Transcript OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME “DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPETITIVENESS

Bulgarian Small and Medium
Enterprises Promotion Agency
Operational Programme
“Development of the
competitiveness of the Bulgarian
economy 2007-2013”
OP “Competitiveness”
ОP “Competitiveness”
ОP “Regional development”
ОP “Human resources”
One
of
the
seven
operational
programmes financed by the Structural
and Cohesion Funds of the EU
ОP “Administrative capacity”
ОP “Transport”
ОP “Environment”
ОP “Technical assistance”
The overall amount of public expenditure
under the OP is 1.162 bil. euro – ERDF
and national budget
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
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.
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
еuro or 21,2 % оf the ЕRDF funding for OP “Competitiveness”.
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 R&D 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).
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.
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
еuro or 51,1 % оf the ЕRDF funding for OP “Competitiveness”.
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.
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 .
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.).
Priority Axis 3 “Financial resources for developing
enterprises”
Overall financing under
Priority Axis 3: 200 mil.
еuro or 17 % the ЕRDF
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.
Priority Axis 4 “Strengthening the international market positions
of Bulgarian economy”
Overall amount of project financing under Priority Axis 4: 87 mil. еuro or 7.5
% оf the ЕRDF 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, audiocommercials, 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.
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
exhibitions, and trade missions;
in
international
specialized
fairs,
 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.
Operational Programme “Competitiveness”
Management Structure
ОP “Competitiveness”
Managing Authority (MA) – МoEE,
European funds for Competitiveness
Directorate
Priority Axis 1
Priority Axis 2
Intermediate Body BSMEPA
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries
Priority Axis 3
Monitoring
Committee
Priority Axis 4
Direct management
by MA
Beneficiaries
Priority axis
5
How does it work…
MANAGING AUTHORITY
Call for Proposals
Beneficiaries
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sending the project proposals to the IB
Evaluation by an independent expert Committee
Signing a contract with the CA
Advance payment (if envisaged)
 Implementation of project activities and preparation of interim
Carrying out of procedures
reports by the beneficiaries;
for selection of sub-contractors
 Checks by the MA and IB concerning the implementation of activities
by the beneficiaries.
and the expenditures made (project monitoring);
 Interim payments;
 Final report and final payment.
27 Regional Offices of BSMEPA
Managing Authority
Ministry of Economy and Energy
European Funds for Competitiveness Directorate
(MA of OP “Competitiveness”)
tel: + 359 2 940 75 01
fax: + 359 2 981 17 19
www.opcompetitiveness.bg;
www.mee.government.bg
Intermediate Body
Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency
(BSMEPA)
tel: +359 2 807 53 00
www.sme.government.bg ; www.ibsme.org
Thank you for your attention!