Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Bulgaria

BULGARIA

NATIONAL ROADMAP FOR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE

2017-2023

JUNE 16, 2017

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

BAS Bulgarian Academy of Sciences CoE Centre of Excellence CoC Centre of Competence ERA European Research Area ERIC European Research Infrastructure Consortium ESIF European Structural and Investment Funds ESFRI European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures EU European Union IS3 Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization GDP Gross Domestic Product HEI Higher Education Institution ME Ministry of Economy MES MF

Ministry of Education and Science Ministry of Finances

NIF National Innovation Fund NRRI National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures NSRD National Strategy for Research Development OPIC Operational Programme “Innovation and Competitiveness” OPSESG

Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth

R&D Research and Development RRC Regional Research Centre SC Standing Committee

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DEFINITIONS

Research Infrastructure – facilities, resources, and related services, used by the scientific community to conduct high-level scientific research in the relevant areas, and cover large-scale research facilities, integrated small research facilities, and high-speed communication networks with high capacity, distributed high-performance computing systems such as Grid, computing systems networks, etc.; knowledge-based resources such as collections, databases, archives, and other types of structured scientific information; Centres of Competence that provide services to the wider research community, as well as every other object with a unique nature of great significance for achieving excellence in research.

Unique Research Infrastructure – facilities, research centres, and integrated complexes which have highly specialized equipment and instrumentation, offer specialized scientific service, are without analogue on a national level, and/or are a partnership structure of infrastructures, identified by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures and included in the European Roadmap for Research Infrastructure.

E-Infrastructure for scientific research –provides computing services for the scientific community.

Roadmap – a national strategic document, by which conditions are created to solve a specific problem, which outlines a vision for development in the science and innovation area. It contains specific objectives that must be achieved based on already implemented measures and instruments, provided in European documents and strategies to support the development of research infrastructure.

Research complex – a network of RI in similar areas, which may be concentrated in one campus or territorially distributed.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS...................................................................................... 2 

DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................................... 3 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 5 

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 9 

DIAGNOSTIC REVIEW OF RI AND EQUIPMENT: KEY FINDINGS ............................. 10 

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................... 13 

ESFRI AND THE BULGARIAN PARTICIPATION IN PAN-EUROPEAN RI .................. 16 

INCLUSION OF RIs IN THE NATIONAL ROADMAP ........................................................ 18 

CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 31 

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 32 

Appendix № 1: HISTORY OF NRRI DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING AND NEW RI IN BULGARIA .............................................................................. 33 

Appendix №2: METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATION OF THE ENTRY OF RIs IN THE NATIONAL ROAD MAP AS PER ESFRI CRITERIA (year 2014) ...................................... 36 

Appendix №3: CONSULTATIONS WITH STAKEHOLDERS AT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LEVELS (2015-2017) ............................................................................................ 38 

Appendix №4: METHODOLOGY FOR REVIEW AND ASSESSМЕNT OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECT FROM DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF RI IN THE NATIONAL ROAD MAP (CoM Decision №569/31.07.2014) ................................................. 40 

Appendix №5: PROFILE OF THE RI IN THE NATIONAL ROADMAP IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA ..................................................................................................... 44 

Appendix №6: STANDING COMMITTEE FOR NRRI: STRUCTURE, COMPETENCES, AND DECISION MAKING MECHANISM ............................................................................. 88 

 

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Bulgarian researchers need access to state-of-the-art scientific facilities to conduct competitive research at international level. The access to modern infrastructure is an important factor in attacting and retaining the best students, PhDs, and researchers. Research infrastructures serve also as centers for knowledge, innovation and technology transfer from research organizations to industry. Improving the research infrastructure should lead to a significant increase of the capacity of Bulgarian scientists for conducting high quality scientific research and will directly impact the development of high tech industry in Bulgaria.

National Roadmaps for development of research infrastructure are the key instruments for implementing the national research strategies and they also reflect upon the priorities of European Union. Large research infrastructures are subject to special attention at EU level because their construction and maintenance require significant financial and human resources. It often takes years before the infrastructure starts to provide benefits to the public society. This is why the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) was set up in 2002 to bring together and coordinate efforts to build and use research infrastructures within the EU, including identification of priorities for excellence with European and international impact.

The first National Roadmap for Research Infrastructure (NRRI) of the Republic of Bulgaria was adopted in 2010 by Council of Ministers’ Decision No.692 and it defined the national needs in the field of research infrastructure (RI). It is linked to the ESFRI priorities. With Council of Ministers’ Decision No.569 on 31 July 2014 the NRRI was updated by reviewing and evaluating existing and new RIs, as well as identifying those that are in line with the European priorities and outlining priorities for modernization and/or construction of new scientific facilities. Overall, several Pan-European projects were accessible to Bulgarian researchers, listed in the following table.

Bulgarian participation in Pan-European RI

2008 2010 2016 Landmarks

2016 Projects

CLARIN CLARIN CLARIN (ERIC) Actris

EURO ARGO

EURO ARGO EURO ARGO (ERIC)

Danubius

ESS ESS CTA

PRACE PRACE PRACE E-RIHS

HL-LHC EuroBioImaging

EPOS EPOS EPOS

DARIAH

The government has provided access of Bulgarian research teams to several international and European RIs through various instruments. For example, Bulgaria is a full member of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research – Dubna since 1956; associate member of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics – Italy (1985-2015); member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research since 1999. In fact, Bulgaria has delivered its financial commitments to certain RIs under the NRRI, which amount to over 30 million BGN between 2014 and 2017.

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The current challenges, which Bulgarian scientists face, are related to the sustainable development of local RIs, given the strategic national and EU financing, and their access to Pan-European infrastructures, as well as to more efficient use and promotion of benefits to society.

