At the annual Innovations BG forum, President Rumen Radev called for a new model of financing of innovations, especially at SMEs.

“Bulgaria is in 37^th position in the Global Innovation Index 2020. This is a marked improvement on 2012, whereas in development of the digital infrastructure the country is among the fastest developing business hubs in Europe,” President Radev said.

“But the country is still being placed among the “timid innovators” of Europe. Even though the planned national expenditure for research and development is 1.5% of the GDP, in 2019 it amounted to only 0.84%, whereas inthe EU countries it is over 3% of the GDP,”President Radev said.