Guess what happens when you bring together trendy topics such as innovation and technology, abundant European funds and public administration in Bulgaria? Instead of the expected Technology&Innovation Network - the name of the newly built Tech-park in Sofia, the result is a dysfunctional real estate facility.
Four kilometers from the city center lies the first science and technology park in Bulgaria, where startups, scientists and established business were supposed to work together on product innovations. Consisting of eleven high tech laboratories, a startup incubator, event and entertainment centers, the Technology&Innovation Network was expected to be the place where new prototypes and disruptive models come to life and boost economic growth. The investment in this bright future, better known by the name of its owner - state-owned company Sofia Tech Park, was about 50 million euro, which all came from the European structural funds.
All this looks great on paper, but more than a year after the opening there seems to be no plan for the further development of the already built facilities. May be even more disturbing is the fact that the Ministry of Economy, which is the owner of Sofia Tech Park, seems incapable of finding the right management for the park as it changed four CEOs only in 2016.
No expertise, no plan
As at the beginning of 2017 the only functioning part of Sofia Tech Park is the Incubator for Startups. Almost 30 companies, which was the target by the time of the opening, already have rented offices in the building and work there. In the original plan those companies were supposed to be supported with different legal, marketing and accounting services which would have facilitated the creation of a real startup ecosystem. So far, there has been no sign of that.
The Ministry of Economy decided to reverse course and opened a tender in December 2016 for a professional manager of Sofia Tech Park. The competition however was not communicated to a broader audience and strangely, the terms of reference address facility managers instead of organizations with relevant know-how in the startup business.
Moreover, there is no plan to develop the above mentioned eleven laboratories. Each of them has a team of scientists from different universities and the whole complex should be managed by a separate council, consisting of representatives of business and academics. As Sofia Tech Park needs to approve every decision this council makes, it has been unable to validate an action plan yet. There is no information on when and under what conditions the laboratories can be used. So, they are not.
Silent chaos
Faced with poor financial results, as the only revenues come from rents in the Incubator and the event center, Sofia Tech Park started selling rights to build on its area to private companies. The EU funding comes with the prerequisite that only R&D and technology companies will build their centers there. This was the case with the first private investor, Walltopia, which bought the right for 1.6 million levs (800,000 euro) in 2014 and already moved in their new office together with two software companies - SAP and Software AG. However, in 2016 Sofia Tech Park started negotiations with construction companies. Few details are known, because this process was not publicly announced.
All the chaos and non-transparency were blamed on the Ministry of Economy, which seems not to understand the idea of a government-supported innovation center and operates it as an office park. After the GERB-led government resigned in November last year, the current caretaker Minister of Economy Teodor Sedlarsky, as member of the academic community, has the chance to improve the negative reputation of Sofia Tech Park by replacing its management board. If not, Technology&Innovation Network may continue stagnating for an indefinite period of time and Bulgaria may face fines from the EU for improper use of funds.
Guess what happens when you bring together trendy topics such as innovation and technology, abundant European funds and public administration in Bulgaria? Instead of the expected Technology&Innovation Network - the name of the newly built Tech-park in Sofia, the result is a dysfunctional real estate facility.
Four kilometers from the city center lies the first science and technology park in Bulgaria, where startups, scientists and established business were supposed to work together on product innovations. Consisting of eleven high tech laboratories, a startup incubator, event and entertainment centers, the Technology&Innovation Network was expected to be the place where new prototypes and disruptive models come to life and boost economic growth. The investment in this bright future, better known by the name of its owner - state-owned company Sofia Tech Park, was about 50 million euro, which all came from the European structural funds.