The present update of the NRRI 2017-2023 introduces the main research complexes in the country and their respective prioritization at EU and national level in accordance with the priorities under the National Research Strategy, the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization and the ESFRI agenda. The update has the following main goals:

Support the policies defined in the National Research Strategy “Better Science for Better Bulgaria 2017-2030”; address the priorities under the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization; and reflect upon the ESFRI agenda for creation of Pan-European infrastructures;

Define priorities for sustainable development of RIs up to 2023, by building upon the Diagnostic Review of RI and Equipment outcomes, which identified the gaps but also the potentials for smart specialization of Bulgaria through research and innovation policies;

Identify the methodology and procedure for evaluation of all existing and future RIs which seek access to the National Roadmap;

Develop a Plan of tasks, procedures and deadlines for maintaining RIs in the National Roadmap up to year 2023. Diagnostic Review of RI and Equipment in Bulgaria was completed in 2017 to

provide a basis for the update of the NRRI and for preparation of the call for Regional Research Centres (RRC) under OP SESG. The main conclusions in terms of gaps and potential for smart specialization in Bulgaria at the regional level are as follows:

North-West has a huge gap compared to all other regions as research infrastructure is available only in the healthy life industries and biotechnologies. It is crucial that this region is supported through European and national funding in the areas that have already demonstrated research and business potential. Yet, government policies need to incentivize businesses and researchers to cooperate in areas which are new to the region. North-Central does have a potential to specialize more in ICT, but the potential of using and further strengthening the research infrastructure in healthy life industries and biotechnologies is there. Therefore, there is a need to channel funding for new equipment in all three priority areas. North-Eastern does have a high specialization in the mechatronics and clean technologies areas but it could strengthen its potential also in the healthy life industries and biotech, as well as in the creative and recreational industries, where there is a priority under Bulgaria’s IS 3. South-Western stands far ahead of the other regions in terms of presence of research infrastructure in all four IS 3 priority areas. Moreover, Bulgarian research infrastructures which are integrated in Pan-European partnerships are exclusively coordinated by research institutes and universities, which are located in the capital of Bulgaria. South-Central faces the highest gap in terms of available research infrastructure and priorities under Bulgaria’s IS 3. There is a strong research infrastructure in the field of social sciences and humanities. Moreover, there is no research capacity in e-infrastructures, whereas the ICT industry is a priority area for IS3. Finally, there is a

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limited research infrastructure in mechatronics and clean technologies area, although it will be supported by OP Innovation and Competitiveness South-Eastern does have available strong research infrastructure in the mechatronics and clean technologies, as well as in the healthy life industries and biotech areas, which are also priorities in the IS 3. Limited research infrastructure in the creative and recreational industries would need to be improved.

Overall, out of the 161 research infrastructures in Bulgaria, 12 have European significance (7%), 84 have national significance (52%) and 65 have a regional significance (40%).

The long-term sustainable development of the research infrastructure will be supported in accordance with the priorities defined in the National Research Strategy 2017-2030 and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation. This strategic frame is composed of three complementary strands. First, applied research will be stimulated through investments in research infrastructure, focusing their research activities in the four thematic areas that have emerged from IS3. This will be the main focus of EU funding distributed through competitive calls under OP SESG. Second, areas of fundamental research where there are traditions and successes (e.g., natural sciences and mathematics, medical sciences, materials science, etc.), national and public interests (e.g. national security and defense, demographic challenges, etc.), will also be targeted so as to ensure the necessary scientific balance and to increase the demand for inter-disciplinary research. The RIs and equipment for fundamental research that are not included in IS3, will be financed by other funding instruments outside ESIF (for instance, under the National Science Fund or the future Executive Agency to the Ministry of Education and Science). A third, horizontal priority, will be to further improve Bulgaria's participation to Pan European Research Infrastructures and the overall contribution to international scientific community.

In the light of the diagnostic review and Bulgaria's strategic priorities, a total of 23 research infrastructure complexes (14 after the last update in 2014 and 9 new projects) were selected and included in NRRI 2017-2023.

The Centres of Excellence and Centres of Competence, which will be selected after competitive process under Operational Program Science and Education for Smart Growth (OP SESG) in 2017, and the successful projects under Horizon 2020, shall automatically enter the National Roadmap, as the European Structural and Investment Funds investments are strategic and they should be supported by state funding in a sustainable manner. Тhe Regional Research Centers to be funded under OP SESG may enter the National Roadmap, but not necessarily, as they will rather have a regional impact for the domestic economy. Yet, their sustainability will be ensured with additional financing from national sources (e.g. National Innovation Fund and the National Science Fund).

NRRI is in line with the policies and instruments, enshrined in the National Strategy for Development of Scientific Research in the Republic of Bulgaria 2030. As a result, the implementation of the NRRI is planned in three stages as follows:

First stage: Synchronization (2017-2018) Emphasizes on the maintenance of existing complexes. During this stage, the project proposal calls for establishing Centres of Excellence (CoE), Centres of Competence (CoC), and Regional Research Centres (RRC) under the OP SESG are to be successfully completed. At European level, the list of research complexes in ESFRI will be updated. Based on this, an in-depth assessment of all existing and other applying for inclusion in the NRRI projects will be carried out by the

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end of 2018, using an identified methodology in line with the ESFRI criteria and socio-economic evaluation, to update the list of RIs to be supported, and approve a financial plan for their maintenance and development. The CoE and CoC will automatically enter the National Roadmap.

Second stage: Building (2019-2020) Based on the 2018 update, the construction will be supported and financial support will be provided for all significant RIs, included in the updated NRRI.

Third stage: Development (2021-2023) Existing infrastructures are further developed and a regular assessment of their efficiency and effectiveness is conducted from the viewpoint of exploitation of their research results and potential for commercialization. By 2023 a new update of the NRRI will be made, which coincides with the update of the National Research Strategy and predefines a next cycle of prioritizing the important RIs in Bulgaria, in the context of the new priorities for research development in the country and in accordance with the EU policies.

All significant research complexes, included in the NRRI, have a commitment to develop a Management Plan, incl. clearly defined access conditions to research infrastructures, application forms for providing specialized services to citizens and business, where applicable.

