The local administration in Plodviv has helped Bulgaria's second-largest city position itself as a key center for manufacturing, IT and outsourcing, Deputy Mayor Stefan Stoyanov has said. 

Stoyanov, who is in charge of education, business development and international cooperation, is one of the four Bulgarians selected in the New Europe 100 ranking - a list of 100 changemakers in Central and Eastern Europe selected by Warsaw-based journal Res Publica, Google, state-supported Visegrad Fund and the Financial Times. 

"Of course, this is a great responsibility, but also an evaluation of the work of Plovdiv municipality in general over the past 5 years," he has told Novinite, commenting on what brought him into the prestigious ranking.

"We want more for our city and this is why we are constantly looking for and implementing new policies. Let me remind you that Plovdiv has positioned itself as the biggest industrial center with the biggest number of companies from the automotive industry. We have positioned the city as a second national center for the IT and business processes outsourcing [BPO] industries and have drawn in a number of companies into the city. On November 21, the third national conference Outsourcing Destination Bulgaria begins. Plovdiv has been selected as European Capital of Culture 2019. We have fully changed the city's image."

"What I am mostly glad about, however, are the changes we have brought about in the education system, which are not that visible but are extremely important to the system and have made a good impression to the ranking's organizers."

"The implementation of Montessori pedagogy in public kindergartens at the moment is one of the biggest programs in Europe we will train over 130 teachers by the end of 2017. We are helping schools to implement innovations in teaching, we are introducting Google apps for education and Windows 365, we have started a new software engineering program jointly with the Plovdiv University of Paisiy Hilendarski and have attracted ethnic Bulgarians from Ukraine and Moldova. And this is only part of what we do." 

The New Europe 100 list is a selection of people and organizations changing the region's societies, politics or business environment and displaying innovation, entrepreneurialism and fresh approaches. Nominations came from national institutions, think tanks and the public.

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