Centro Nacional de Huracanes en Miami

This sub-chapter deals with cooperation at EU level, including associated countries.

4.2.1 Joint programming, research agendas and calls

Bulgaria participates in a number of transnational cooperation initiatives, strengthening both the competitiveness of the national research performers and their collaborative capabilities. One of the leading strategic co-alignment projects is the country participation in the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), in practice a multilateral (and macro-regional) strategy developed by the Commission in cooperation with 14 countries in the Danube region. Significant results are expected in the innovation related areas, especially Priority Area 07 "To develop the Knowledge Society (research, education and ICT), Priority Area 08 "To support the competitiveness of enterprises", Priority Area 09 of the EUSDR "To invest in people and skills" and Priority Area 10 "To step up institutional capacity and cooperation", coordinated by the City of Vienna (Austria) and Slovenia.

Bulgaria has been involved in 30 joint calls (NETWATCH). It supports also a number of bilateral and multilateral initiatives. Under the collaborative Swiss programme145 _for scientific exchange with the new EU member-states, for example, about CHF6m have been invested in thematic priorities such as: eco-farming, agriculture and forestry and waste management, social disparities and regional inequalities, and research into new medication forms. Norway grants stimulate green industry innovations146_.

The research performers in Bulgaria, and in particular BAS, are involved in the COST initiative, which is coordinated by MES. Bulgaria has been a leader in the nanotechnology COST Action with 28 participating countries. Bulgarian researchers have taken part in collaborative Actions in 11 thematic research areas, which include 414 Action initiatives. Among these are the following actions: Food and Agriculture (FA) – 69 Actions; Materials, Physics and Nano-Sciences (MPNS) – 57 Actions; Forests, their Products and Services (FPS) – 50 Actions; Earth System Science and Environmental Management (ESSEM) – 48 Actions; Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health (ISCH) – 48 Actions; Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) – 43 Actions; Transport and Urban Development (TUD) – 23 Actions; Trans-Domain Proposals – 6 Actions; and Targeted Networks – 4 Actions. The country participation in COST could prove to be beneficial not only because of direct collaboration, but also because it creates long-lasting partnerships and opportunities for further project development, e.g. related to Horizon 2020.

Similarly, the Bulgarian participation in ERA-NET is relatively strong147_{. Concerning the} joint programme initiatives, the country participates as observer only in one of the 10 on-going initiatives, namely ’Cultural heritage and global change: a new challenge for Europe’ (ERA). Considering the priorities outlined in the National Research Development Strategy (e.g. energy, green and eco-technologies, bio-technologies and bio-foods, health and quality of life), Bulgaria may need to consider in the future the opportunities to join and support initiatives, such as: FACCE-JPI (on agriculture, food security and climate change), Urban Europe (on eco-friendly and intelligent intra- and interurban transport), or JPI Climate (on alternative energy systems) and JPI ‘More Years, Better Lives’. MoE coordinates Bulgaria’s participation in two Article 185 initiative(s) – EUREKA and EUROSTARS. Although the government approved Bulgaria’s participation in 2009, the declaration of the country's accession was signed in June 2010, and the Parliament adopted the Law on Ratification in 2011, opening the application process for Bulgarian companies for funding (EUREKA).

145_{http://swissbgcooperation.bg/} 146_{http://eeagrants.org/}

147 _{State of the Innovation Union, Taking Stock 2010-2014, COM(2014) 339, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the}

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Currently, the NIF rules are amended and their finalization is expected to provide new opportunities for Bulgarian companies and research institutes to obtain funding under the EUROSTARS joint programme (Article 20), whereby the match-funding and costs for participation are covered by the budget of NIF. The Bulgarian institution that is responsible for the organization and coordination of participation in EUREKA and EUROSTARS is BSMEPA, operating under MoE. Additional effort is needed in this respect, since multi-party consortia are approved to implement projects and if the Bulgarian side cannot cover its share of co-financing, international initiatives may be endangered or halted.

