Operational Programme Development of the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy 20072013

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Operational Programme Development of the
competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy
2007-2013
Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion
Agency
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OP Competitiveness

• One of the seven operational programmes
  financed by the Structural and Cohesion Funds of
  the EU
• The overall amount of public expenditure
  under the OP is 1.162 bil. euro ERDF and
  national budget

?P Competitiveness ?P Regional
development ?P Human resources ?P
Administrative capacity ?P Transport ?P
Environment ?P Technical assistance
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OP Competitiveness
Knowledge-based economy and innovations
Development of competitive enterprises
General Objective Development of dynamic
economy competitive on the EU and international
markets
Increase of investment and export
Improvement of business environment
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OP Competitiveness
PRIORITY AXES

• 1. Development of knowledge-based economy and
  innovation activities
• 2. Increasing efficiency of enterprises and
  promoting supportive business environment
• 3. Financial resources for developing
  enterprises
• 4. Strengthening the international market
  positions of the Bulgarian economy
• 5. Technical Assistance.

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Priority axis 1 Development of a knowledge-based
economy and innovation activities
Area of intervention 1.1. Support for innovation
activities in enterprises
Area of intervention 1.2. Improvement of the
pro-innovative infrastructure
Overall amount of project financing under
Priority Axis 1 246 500 000 ?uro or 21,2 ?f
the ?RDF funding for OP Competitiveness.
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Priority axis 1 Development of a knowledge-based
economy and innovation activities
Under this priority innovative projects of
Bulgarian enterprises in the following areas will
be financed

• Support for the creation and development of
  innovative start-up companies
• Support for creation and commercialization of
  innovations by enterprises (pre-competitive and
  commercialization stage)
• Support for increase of the share of RD
  personnel in enterprises
• Support for protection of the industrial property
  rights (national, European and international
  application and registration of patents, utility
  models, trade marks and designs incl. Community
  Trade Mark, Community Design).

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Priority axis 1 Development of a knowledge-based
economy and innovation activities

• Creation of new and development of existing
  pro-innovative infrastructure - various types of
  Business Support Organisations that offer
  pro-innovative tailor-made advisory services to
  innovative start-ups and existing innovative
  enterprises (technology transfer centres,
  technology incubators, technology platforms,
  technology parks, etc.)
• Support for modernization of applied research
  equipment
• Creation of national innovation network.

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Priority Axis 2 Increasing efficiency of
enterprises and promoting supportive business
environment
Area of intervention 2.1 Improvement of
technologies and management in enterprises.
Area of intervention 2.2 Creation of business
support infrastructure.
Area of intervention 2.3 Promotion of
energy-saving technologies and utilization of
renewable energy sources.
Area of intervention 2.4 Support for business
networking and clustering.

• Overall amount of project financing under
  Priority Axis 2 593 837 780 ?uro or 51,1 ?f
  the ?RDF funding for OP Competitiveness.

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Priority Axis 2 Increasing efficiency of
enterprises and promoting supportive business
environment

• Under Priority Axis 2 the following projects will
  be supported

• Upgrade of technologies in enterprises - support
  for investments in modern tangible and intangible
  assets, aiming at improvement of their business
  performance and expanding their operations,
  improving management, introducing new products,
  services or processes, etc.

• Achieving compliance with internationally
  recognized standards - design, implementation and
  certification of international Quality Management
  Systems, introduction of environmental management
  systems and standards (EMAS), IT based management
  systems, GMP, etc.

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Priority Axis 2 Increasing efficiency of
enterprises and promoting supportive business
environment

• Support for creation and partial maintenance of a
  network of Business Support Organizations (BSOs)
  - the network will provide a wide range of
  information and consultancy services to both
  start-up and existing SMEs (general business
  consultancy on starting up and running a
  business, business planning, marketing, financial
  management, legal advice, etc)
• Creation of regional business incubators
  setting up and running incubators, financing
  limited infrastructure interventions and
  equipment (refurbishing and modernization,
  equipment acquisition) and management costs .

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Priority Axis 2 Increasing efficiency of
enterprises and promoting supportive business
environment

• Introducing energy-saving technologies in
  enterprises
• Introduction of renewable energy resources
  satisfying the needs of the enterprise (wind and
  solar energy)
• Promotion of business networking and clustering
  - groups of companies and bound up institutions
  that are in a certain business interrelation
  (suppliers, producers, service providers,
  universities, branch organizations etc.).

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Priority Axis 3 Financial resources for
developing enterprises
Overall financing under Priority Axis 3 200 mil.
?uro or 17 the ?RDF funding for OP
Competitiveness.
Under Priority Axis 3 financing will be provided
for development of funding instruments (guarantee
funds, micro-loan funds, venture capital funds)
for SMEs and more specifically granting an
access to risk capital for activities that
traditionally are not to be financed by the
banking institutions due to their high level of
risk.
The financial instruments established will focus
mainly on micro enterprises, start-ups,
innovative enterprises, SMEs lacking credit or
long-term business history, SMEs not possessing
high-quality collateral, etc.
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• Priority Axis 4 Strengthening the international
  market positions of Bulgarian economy

Overall amount of project financing under
Priority Axis 4 87 mil. ?uro or 7.5 ?f the
?RDF funding for OP Competitiveness
Projects in the following areas will be financed

• Projects for promoting Bulgaria as an investment
  destination information for attracting foreign
  investors, image-making and marketing campaigns,
  PR activities (leaflets, brochures, CDs, TV
  spots, audio-commercials, printed advertisements,
  etc.)
• - beneficiary Invest Bulgaria Agency
• Development of integrated information system in
  support of foreign investors and for provision of
  service packages for investment purpose
• - beneficiary Invest Bulgaria Agency.

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• Priority Axis 4 Strengthening the international
  market positions of Bulgarian economy

• Providing quality information of foreign markets
  to Bulgarian enterprises - development and
  maintenance of Internet-accessible data bases,
  development and maintenance of a system for
  automatic business matchmaking, development of
  analyses (regional, sector-oriented, legal
  frame-oriented, best practices, etc.),
  
• Encouraging SME participation in international
  specialized fairs, exhibitions, and trade
  missions
• Improvement of the image (branding) and the
  export potential of Bulgaria - development of a
  Strategy and Action plan for improving the image
  of Bulgaria, production and distribution of PR
  and promotion materials.
• - beneficiary BSMEPA.

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Operational Programme CompetitivenessManagement
Structure
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How does it work
MANAGING AUTHORITY
Call for Proposals
Beneficiaries

• Sending the project proposals to the IB
• Evaluation by an independent expert Committee
• Signing a contract with the CA
• Advance payment (if envisaged)

Carrying out of procedures for selection of
sub-contractors by the beneficiaries.

• Implementation of project activities and
  preparation of interim
• reports by the beneficiaries
• Checks by the MA and IB concerning the
  implementation of activities
• and the expenditures made (project monitoring)
• Interim payments
• Final report and final payment.

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27 Regional Offices of BSMEPA
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Managing Authority

• Ministry of Economy and Energy
• European Funds for Competitiveness Directorate
• (MA of OP Competitiveness)
• tel [phone]
• fax [phone]
• www.opcompetitiveness.bg www.mee.government.
  bg

Intermediate Body
Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion
Agency (BSMEPA) tel [phone]
00 www.sme.government.bg www.ibsme.org
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• Thank you for your attention!