The implementation of the Roadmap and the construction of research complexes will be subject to a permanent international monitoring and evaluation, regarding the effectiveness of their participation in the European Roadmap, their research and technological programs, and their activities. The monitoring of the NRRI implementation envisions the establishment of a Standing Committee of NRRI as a consultative body to the Minister of Education and Science.

The long-term funding and sustainability of the National Roadmap requires that it is included in the medium-term budget forecast of the Ministry of Finances, as part of the planned public expenditure for the development of science in Bulgaria, and in line with the planned funds under the National Research Strategy.

The total funds allocated for the construction, development and maintenance of the NRRI by 2023 amounts to 986.5 million BGN, incl. the financing of CoE, CoC and RRC on a competitive basis, under the OP SESG. Total ESIF funding for RIs is estimated at 55%, thus providing a balance between the state and EU financing.

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INTRODUCTION

The research infrastructure (RI) is the key pillar of the national scientific and innovation ecosystem of the individual member state of the European Union (EU). The available RI with modern equipment and good organization for access is fundamental in building a critical mass of material, financial and human resources as well as technological knowledge. It also creates favourable environment for development of the knowledge triangle. Well-developed RI facilitates the process of commercialization of scientific results, which are transferred into innovative products and services, thus improving the economic competitiveness in the free market. The free access to modern RI does stimulate career development of scientists. RI’s development and maintenance is a responsibility of each EU member state and it represents a common priority in the European Road Map for development of European Research Area (ERA), which is an objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy.1 The Road Maps are updated on a regular basis to reflect the changes in the technological levels of research.

                                                            1 http://www.esfri.eu/sites/default/files/20160308_ROADMAP_single_page_LIGHT.pdf

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RI and the large scientific complexes guarantee high level of research and create conditions for fast economic growth and employment.2 In the frame of Horizon 2020 Program the RIs are key for achieving excellent scientific results. RI unite the existing scientific capacity on common scientific issues at European, national, and regional levels. The network integration of research institutes and higher education institutes is also considered, as it guarantees the scale-up of conducted scientific research and overcomes the fragmentation of the national and European scientific research system. Unification of financial and human resources is taking place at the European level, which ensures effectiveness and efficiency of the funds, used to develop RI at European and global levels, following the dynamics for development in key research areas.3

Given the current challenges and new opportunities the main goals of the NRRI 2017-2023 are:

Support the policies defined in the National Research Strategy “Better Science for Better Bulgaria 2017-2030”; address the priorities under the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization; and reflect upon the ESFRI agenda for creation of Pan-European infrastructures;

Define priorities for sustainable development of RIs up to 2023, by building upon the Diagnostic Review of RI and Equipment outcomes, which identified the gaps but also the potentials for smart specialization of Bulgaria through research and innovation policies;

Identify the methodology and procedure for evaluation of all existing and future RIs which seek access to the National Roadmap;

Develop a Plan of tasks, procedures and deadlines for maintaining RIs in the National Roadmap up to year 2023.

The present document is structured as follows: First, it introduces the key findings from the Diagnostic Review of RI and research equipment in Bulgaria. Next, it presents the strategic framework which provides the relationships between the policies and instruments that have impact on the NRRI. Then, it addresses the ESFRI priorities and the participation of Bulgarian projects in Pan-European RI, followed by overview of the specific grouping of RI in the National Roadmap, as per its current stage of development. Then, it discusses the implementation stages, the management of the individual RIs, the monitoring and evaluation, and the financing implementation of the National Road Map. It emphasizes on the long-term funding and sustainability of the National Roadmap, which includes: (i) RIs located in the country; (ii) RIs located abroad under the national jurisdiction; (iii) RIs accessed through inter-governmental agreements; (iv) Access to ESFRI RIs; and (v) Access of scientists and industry stakeholders to European and international large RIs under bilateral contracts. Finally, the main conclusions are summarized.

DIAGNOSTIC REVIEW OF RI AND EQUIPMENT: KEY FINDINGS

                                                            2 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/council_regulation_eric.pdf 3 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/esfri/publications/esfri_regional_issues_wg_2008_en.pdf

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Тhe Diagnostic Review of RIs and Equipment in Bulgaria was completed in April 2017. Four broad research areas fell in the scope of the report, namely: (i) Physics, Material Sciences and Engineering; (ii) Medical and Agro-Bio Sciences; (iii) Social and Humanitarian Science; (iv) E-infrastructure for multidisciplinary research. These areas cover well the entire spectrum of research areas in which the Bulgarian science has traditional strengths and, at the same time, new R&D research could serve as a strong basis for the development of knowledge-based competitive economy.

Тhe available research labs and equipment in these fields in the respective universities and research institutes were studied, as well as the human capacity and the financial resource. SWOT analysis was added to the full picture of the assessment, and in addition to that a regional analysis for specialization in the four mentioned research areas was presented.

Among the main findings is that the e-infrastructures, mainly concentrated in the capital of Bulgaria, have the broadest potential for inclusion in pan-European projects, in comparison to the other research areas. These RIs are particularly well financed for the past five years.

Another finding is that most of the RIs in the Physics, Material Science and Engineering have national significance. This is the research area with the highest percentage of outdated infrastructure, but at the same time they  also have the highest percentage of modernized infrastructure in the past three years.

Medical and Agro-Bio Sciences do have the largest number of infrastructures with regional significance. This is mainly due to the agro-bio sciences field. Yet, this is the research field with the least financing over the past five years, while at the same time the infrastructures in the medical sciences have the highest share of financing of new equipment and apparatuses, purchased in the past five years.

RI in the sphere of Social and Humanitarian Science are most equally distributed throughout the country, while at the same time they have attracted the smallest share of competitive funding in the past five years.

