Bulgaria's government will invest EUR 50 M from EU Operational Program "Competitiveness" into the planned hi-tech park in Sofia, Deputy Economy Minister Evgeni Angelov said.

Angelov presented Thursday the government's concept about what will technically become the first Bulgarian hi-tech park at the first annual conference entitled "Forum Sofia – Sustainability: More Than Green", an event organized by the Bulgarian Green Building Council, a NGO.

The future Sofia hi-tech park was announced in November 2010 by Kiril Nikolov, CEO of the Bulgaria's State Company "Industrial Zones" in an interview for Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency); the hi-tech park is intended to be built within the future industrial zone in Bozhurishte near Sofia, to be managed jointly by the governments of Bulgaria and China's Zhejiang Province.

Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism Angelov explained Thursday that an altered approach to the EU funds in question, i.e. switching from considering various competitive projects to investment into one pilot project, will boost the chances of the Sofia hi-tech park for success.

The hi-tech park in question is supposed to provide at one location all necessary infrastructure in order to guarantee the successful creation and implementation of technological solutions with business applications, Angelov said.

"The future hi-tech park will focus precisely on the implementation of innovative products," he explained.

He added that five major areas that correspond to the government priorities in Bulgaria's industrial development will be featured by the Sofia hi-tech park, namely: information and communication technologies (ICT), "green" technologies, healthcare and medicine, agriculture and foods, and industrial production technologies.

Some of the EU funding in question will be invested into specific projects to be realized within the future hi-tech park. In addition to the ground for the development of innovative ideas, the park will feature various business services – financial, legal, accounting, mediation, management, training, etc., Angelov said.

"Sofia has been selected as the spot of the park because it concentrates in one location various business activities, scientific potential, good logistics, and communication infrastructure. Subsequently, such projects can be realized elsewhere in the country," Angelov said in his presentation.

In his words, the construction of the Sofia hi-tech park should kick off in the first half of 2012.

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