There are three successfully completed projects with Bulgarian participation, and seven currently running, three of which are looking for new partners (EUREKA). The successful EUREKA projects are in the field of electronic devices, healthcare and medicine, environmental treatment, and also IT management systems, agri-food, advanced materials, technological innovation in tourism, leisure and cultural sectors.

Bulgaria has also demonstrated high interest in KIC-InnoEnergy and Climate-KIC148_{, two} of three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) created in 2010 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Bulgaria is a member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Science Foundation (ESF) (members are BAS and SRF), the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather (ECMWF) and the European Space Agency (10th ESA European Cooperating State since signing of the Plan for European Cooperating State (PECS) Agreement in April 2015149_).

In addition, Bulgaria is implementing its third Country Programme Framework (CPF) 2012-2017, which defined the reference for the medium-term planning of technical cooperation between a Member State and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the priority areas:

 Sustainable energy development

 Human Health

 Rural Development and Environment

 Governmental, Legal and Regulatory Framework for Safety.

4.2.2 RI roadmaps and ESFRI

Bulgaria has followed the procedure for evaluation of the scientific infrastructure, its categorisation and the selection and approval of Bulgarian consortiums for integration into the European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The NRI Roadmap was updated in 2014. Through the ESFRI mapping, Bulgaria has nine approved research infrastructure consortiums, which include a large number of participating research organisations and a budget of €93.268m (NRP 2014) for its implementation until 2019. The implementation of the integration process is coordinated by MES. The infrastructure consortiums, integrating science and technology capabilities, have strategies co-aligned with European consortiums. The infrastructure consortiums are planned to be managed through mid-term R&I programmes, governed by international boards of experts, with the inclusion of NGOs to ensure the socio-economic application of the scientific results:

 National University Complex for Biomedicine and Applied Research – member of BBMRI (Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure) since 2010 and aiming for integration with EATRIS (European Advanced Translational Research Infrastructure for Applied Medicine)

148_{http://www.cleantech.bg/}

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 Centre for Advanced Microscope Analysis for Fundamental and Applied Research in the Field of Biology, Medicine and Biotechnology (EuroBioImaging)

 Infrastructure for Sustainable Development in the Field of Marine Research (Euro- Argo, as well as EuroARGO (global monitoring of the oceans and seas), EUROFLEETS, JERICO, SeaDataNet, DANUBIUS-RI, FixO3, EMSO and MyOcean)

 Energy Conservation and Carbon Energy (member of the European Energy Research Alliance [EERA], as well as other European consortiums such as EU PVTP, SmartGrids, Biofuels, EHC, EuMAT, and ERTRAC, Logistics)

 National Centre for High Performance Distributed and Cloud Computing (EGI.eu (the energy grid) and PRACE)

 European Social Study for Bulgaria (ESS-ERIC)

 National Interdisciplinary Research Infrastructure for Resources and Technologies for the Bulgarian Language and Cultural heritage (CLARIN (electronic linguistic models) and DARIAH)

 Regional Astronomy Centre for Research and Education (ASTRONET, OPTICON and the European South Observatory)

 National Cyclotron Centre in the field of nuclear medicine, nuclear physics and energy, radiochemistry, and radio pharmacy.

Five additional infrastructure projects are prioritized at national level:

 Advanced Material Technology Research and Manufacturing Facility with Application to Conservation Technologies (INFRAMAT)

 Innovation Research in Agriculture and Food

 Alliance for Cell Technologies (EATRIS)

 National Geo-Information Centre (EPOS)

 Eco and Energy Saving Technologies.

The national budgets (€484,000 for 2015 and €510,000 for 2016)150 _{and the envisaged} balanced combination of institutional and programme funding from national and European sources, including MES allocation, SRF, Horizon 2020, as well as OPSEIG, OPIC, and OPRD, have not been implemented yet. The key indicators to measure success are quantitative measures, such as: number of publications of Bulgarian researchers/scientific research units in international journals; number of patents per 100 thousand residents; number of international projects, developed at the centres of excellence and competence centres; number of international projects with Bulgarian researchers involved151_.