The Diagnostic Review summarizes that there are 12 existing infrastructures with European significance (7%), 84 with national (52%) and 65 with regional significance (40%). About 40% of the RI have attracted barely 100,000 EUR per year in the last five years. European financing became the key source of funding for purchasing of new research equipment and instruments. About 30% of the whole infrastructure in Bulgaria is in exploitation for the past 15 years or more and the attracted funding comes to 25,000 EUR per year for about 30% of the whole infrastructure.4

Other findings of the review about the overall quality of the research infrastructure are:

Insufficient modern infrastructures, which must meet the current requirements for RI;

Inadequate management of existing research facilities, inefficient workload and maintenance;

Irregular territorial and thematic distribution of the RI; Inadequately qualified staff to support research equipment; Financial instability and inadequate engagement of the private sector.

                                                            4 For more information, see Diagnostic Review of RIs and Equipment in the Republic of Bulgaria (MES, April 2017).

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Some potential, but also regional gaps, to support Bulgaria's smart specialisation strategy.

Given the specialization of Bulgaria’s IS 3, which prioritizes four sectors of the economy in the six economic regions of the country, we could summarize the following gaps at the regional level, which require specific policy action.

North-West has a huge gap compared to all other regions as research infrastructure is available only in the healthy life industries and biotechnologies.. It is crucial that this region is supported through European and national funding in the areas that have already demonstrated research and business potential. Yet, government policies need to incentivize businesses and researchers to cooperate in areas which are new to the region.

North-Central does have a potential to specialize more in ICT, but the potential of using and further strengthening the research infrastructure in healthy life industries and biotechnologies is there. Therefore, there is a need to channel funding for new equipment in all three priority areas.

North-Eastern does have a high specialization in the mechatronics and clean technologies field but it could strengthen its potential also in the healthy life industries and biotech, as well as in the creative and recreational industries, where there is a priority under Bulgaria’s IS 3.

South-Western stands far ahead of the other regions in terms of presence of research infrastructure in all four IS 3 priority areas. Moreover, Bulgarian research infrastructures which are integrated in Pan-European partnerships are exclusively coordinated by research institutes and universities, which are located in the capital of Bulgaria.

South-Central faces the highest gap in terms of available research infrastructure and priorities under Bulgaria’s IS 3. Moreover, there is no capacity in research e-infrastructures, whereas the ICT industry will be supported through OP Innovation and Competitiveness. Finally, there is limited research infrastructure in mechatronics and clean technologies area.

South-Eastern does have available strong research infrastructure in the mechatronics and clean technologies, as well as in the health life industries and biotech areas, which are also priorities in the IS 3. Limited research infrastructure in the creative and recreational industries would need to be improved.

The Diagnostic Review concluded that there is uneven regional distribution of research equipment and scientific potential. The strategy is aimed at supporting the most developed infrastructures with potential in the thematic areas of IS3 at national and regional levels. The cooperation between public research institutions and local industries will be encouraged at the regional level.

The above mentioned regional analysis and the conclusions will be taken into consideration when preparing future calls for funding under ESIF. As far as the SWOT analysis puts an accent on the leading RIs as an engine to boost the economic development, the plan is to continue supporting them in the future. This is especially true for ESIF supported RIs in the 2014-2020 framework period, which are strategic and serve as key engines for improving the standing of the national science system with a Pan-European perspective.

The Diagnostic Review supports the planning of the next stages of RI development in Bulgaria. Scientific research in the country requires building and effective use of

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modern and sustainably maintained research infrastructure. In addition, researchers should be given access to key unique RIs abroad, which is not possible or is unsuitable to build in the country. The following principles are laid down:

Avoid duplication of unique and expensive research equipment; Ensure high workload of the research infrastructure and access of interested

users; Maintain the available infrastructure in a good working condition; Provide balanced allocation of RI by institutions and regions; Ensure Pan-European RI integration.

Improving the infrastructure would significantly increase the opportunities for

Bulgarian scientists to conduct high quality research and would directly support the development of high-tech industry in the Republic of Bulgaria.

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

The National Roadmap is a policy instrument that describes the needs of the country for Research Infrastructures for the next years, on the basis of a methodology, recommended by ESFRI and recognized by all stakeholders (universities, research institutes, high-tech companies). The process of creating and implementing the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures serves to prepare and prioritise – in terms of research and innovation policy – future and long-term national and EU investments. This process takes into account input from the relevant government institutions, research organisations and industry.

The National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures (NRRI) presents the main research complexes in the country and their respective prioritization at European and national level.

Fig. 1: Policies and instruments of influence on NRRI of the Republic of Bulgaria

The main strategic documents and the main instruments for their implementation

are schematically presented in Figure 1. Their relations could be explained as follows.

The National Strategy for Research Development in the Republic of Bulgaria 2017-2030 is a fundamental document, which outlines the framework for the development

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of the research system in the country. This document defines the strategic vision, main goals, policies, and instruments for development of the research ecosystem in Bulgaria for the next years. The analysis of the state of the national research and innovation systems and the dynamics in the positions of Bulgaria revealed a need for catching up of Bulgaria compared to other EU member states.5 This trend is one of the reasons for the downgrading trend of Bulgaria, compared to other EU member states in the field of innovations and development of high-tech industry. This Strategy emphasizes the crucial role of the research infrastructure, the human capital, and the complete integration of the Bulgarian scientists in the European Research Area for the development of scientific studies of high quality which will be useful for both the country and the EU as a whole.

The National Research Strategy 2017-2030 defines six priority areas for fundamental research (see Table 2 below). Four of these areas are very similar to the priority areas of IS3. An additional priority area in the National Research Strategy (environmental protection, ecological monitoring, utilization of sources and bio-resources, waste management technologies) faces the ecological challenges of the country. The sixth priority area (materials science, nano- and quantum technologies) is horizontal, as it encompasses the scientific basis of the modern materials science which finds applications in most of the modern and emerging technologies (incl. medical, pharmaceutical, food, quantum computing, etc.). Bulgarian science has its strengths and traditions in all these research priority areas and they provide the scientific basis for further technological development of the Bulgarian economy.

