SOFIA’S NEW INNOVATION LAB HOSTED ITS FIRST WORKING SEMINAR

On September 12, 2018, an international working seminar was held for the first time at Sofia Municipality’s new Innovation Lab. The Lab was created under the Project New Generation Skills, co-financed by the Danube Transnational Programme 2014-2020. The Innovation Lab is envisioned as a center for training, consultation and mentorship to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in young people ages 15-29, offered in partnership with Sofia Development Association. The Lab is located on the 3rd floor of № 1 Serdika Street, in the Serdika branch of Sofia Library.

At this first seminar, representatives of the project consortium, which includes Belgrade, Serbia, and Maribor, Slovenia, as well as local stakeholders from municipal institutions, local youth and education groups, and the business world, gathered to share Sofia’s good practices in the sphere of youth entrepreneurship and innovations. The participants in the project were introduced by Botyo Botev – a member of the project’s Consultative Group for Innovations and Municipal Councilor on the Sofia Municipal Council. In his address, he presented Sofia as a city with a rich cultural and historical heritage tracing back millennia.

The main focus of the meeting was the execution of the project activities, as well as the good practices for stimulating youth entrepreneurship in Sofia, including the New Generation Skills Action Plan.

Four examples of programs and initiatives for stimulating youth entrepreneurship, education and employment were showcased at the seminar: the “Incubation and Acceleration Program” by the Founders Institite, the Youth entrepreneurship initiatives organized by Junior Achievement, the Sofia Hackathon and Reach for Change’s Social Entrepreneurship Academy.

The Founders Institute’s work on the largest training program for startups and talented entrepreneurs was presented by the Director of the Bulgarian branch, Milen Ivanov. Mr. Ivanov introduced the audience to the entrepreneurship training system, which offers trainees opportunities to learn from successful mentors working through specific examples, solving specially adapted tests and cases, and receiving constant feedback on their progress and achievements.

The second good practice was presented by Svetoslav Manoilov, senior expert in Business Development on the team of Junior Achievement Bulgaria, a leading organization offering innovative and modern education methods from pre-school through university. Junior Achievement’s portfolio of educational products and services, as well as the results from their work in kindergartens, schools and universities were presented, with special focus on trainings for increasing the qualification of pedagogic specialists and practical trainings for student startups.

The Sofia Hackathon initiative was presented by Denitza Lozanova, Program Director at Sofia Development Association. Sofia Municipality is the first to organize a municipal hackathon for developing innovative ideas over the past several years. This year, Sofia Municipality organized the first 24-hour Balkan Hackathon in Sofia, which gathered programmers from 9 countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Kosovo, Romania, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey and Bulgaria. They developed innovative technologies not only to promote the digital connectivity of our region, but to ensure a better future of Europe, in which no citizen will be digitally excluded. The Hackathon took place just one month after the EC – Western Balkans summit in Sofia under the Bulgarian Presidency of the European Council.

The experts then visited Betahaus co-working space in Sofia, a multifunctional, modern and convenient space for social events, seminars, work meetings, as well as intensive individual or group work. At Betahaus, Yuriy Valkovski, Executive Director of Reach for Change Bulgaria, presented the Social Entrepreneurship Academy, organized annually since 2016. The Academy is an intensive training program that offers practical know-how, tools and contacts for people starting their own social enterprise. The program includes 68 hours of training divided into three modules: Meaningful Social Change, Business Modelling, and Gaining Support. Participants in the Academy work in teams on practical cases in the sphere of social entrepreneurship. Each team is matched up with a social and business mentor, who pass on their experience and guide the participants.

Reach for Change Bulgaria is part of the international network of the Reach for Change Foundation, spanning 17 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Foundation’s mission is discovering exceptional social entrepreneurs and helping them develop innovations to improve the lives of young people on a large scale. In partnership with Nova Broadcasting Group, the Foundation organizes the social entrepreneurship competition ПРОМЯНАТА, organized annually since 2014.