Silvia Stumpf | Bulgaria
DIGITAL REGIONS project was amongst the instruments to ignite the faster growing of the national I4.0 ecosystem in Bulgaria by increasing industry 4.0 awareness and preparing the implementation of the future measures related to specific support of I4.0 financing measures.
Through the exchange of ideas, good practices and common interregional cooperation exercises the project enlarged the stakholders' knowledge about possible concepts to speed up the spreading of I4.0 technology solutions on all levels of industrialisation and mainly in smaller and medium enterprises.
Within DIGITAL REGIONS project BAA was focused at creating favourable conditions for setting up a network of Demonstration Centers for Digitalization. During the implementation of the Action plan it became obvious that all kind of improvements related to better conditions for more I4.solutions in Bulgarian industry are inextricably linked to the initial amendment and improvement of RIS3. Guided by this understanding, BAA team initiated proactively the engagement of key players and stakeholders to start the procedure for amending the BG RIS3 with the inclusion of external experts based on the interregional experience gained within DIGITAL REGIONS and other Interreg Europe projects.
BAA ensured the centers to be included in the activities related to the next steps for industrialisation of Bulgarian economy in the RIS3 2021-2027. This is the first step for planning next actions related to designing supporting measures. As member of the RIS3 working group BAA submitted suggestions for including the actions into Bulgarian RIS3 - ISIS -for enabling their realisation into both National Structural Funds Programmes for investments in growth and jobs – the Program for Competitiveness and Innovations in Enterprises and the Program for Scientific research, innovation and digitization for intelligent transformation. They have been included in the section for Industrialisation of Bulgarian economy of the last approved version of RIS3 2021-2027. The document was adopted by Decision No. 1015 of the Council of Ministers dated 15.12.2022. The inclusion mentiones two types of demonstration platforms in two sections of the RIS3 - Section 6.3. Continuity of the entrepreneurial discovery process and Section 6.4. Actions to manage industrial transition in the country.
The action is based on the good practices from regions participating in DIGITAL REGIONS project, The interregional learning throughout the project interactions resulted in designing the needed amendment of the RIS3 to stimulate the adoption of of I4.0 practices, products and services and to boost the conditions for additional uptake of I4.0 solutions among Bulgarian SMEs. The measure enriches the RIS3 and would complement and amplify the already planned groups of actions in PCIE. The amendment resulted from learning from the the extended use of existing high quality I4.0 innovation capacity in participating innovation leader/strong regions. It is an output of the interregional learning process for Bulgaria as a modest region to accelerate adaption and availability of I4.0 technology and solutions.