The long-term sustainable development of the research infrastructure will be supported in accordance with the priorities defined in the National Research Strategy 2017-2030 and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation. This strategic frame is composed of three complementary strands. First, applied research will be stimulated through investments in research infrastructure, focusing their research activities in the four thematic areas that have emerged from IS3. This will be the main focus of EU funding distributed through competitive calls under OP SESG. Second, areas of fundamental research where there are traditions and successes (e.g., natural sciences and mathematics, medical sciences, materials science, etc.), national and public interests (e.g. national security and defense, demographic challenges, etc.), will also be targeted so as to ensure the necessary scientific balance and to increase the demand for inter-disciplinary research. The RIs and equipment for fundamental research that are not included in IS3, will be financed by other funding instruments outside ESIF (for instance, under the National Science Fund or the future Executive Agency to the Ministry of Education and Science). A third, horizontal priority, will be to further improve Bulgaria's participation to Pan European Research Infrastructures and the overall contribution to international scientific community.

The Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization (IS3) of the Republic of Bulgaria is another key strategic document, which outlines the potential of the research areas and the innovation potential of the economy. This strategy outlines four key priority sectors for the economy, which concentrate financial resources by EU and national programs:

Information and Communication Technologies and Informatics Healthy lifestyle and Biotechnology Industries

                                                            5 National Strategy for Research Development in the Republic of Bulgaria 2017-2030, published at www.mon.bg

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Mechatronics and Clean Technologies New Technologies in the Creative and Recreational Industries.

The main instruments for achieving the objectives regarding the scientific research areas in these two lead strategies for Bulgaria are the funds from the state budget, OP Science and Education for Smart Growth (SESG) and Operational Program Innovation and Competitiveness (OP IC). Several key principles will be applied in the interventions under these OPs:

Develop a critical mass of research infrastructure investment Provide a ground for competitive calls Introduce international peer evaluation Long-term sustainability including through the capacity to cooperate with

businesses and to attract private investments

It is planned that OP SESG will finance on a competitive basis the creation and development of four Centres of Excellence (CoE), eight Centres of Competence (CoC) and several Regional Research Centres in each of the six main economic planning regions in Bulgaria, within the priority areas of IS3. The OP IC will contribute for development of research and innovation capacity through joint initiatives between business and academy. Sofia Tech Park is also a strategic investment focus of OP IC. European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are strategic and the RIs which receive funding on a competitive basis will have a substantial impact on the National Roadmap. It is planned that the CoE and CoC which are selected on a competitive basis under the OPSESG (projects were submitted in end February 2017) will automatically enter the list of RI in the National Roadmap by the end of 2017. Тhe Regional Research Centers to be funded under OP SESG will not necessarily enter the National Road Map as they will rather have a regional impact for the domestic economy. Yet, their sustainability will be ensured with additional financing from national sources (e.g. National Innovation Fund and the National Science Fund).

The RIs and equipment for applied and fundamental research from the National Roadmap that are not linked to IS3, will be financed by other funding instruments outside ESIF (for instance, under the National Science Fund or the future Executive Agency to the Ministry of Education and Science).The non-economic research activity (scientific studies, dissemination of results, IP protection, etc.) of the RIs, included in NRRI, will be supported by public funding ensured via targeted calls of National Science Fund and/or through targeted lines in the budgets of the higher education schools and research institutes which participate in the RI consortia.

The Bulgarian National Roadmap of RIs does respond to the priorities of the National Strategy for Development of Research 2030 and the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization, as well as it takes account of the ESFRI agenda.

Table 2: Priorities and thematic areas of key strategic documents

National Research Strategy

Thematic priority areas for research

IS3 Thematic priority areas for innovations’ and export-

oriented economy

ESFRI Thematic areas

National Roadmap Thematic areas

1. New energy sources and energy efficient technologies.

2. Mechatronics and clean technologies.

3. Health and quality of life. Prevention, early

1. ICT. 2. Mechatronics and clean

technologies. 3. Healthy way of life and

biotechnologies.

1. Physical sciences and engineering.

2. Health and Food. 3. Environment. 4. Energy. 5. Social and cultural

innovation.

1. Physics, Material Sciences and Engineering. 2. Medical and Agro-Bio Sciences.

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diagnostics, therapy, green, blue and eco-technologies, biotechnologies, eco-foods.

4. Environmental protection. Ecological monitoring. Utilization of sources and bio-resources. Waste management technologies.

5. Materials science, nano- and quantum technologies.

6. ICT.

4. New technologies in the creative and recreational industries.

6. E-Infrastructures 3. Social and Humanitarian Science. 4. E-infrastructure for multi-disciplinary research.

In NRRI, the ESFRI principles and methodology is combined with the national thematic priority areas to ensure full integration of the Bulgarian RI into the ERA. The National Roadmap will support the following priorities of the National Research Strategy, namely:

Balance in the RIs distribution by institutions and regions, as per IS3 thematic priorities;

Integration of the Bulgarian RI in the Pan-European RI Avoidance of duplication of very expensive and unique RI.

ESFRI AND THE BULGARIAN PARTICIPATION IN PAN-EUROPEAN RI

ESFRI supports a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy making on research infrastructures in Europe, among others through the ESFRI Roadmaps.6 These Roadmaps include RIs, which correspond to scientific demands in the next 10-20 years (in respect to the year when the relevant roadmap is published).7 The RI methodology for analysis in the respective scientific area, as well as the level of their development, is recognized by all stakeholders – EU member states and the associated countries. National Roadmaps for RI are a tool for implementing the relevant national strategy for research development, which for th e EU member states reflects also the EU interests. The construction itself of the research infrastructures takes several years and often it takes several additional years before the infrastructure starts to benefit the customers and the country.

ESFRI was established in 2002 with the goal to unite the management in developing RI in the frame of the EU, by defining priorities for achieving research excellence with European and international impact. ESFRI published its first Roadmap in 2006 for the construction and development of 34 Pan-European RIs. The Roadmap was further updated in 2008 and it included 44 projects, while in 2010 it included 48 projects, designed to foster European leadership ın broader spectrum of scientific areas.

