Research and innovation policy: towards smart specialization for economic development of Bulgaria
Research and innovation policy: towards smart specialization for economic development of Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: The discussion is about a formation of an smart specialization as a core policyfor contemporary economic development of Bulgaria under the acceleratingglobal changes in the applied technologies. The main problem of this policy isdefining its purpose, priorities and criteria for their determination within thespecific national research and innovation promotion policy, characterizing andestimating the policies, applied in Bulgaria to promote scientific research andinnovations during the first programme period 2007 - 2013 from the EUmembership of Bulgaria as well as their effect on the innovation performanceof the country. The analysis is based on the EC and national frameworkregulatory documents and on the results of the Operational Programme"Competitiveness" at the end of the programme period. The reliability of theconclusions is achieved by means of various methods of evaluation of theresearch and innovation promotion policies. It is proven, that the objectives ofthe current research and innovation policy have not been achieved, mainly dueto the lacking scientifically verified national concept on the development ofeconomy, as a result of a deficiency in the economic theory and theinadequate research potential. The concept and the policy has been developedin view of the smart specialization of Foray, that has become a generator of thenew EU approach in generating the innovation policy during the secondprogramme period until 2020, applied as defined in Regulation (ЕU) 1300/2013.It turned out, that the application of this programme in Bulgaria encounteredbarriers, that could be overcome by means of nationally based approach. Finallyrecommendations are defined for targeted policies to promote research andinnovation policies for smart specialization for innovative development of thecountry as well as to update the formulation of objectives in the NationalDevelopment Programme for the period 2014 - 2020.

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