Bulgaria President Invites Google, HP, Cisco to Sofia Tech Park

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, who is on an official visit to the US, has met with senior officials of Google, Hewlett Packard and Cisco. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, who is on an official visit to the United States, has said that giants like Google, Hewlett Packard and Cisco will help Bulgaria develop the concept of Sofia Tech Park and the subsequent implementation of the project.

The announcement was made after Plevneliev's meetings in a NASA Research Center and in the laboratories of Google, HP and Cisco, according to reports of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

Plevneliev described the technological park in Sofia as a platform for entrepreneurship and innovations in the sphere of information and communications technologies.

The Bulgarian President told journalists that the concept, the terrain, the strategic partners and the financing structure of Sofia Tech Park would be clear by the end of 2012, with some mechanisms of the project already operational.

Plevneliev voiced hopes that the scheme would encourage Bulgaria's talented and highly-educated nationals to implement their ideas in their home country.

Bulgaria's head of state explained that he was hoping that the government would take the decision for the terrain of Sofia Tech Park in a month.

The slot earmarked for the project is on the 4th kilometer intersection of the Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd in Sofia and is currently owned by the Ministry of Defense.

Plevneliev suggested that the turning of the first shod would take place in the second half of 2013.

"By end-2015, Sofia Tech Park should be operational, including the office building, the technological center and the museum. We should be ready with the first stage of the project by then," he noted.

Plevneliev made clear that Bulgaria's Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism was to set up a company that would be the beneficiary under the Competitiveness Operational Program.

He added that some BGN 100 M in EU funding had already been earmarked for the project.

Plevneliev stressed that the Sofia Municipality, the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", the Technical University of Sofia, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and NGOs and employers' associations would unite efforts to create conditions for the development of information and communication technologies with the available financing.

He noted that the senior officials of the three IT giants and of NASA were very well acquainted with Bulgaria's potential and with the country's development strategy by 2020.

Plevneliev announced that the executives of the IT giants had been positive that Sofia Tech Park had a certain source of funding.

"However, we need strategic partnership, which is the purpose of the current visit to the US. We came to seek partners, and we found them," the Bulgarian President concluded.

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