The roadmapping methodology developed by ESFRI also facilitates the establishment and evaluation of national roadmaps for RI. These national roadmaps are vital plans which enable the member and associated states to identify national priorities and allocate resources for national and Pan-European RI including the ESFRI ones. The country participation in Pan-European research infrastructures is determined by the

                                                            6 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri-other-roadmaps 7 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri

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scientific and economic priorities. The definition for RI was confirmed in 2014 in respect to the EU’s state aid regulations. The RI could be concentrated at one location or distributed (organized network of resources) as per art.2 (a) of EU regulation No 723/2009 from June 25, 2009 of the legal framework of the EU for Consortiums of European RI.

Table 3: Coordination between national and European policy for RI

National European

Strategy for development of research by 2030 (approved by the National parliament on 07.06.2017)

EU Cohesion Policy – Europe 2020. EU Strategy for Growth

Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization (CoM Decision)

Strategies for Smart Specialization

National Road Map for RIs (updated in response to new trends in both documents)

ESFRI Roadmap 2016 ESFRI Roadmap 2018 (in process of preparation)

The ESFRI Roadmap has been updated in 2016 and it included 50 RIs, divided in two groups: (1) in the stage of development (projects) – 21; (2) in the stage of use (Landmarks) – 29.8

These 29 pan-European hubs of scientific excellence (The Landmarks)) are important pillars of European research and innovation for the next decades and will require continuous support to fulfil their mission and to ensure their long-term sustainability.

A new rule was adopted by ESFRI in 2016 – if a project (infrastructure) does not reach the implementation stage in the course of one decade after its inclusion in the Roadmap, the project is dismissed.

Bulgaria has ensured the access of national research teams in several international and European RIs. Bulgaria has been a full member of the JINR-Dubna since 1956, an associated member of the ICTP-Italy in the period 1985-2015, and a member of CERN since 1999. The payment has been ensured via National Parliament decisions.

Bulgaria was mentioned for the first time in ESFRI 2008 Roadmap. Bulgarian teams participated in the preparatory phases of the Pan-European RIs EURO ARGO, ELI, SPIRAL, ESS, CLARIN, DARIAH, e-GI (GRID), and CERN. The projects with Bulgarian participation are presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Projects with Bulgarian participation in pan-European RI

2008 2010 2016 (Landmarks) 2016 (Projects)

CLARIN CLARIN CLARIN (ERIC) ACTRIS

                                                            8 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/era_100216.pdf; http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/142794.pdf.

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EURO ARGO

EURO ARGO EURO ARGO (ERIC) DANUBIUS

ESS ESS CTA

PRACE PRACE PRACE E-RIHS

HL-LHC EuroBioImaging

EPOS EPOS EPOS

DARIAH

Bulgarian research organizations participate in or are associated with the respective European RIs in the 2016 ESFRI Roadmap, as shown in Table 4. Administrative and financial support from Bulgaria, regarding the membership fee, is provided for only four infrastructures (PRACE, CLARIN and BioImaging), and for two of them funds for construction have been ensured (PRACE).

The analysis of the projects in Table 4 reveals that Bulgarian research teams participate in the preparatory phases of the projects (the creation of the infrastructures at conceptual stage and the research institutions in the consortia are nominated). Yet, these teams fall behind because they cannot secure financial support for the operational phase, when the legal document is signed for the use of the respective infrastructure under the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). CLARIN and PRACE are exceptions from this rule, because Bulgarian teams’ participation has been financially ensured and their teams worked in a sustainable manner between 2008 and 2017.

INCLUSION OF RIs IN THE NATIONAL ROADMAP

The inclusion of RIs in the National Roadmap is a result of the diagnostic review,

the development of research priorities under the National Research Strategy and the participation of Bulgarian research projects in the ESFRI Roadmap.

In accordance with the ESFRI methodology, the performed Diagnostic analysis

(overview) of the available RIs, the national priorities defined in the National Research Strategy and in the Innovation Strategy IS3, and the confirmed membership of Bulgarian infrastructures in joint international projects, the projects with European dimension fall into one of the following three categories: realized projects (landmarks), priority international projects (projects) and newly emerging projects (emerging projects).

Based on the business evaluations and the participation of the sites in ESFRI, three groups of available research infrastructures were formed. These groups consider: (1) the evaluation of existing membership and status of European sites in ESFRI, confirmed by the national delegate at the ESFRI Board, (2) traced and measured (quoted) opportunities for economic activities (3) implemented financial commitments of the country to certain sites of the NRRI.

The above analysis outlined a set of 23 research infrastructure complexes (14

after the last update in 2014 and 9 new projects) that fall into one or more groups described, as explained below. Based on the membership assessment and the status of the European sites in ESFRI, the national commitment to 7 national infrastructures is reaffirmed (see, Appendix 5 for details about the membership status).

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These 23 research infrastructure complexes will be funded by the State Budget (for instance, under the National Science Fund or under the future Executive Agency to the Ministry of Education and Science) or by other financial sources they could attract. Their selection as part of the present National Roadmap does not guarantee them any privileged access to ESIF that will be distributed through competitive calls.

The centres of excellence and of competence that will be selected for funding under

OP SESG as the result of ongoing competitive calls will be automatically integrated into the National Roadmap by the end of 2017. Future call under the OP SESG will identify Regional Research Centres in Bulgaria, which may also have access to the National Roadmap but not necessarily, as they have predominantly a regional impact.

In 2014-2017 Bulgaria has fulfilled its financial commitment to certain RI from NRRI as follows:

4 million BGN for the construction and renovation of the National Centre for High Performance and Distributed Computations

4 million BGN for the construction of the National Cyclotron Centre 1.1 million BGN for repairing the “Academic” research ship, which is part of the

Infrastructure for Sustainable Development in the Field of Maritime Research, which is also linked to the participation of Bulgaria in the European infrastructure (Euro-Argo).

