I have not had much time to shop around, since I became a minister. And it is a terrible feeling that everybody look you in your hands, even when you buy basic products, said Traycho Traykov a few days ago. Indeed, at the expense of personal finances, the Minister of Economy and Energy has to pay far more attention to the spending of the institution entrusted to him. And the expenditure for the next year are far from negligible – BGN430.4 million, or almost double the money for 2011.
Most of them – BGN226.4 million will be allocated to promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. While it may look a solid amount, it vividly illustrates how far the country is from other European countries in its efforts to aid small businesses. For the country not being able to absorb the money allocated under the Competitiveness programme, the Banker has repeatedly warned. Hopefully the necessary conclusions are made because next year the the small businesses will be granted BGN225.95 million under the programme.
The remainder of the money will be for innovation – although it is quite minimal and does not correspond with the commitments the country has made. According to Europe 2020 Strategy, Bulgaria has envisaged to increase investment in science, research and development, so that by 2014 it can reach 1.06% of GDP, and in 2020 – 1.5% of GDP. At present, the initial steps will be quite modest. Over the next year the implementation of the first projects under the European Initiative Eureka began. It is a system of mechanisms which offers services to find a business partner, information dissemination and other service industries, research organizations and universities for cooperation in the field of applied technology research.
Again in 2012 the Eurostars programme will be launched, which will stimulate international collaborative research and innovation projects by easing access to finance for companies developing new products, technologies and services. Its budget is EUR400 million, EUR100 million of which coming from the European Commission and the rest – from national budgets of the countries participating in. These funds are expected to mobilize additional EUR400 million in financing from the private sector. Bulgaria has committed itself before the European Commission to allocate at least 0.5 million each year for Eurostars in which it is a member only in September this year.
Otherwise, to attract and encourage investment, some BGN15.5 million is expected to be allocated. Intentions are really good – this smart investment will focus on the knowledge triangle – education, research and innovation, with increased investment in production and services of high added value, creating thus new jobs for highly educated and skilled staff and increasing the competitiveness of defence industry enterprises and their integration into the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base and the development of offset mechanisms.
In the field of energy the most money isprovided to encourage the production and consumption of renewable and alternative energy sources and biofuels. To this end, the sum is BGN60 .18 million, almost all coming from European funds.
