Bulgaria

Bulgaria spans 111 thousand square kilometers and has 6.4 million people. Most, 72.5%, reside in urban areas. The employment rate for the working-age group stands at 70.7%. Agricultural land occupies 54.5% and forests 38.5% of the country’s territory. Nearly 38.2% of it is under protection. Leading sectors are services, contributing 67.6% of the GDP, industry at 28.9%, and agriculture at 3.5%. Bioeconomy accounts for 7% of GDP and 23.6% of employment. Agriculture and food processing are dominant, followed by forestry and woodworking, biotextile, biochemical and paper industry.

Bioeconomy Policy Framework

The initial legal document for developing bioeconomy policies is the Updated Bioeconomy Strategy of the European Commission (EC) from 2018. At the beginning of 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food adopted a Strategy for Strengthening the Role of the Agrarian Sector in the Bioeconomy. Later, the Council of Ministers adopted a Strategy and Action Plan for the Transition to a Circular Economy of the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2022-2027, which contains activities related to the circular bioeconomy.

Under the BIOEAST Initiative and the BIOESTsUP project, a Bioeconomy Concept Paper was developed, which identifies key strategic directions for priority industrial sectors of the bioeconomy. As a follow-up, a draft Bioeconomy Strategy was elaborated and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Current bioeconomy strategies and development trends

The establishment of the BIOIEST HUB – Bulgaria under the BOOST4BIOIEST project, will contribute to updating existing strategic documents and supplementing them with a Bioeconomy Action Plan.

visit the Bulgarian HUB

BIOEAST HUB – Bulgaria was established with the support of the BOOST4BIOEAST project, funded by the Horizon Europe program. It is a dynamic national platform, uniting stakeholders – representatives of state authorities, research institutions, business and civil society, designed to promote cooperation, innovation and sustainable development of the bioeconomy.

BIOEAST HUB – Bulgaria is a forum for promoting the exchange of knowledge and experience, capacity building and participation in the formation of macro-regional, national and local policies. It is a center for supporting Bulgarian start-ups and a catalyst for innovative solutions, opening doors for cross-border partnerships and cooperation projects.

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Bioeconomy related projects

  • Rural BioReFarmeries Project – HORIZON-JU-CBE, Duration: December 1, 2024, to November 30, 2028; (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/projects/rural-biorefarmeries)
  • SurfToGreen Project (Bio-based sustainable SURFactants TO foster GREEN industry)- HORIZON-JU-CBЕ, Duration: October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2029; (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/projects/surftogreen)
  • CEE2ACT Project (Empowering Central and Eastern European countries in developing national bioeconomy strategies and action plans) – HORIZON – CSA, Duration: September 1, 2022, to August 31, 2025; (https://www.cee2act.eu/)
  • Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems – Plovdiv, European Bioeconomy Policy Forum; (https://www.au-plovdiv.bg/en)
  • MainstreamBIO Project (Mainstreaming small-scale Bio-based solutions across rural Europe) – HORIZON-CSA, Duration: September 1, 2022, to August 31, 2025; (https://mainstreambio-project.eu/)
  • BIOLOC Project (Biobased and Social Innovation to Revitalise European Local Communities) – CEI – Central European Initiative, Duration: October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2025;

National contact point

The BIOEAST Initiative’s National Contact Point (NCP) is the Agricultural Academy within the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. One of the NCP’s main roles at national level is to interact and coordinate the national views with other bioeconomy related ministries.

The main contact points for Bulgaria are:

  • RASIMIRA KANEVA (Agricultural Academy)
  • ANTOANETA GINOVA (Permanent Representation to the EU)
  • NINA YOLOVA (Agricultural Academy)

Address

Legal address

Agricultural Academy

Sofia, 1373 30 Suhodolska Str.

Contact

k_kaneva@agriacad.bg

Antoaneta.Ginova@bg-permrep.eu

njolova@agriacad.bg

ssa@agriacad.bg

Useful links

Agricultural Academy

Institute of Agrarian Economics

Ministry of Agriculture and Food

Ministry of Education and Science