740,000 BGN for partial equipment for the Regional Astronomical Center for Research and Education – Rozhen

174,000 BGN (for 2014-2016) membership fee for participation in European consortia from the ESFRI Roadmap of the associated national sites: National centre for high performance and distributed calculations for participation in CLARIN and EGI; Centre for Contemporary Microscopy for Fundamental and Applied Biology, Medicine and Biotechnology Research - to participate in EuroBioImaging.

7,350,000 BGN per year for CERN 40,000 BGN annual membership for ITER 500,000 BGN annually for the Bulgarian Antarctic base under the National

program for Polar research

The nine new projects, which are already participating in international contracts and/or national and European programs for construction or shared use of unique infrastructures are as follows:

1. The European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) 2. Centre for Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology 3. Science and technology park “Sofia Tech Park” 4. Bulgarian Antarctic Base - National Program for Polar Studies 5. Research in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion (ITER) 6. Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna) 7. International Cooperation in the Field of Particle Astrophysics 8. National Research Infrastructure for Observing Atmospheric Aerosols, Clouds

and Gas Pollutants Integrated within the Pan-European Infrastructure ACTRIS 9. The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE*

*) ISSK-BAS collaborates with SHARE-ERIC since 30.11.2016. The country membership procedure for

Bulgaria will be initiated in 2017.

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The RIs in the National Roadmap for RI have the highest potential to join the European RI consortia or have already entered pan-European research infrastructures. It should be noted though that the 23 RIs in the National Roadmap have different stages of development. Therefore, the costs for construction, maintenance, modernization, development, and membership fee in the relevant Pan-European infrastructure, as well as the operational activities should be envisioned, based on the specific stage of development of the respective RI.

Table 5: Grouping of research infrastructures according

to the ESFRI classification for 2016

GROUP I – Landmarks 1. National Interdisciplinary Research E-Infrastructure for Resources and

Technologies for the Bulgarian Language and Cultural Heritage, Integrated within the European Infrastructures CLARIN and DARIAH (CLADA-BG)

2. European Social Survey for Bulgaria 3. Distributed infrastructure from centers for the production and research of new

materials and their applications, as well as for the preservation, access and e-storage of artefacts (archaeological and folklore) – INFRAMAT

4. Regional Astronomical Center for Research and Education 5. National Center for High Performance and Distributed Computing 6. National Programme to the European Center for Nuclear Research - CERN 7. Laboratory complex to the Science and technology park „Sofia Tech Park“ 8. National Programme to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna 9. Bulgarian Antarctic Base "St. Kliment Ohridski" 10. National University Complex for Biomedical and Applied Research

GROUP II – Projects 11. National Cyclotron Center 12. Infrastructure for Sustainable Development in the Field of Marine Research,

also linked to the participation of Bulgaria in the European infrastructure Euro-Argo

13. Scientific Cell Technology Infrastructure in Biomedicine 14. Energy storage and hydrogen energy 15. Center for Contemporary Microscopy for Fundamental and Applied Biology,

Medicine and Biotechnology 16. Research in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion /ITER/ 17. CTA-MAGIC 18. National Research Infrastructure for Observing Atmospheric Aerosols, Clouds

and Gas Pollutants Integrated within the Pan-European Infrastructure ACTRIS 19. National Center for Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

SHARE

GROUP III – Emerging projects) 20. National Geoinformation Center 21. Eco and Energy Efficient Technologies 22. National infrastructure for research and innovations in agriculture and foods

(RINA) 23. Center for Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (PlantaSyst)

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This grouping of the RIs in the National Roadmap is subject to change, based on the assessment of each RI and their stage of development during 2017-2018, and especially after the selection of the new CoE and CoC. The sustainability and investment intensity of the RIs will be available at the end of 2018.

FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Stages of development

The implementation of the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructure 2017-2023 is planned to take place in three stages, as follows9:

Stage 1: synchronising (2017-2018). At this stage the focus falls on the maintenance of the existing sites and conducting an in-depth comparative assessment of all projects with development potential. During this period project calls for building CoE, CoC and Regional Research Centres under the OP SESG will be completed. At an EU level, the list of research complexes in ESFRI will be updated. Based on this, by the end of 2018 an in-depth assessment of all RIs in the National Roadmap will be conducted, using the identified methodology in line with the ESFRI criteria and socio-economic assessment, in order to update the list and the financial plan for their maintenance and development. During the evaluation process, an international methodology for assessment of the research results will be used and the potential for commercialization of the RIs will be assessed. Sites, which do not yet have a developed business plan shall develop one by using the methodology and the approach of the current Roadmap (where applicable) in order to ensure the sustainability of the existing infrastructure.

Existing research complexes have a commitment, where applicable, to provide services to the business and to work together for creating new scientific knowledge and its application for the benefit of the local and national private sector. Research complexes also have a commitment to develop up-to-date plans for management, incl. to define access conditions to the research infrastructure, application forms for providing specialized services for citizens and the business, where applicable.

By the end of June 2017 the complexes which plan to apply for participation in pan-European projects must complete the detailed questionnaires (application forms) for joining the new ESFRI 2018 Roadmap. This is also recommended to potential CoE, CoC and Regional Research Centres. By March 2018, the ESFRI Board will come out with a

                                                            9 The first stage of implementation of the National Strategy of Development of Research by 2030 runs between 2017 and 2023. It aims to reconstruct the normal functioning of the national research system.

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ranking and a final decision on the new lists of Pan-European projects will be taken by the ESFRI Forum in June 2018.

In September 2017, a Standing Committee (SC) of NRRI will be established by the Minister of Education and Science, as well as new rules for the work of this committee will be adopted (Appendix 6).

By the end of 2017, the new sites in NRRI 2017 will have to pass a business assessment through established methodology. In 2018, all 23 projects in NRRI need to undergo an external evaluation with the uniform evaluation methodology. CoE and CoC under OP SESG will automatically enter the National Roadmap.

