INFORMATION SOCIETY, DIGITALIZATION AND INNOVATIONS:BULGARIA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
INFORMATION SOCIETY, DIGITALIZATION AND INNOVATIONS:BULGARIA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Summary/Abstract: It is inevitable that XXI century is marked by the development of the information society and the digitalization. Most of the innovations in every area are related to the introduction of new digital technologies. The information and communication technologies (ICT) contribute to more innovative methods of work for the individuals, companies and the states. The role of the latter is rather important as the environment it creates plays a significant role on the ICT usage among the individuals and companies. The information society provides numerous and diverse information and educational resources, available at any time and place. This leads to a fundamental change in the environment, habits and expectations. Furthermore, the digitalization of the society is also significant topic in the recent years. In fact the digital tools are not just a support to various sector, but rather they cover every area of life. This caused the necessity countries to develop digital policies as a response to the challenges and opportunities of the digitalization. In 2014 it was adopted Strategy for the effective implementation of information and communication technologies in education and science of the Republic of Bulgaria (2014-2020) and at the end of 2019 Bulgaria adopted National Program “Digital Bulgaria 2025”. The digitalization is tightly connected to the introduction of innovations. Last decades have been marked by the rapid development of innovations in various areas, namely industry, technology, communication, science, education, etc. It is indisputable that innovative practices can significantly improve the functioning of the area, in which they are implemented. The European Union (EU) also set the priorities of the Union for its digital development. As concerns the economy, the EU describes small and medium-sized enterprises as ―the backbone of Europe's economy‖ thus this makes them rather significant for examination. However, the EU member states have different stage of digitalization and innovation. Thus, the purpose of the current study is to identify the level of digitalization and of innovations in Bulgaria compared to other EU member states. The methodology, used to achieve the purpose include secondary processing of quantitative data from Eurostat and the Global Innovation Index, and comparative analysis. The results show that the level of digitalization and innovation across EU member states may differ, but on every indicator Bulgaria holds one of the last positions. Thus, we can conclude that the country still has challenges in various areas and must apply the opportunities for their digitalization, including education and economy (SMEs in particular). This gives ground to recommend more efforts of the authorities in supporting the digitalization and implementation of innovations in every area, including E-government

• Details
• Contents