Bulgarian Minister of Innovation Milena Stoicheva discusses Bulgarian startups in the space industry with Thierry Breton

The Bulgarian Minister of Innovation and Growth, Milena Stoicheva, held a working meeting today in Brussels with the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton. At it, the two discussed the possibilities for the development of Bulgarian start-up companies in the space sector and high technologies, as well as cooperation in the field of innovation. Minister Stoycheva is in the Belgian capital, where she participated in the 16th European Space Conference. Ivanka Tasheva, deputy permanent representative at the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria in Brussels, also took part in the meeting.
"Bulgaria has a huge potential for development in the space sector. It is for this reason that we put it as an emphasis in our policy. One of Bulgaria's strategic goals is to become an associate member of the European Space Agency," Minister Stoycheva emphasized during the conversation. She noted that Bulgaria's accession to NASA's Artemis Agreements is historic and will provide a number of opportunities for Bulgarian companies and academia to access space programs and projects. She also highlighted the successes of the Bulgarian companies "Endurosat" and "Dronomakis", which are an example of the possibilities and capacity of Bulgarian startups. According to her, by creating a favorable environment for the development of the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem, Bulgaria will increase its competitiveness and capacity for the development of innovations and new technologies.
The Minister of Innovation and Growth emphasized that among MIR's priorities are the attraction of high-tech investments and the development of research and development activities in the sectors of information and communication technologies, mechatronics and microelectronics, industry for a healthy life, bioeconomy and biotechnology, circular and low-carbon economy.
Minister Stoicheva and European Commissioner for the Internal Market Breton also discussed the inclusion of Bulgaria in the Chips Joint Undertaking, which will finance the measures under the European Legislative Act for Integrated Circuits (European Chips Act). According to Breton, participation in the procedures will provide access to various financing and co-financing opportunities for companies from the sector.
The Minister of Innovation and Growth also noted the creation of the first open language model adapted to Bulgarian - BgGPT, by the world-renowned Bulgarian Institute for Artificial Intelligence INSAIT. "Bulgaria has some of the best talents and our main goal is to develop the country's ecosystem and innovation capacity," said Stoycheva.
For his part, Thierry Breton emphasized the importance of building software production capacity for quantum technologies in Europe and stronger support for joint projects of startups and European industrial companies to create new solutions. /BGNES