Sofia Tech Park and Yashnabad Technology Park in Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan will cooperate in realization of projects in both countries in the field of science, education, entrepreneurship, activities for development of innovative communities and start-up companies.
The Memorandum of understanding between both Technology Parks has been signed by the Executive Director of Sofia Tech Park Todor Mladenov and the Vice Minister of development of innovation of Uzbekistan Azimjon Nazarov in the presence of the Vice President Elor Ganiyev. The delegation visited the first Science and Technology Park in Bulgaria on September 12th during the fifth Intergovernmental Bulgarian-Uzbek Commission for economic and science and technology cooperation.
The agreement provides workshops, trainings and specialized seminars to be organized between the two parks for scientists, researchers and engineers on both sides to exchange experiences on current topics. The teams will share information and knowledge on the planning and development of the two parks, as well as in the area of scientific and technological transfer and innovative industries. The two countries will work together to promote joint projects, international internships and joint networks between research institutes and businesses in the two fields.We are working to create the much-needed link between science and business that will lead to the creation of successful innovative products or services that will support the country’s economy,” said Sofia Tech Park Deputy Chairman Kostadin Petkov. He explained that the idea behind creating a science and technology park, with its individual components, was to cover all ages – from students to undergraduate and graduate students, through start-up businesses and mature companies, to leading scientists and professionals in the various fields who to build together and develop a community and ecosystem that is already happening on the territory of Sofia Tech Park.
“Bulgaria has proven to be an interesting startup destination. We are proud of our software engineers who have established themselves internationally as one of the most highly qualified. The merit of attracting large investors in Bulgaria who realize high value-added projects in our country is to a large extent ”, Mladenov said. He stressed that it is of great importance to motivate young people in our country to pursue entrepreneurship in the context of global competition. It was also pointed out that Bulgaria is at the forefront in terms of high quality internet connectivity.
Our partnership can be extremely fruitful in the field of joint work in various research and training of personnel, as well as in the development of innovations,” Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Elor Ganiyev said. He was interested in the opportunities of Uzbek scientists and entrepreneurs to use the equipment and scientific expertise of the leading Bulgarian scientists from the 11 high-tech laboratories of Sofia Tech Park, as well as the amount of experience in setting up new R&D units in Uzbekistan.
The delegation had the opportunity to visit two of the laboratories from the Laboratory complex of the Bulgarian Science and Technology Park – the Cybersecurity lab and 3D prototyping lab to get acquainted with their activities, as well as with the projects implemented by their teams. The Executive Director of Sofia Tech Park Todor Mladenov emphasized that, in addition to the opportunities for creation of basic science, training of students, doctoral students and other specialists, the laboratories are prioritized to assist in the development of innovative and high-tech business projects. The delegation also visited the Incubator building, where 11 startup companies are currently implementing their projects. The guests were also impressed by the exposition of the TechnoMagicLand Interactive Children’s Center of Sofia Tech Park, built from over 40 interesting and fun experiments.