Information System
3. Elaboration of National Strategy for Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises 2021 - 2027
Interview with the Bulgarian Stakeholder
1. Introduction
Eng. Antoniya Novakova, Head of Climate and Energy Department, Sofia Municipality, Bulgaria.
Experience - Expertise in Green European Policies and Programs.
The department activities are related on creation and upgrading of plans, programs, strategies and regulations of the municipality focused on energy sector, limitation, maintenance and adaptation to climate change.
2. Sofia Municipality: Ecological and energy efficiency
As with most of the major European cities, Sofia faces the challenges of Climate change and its impact on every field of our lives. The Sofia Municipality policies on Climate change are focused on two main areas - Climate change mitigation by implementing measures to limit CO2 emissions and Adaptation to the ongoing and irreversible Impact of Climate change.
As a part of Covenant of Mayors Community for Climate and Energy, Sofia is committed to reducing CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 and 40% by 2030. Since 2011, Sofia Municipality has been implementing a number of projects and measures in order to increase energy efficiency in municipal buildings as well as other areas of significance as transport, street lighting and waste management.
Change of the energy end-users behavior, along with raising awareness and engagement of civil society, remain one of the most significant challenges related to the local authority’s commitments. This is the reason these two are among the main priorities of the Municipality in the field of energy consuming efficiency. In order to overcome the challenges, the municipality has planned and implemented a number of information activities and demonstration projects.
3. Good practices and its potential for implementation in Sofia Municipality
Save@work is a practice with great potential for multiplication in the local conditions context. The concept of achieving energy savings without investment costs but by modification of the building users` behavior and habits has a great added value. The initiative demonstrates how the personal example could have a positive impact on society, achieving a higher level of efficiency and quality of life.