An update should be completed by the end of 2018 for the RIs in the National Roadmap, which will lead to identification of the list of RIs which embraces those projects, supported through EU and national financing. The update will include those projects which respond to respective ERICs under ESFRI.

Upon subsequent updating of the sites included in the National Roadmap of Research Infrastructure, the following distinction and grouping will be applied:

A) START section, defining which infrastructures can be included in the map as operational research infrastructures; these are only the RIs which have:

- legal registration or a notarized partnership contract between the participating institutions (research institutes, universities, companies),

- an accessible web page, available to users 24 hours, 365 days a year,

- a list of the services offered and the manner and means of receiving the services - paid, free of charge, by use of contract (a contact person with access information can be nominated),

- defined sources of financing for operational costs applicable only for public, private or public-private.

B) Infrastructures which are not yet operational are categorized into two levels:

- preparatory level - this is a preparatory phase in which it is assessed and determined which scientific tasks could and will be solved if the infrastructure is built;

- construction – with a requirement to point out who is funding the process, i.e. the construction costs (Bulgarian state budget, EC, NATO, other).

In the upcoming update, there will be a separate section on the future infrastructures, whose construction costs will be covered by OP SESG on the basis of the ongoing competition.

The structures included in the ESFRI projects are only part of the entire monitoring and updating system. The Bulgarian scientists may need access to infrastructures which have no country-relevant counterpart, such as SPIRAL (France) ELI (Romania, Czeck Republic) and others. As such access may require payment, one of the issues that a subsequent update has to resolve is the provisioning of funds and financial sources for providing such access. Such sources for example could be calls for proposals, funded by the NSF, university budgets, the budgets of the research institutes of the Bulgarian

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Academy of Sciences and the Agricultural academy, OPSESG – under specific aim 3 of priority axis 1 (for unique infrastructures), the competitions of Horizon - FET, INFRADEV, SWAFS and others. In 2017 and 2018, limited funding from the state budget to support the available research infrastructures is envisaged, and where possible the RIs will receive competitive funding from OP SESG, NSF, Horizon 2020 programs and other sources.

Stage II: Building (2019-2020) At this stage the focus is on building new RIs, as well as active financial support for the development of the ones that were already built. An overview of the sites will be carried out at the end of the stage by external experts, in order to assess whether the supported sites are developing sustainably their potential and realizing scientific and socio-economic benefits for the country, as planned.

Stage 3: Development (2021-2023) At this stage the emphasis is on the development and support of the existing infrastructures and on enhanced evaluation of their efficiency and effectiveness in terms of exploitation and commercialization of the scientific results. The update at the end of this period coincides with the update of the National Research Strategy and predetermines the next cycle of prioritization of significant infrastructures for the country in the context of the new priorities for development of applied research.

The work-plan and the timeframe for implementation of these stages is described in the table below.

Table 6: Tasks, Procedures and Deadlines for the Stages of Development

Tasks Procedure Deadline STAGE 1

Assigning business evaluations to the new infrastructures, included in the NRRI

Signed new business evaluation contracts

July 2017

Complete filling in application forms for new coordinators to the ESFRI 2018 roadmap

On-line questionnaires submitted with an MES letter of commitment, where applicable

July 2017

Analysis of the results of CoC/CoE assessments

Signed contracts for financing of CoC/CoE

October 2017

Establishment of SC of NRRI; approval of Rules of Procedure and convening the first meeting

Order of the Minister of Education and Science for establishment of the SC of NRRI

October 2017

Assigning external international evaluation with a uniform evaluation methodology, based on the ESFRI methodology

Assignment by order of the Minister of Education and Science of an external international evaluation, based on the ESFRI methodology

November 2017

Development of methodology for assessments of socio-economic impact of the implementation of the NRRI

Assigning with a contract of development of a methodology assessments of socio-economic impact of the implementation of the NRRI

December 2017

Annual socio-economic assessments of the effect from the NRRI sites support, assigned by MES

Carrying out annual socio-economic assessments of the effect of the implementation of the NRRI

January 2018

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Self-assessment, performed by NRRI sites’ teams based on expert forms, developed by international evaluators

Self-assessment done by the management teams of listed objects of NRRI, based on expert forms developed by international evaluators

February 2018

Assigning scientific and financial reviews of external and independent evaluators, by NSF. These reviews are approved by EB of NSF and presented to SC of NRRI with a Financial plan

Contracts with external and independent evaluators to carry out scientific and financial reviews of business plans of listed projects in NRRI

February 2018

ESFRI meeting and proposal of new infrastructures to be included in the European research infrastructures roadmap

ESFRI Executive Board recommendation to the ESFRI Forum

March 2018

SC of NRRI meeting on applying the evaluation methodology and reviewing proposals for inclusion and exclusion of sites in NRRI

A decision on the application of the assessment methodology and the review of proposals for inclusion and exclusion of sites in NRRI

March 2018

Planning of the financial resources for the sites of NRRI 2018 in the NSF’s Annual Operational Programme

Decision of the Council of Ministers

March 2018

Meeting of the SC of NRRI for the adoption of the evaluations and preparation for an update

Decision of the SC of NRRI May 2018

Adoption of the ESFRI Roadmap 2018 ESFRI Forum decision June 2018

Analysis for socio-economic impact of the sites of NRRI 2017

Awarding socio-economic impact analysis for NRRI sites to identify the necessary future resources for knowledge transfer and technology

October 2018

An in-depth assessment of all NRRI sites and other project proposals, using an identified methodology in line with the ESFRI criteria

Decision of the Minister of Education and Science to accept the assessment of NRRI in accordance with the ESFRI methodology

December 2018

STAGE II

Implementation of NRRI – period of building the research infrastructures

Order of the Minister of Education and Science

2019 - 2020

Ensuring financial support for the activities of all significant RIs in the NRRI

Decision of the Council of Ministers based on State budget Law

2019-2020

Perform self-assessments, business assessments, and monitoring of RIs

Decision of the SC of NRRI on acceptance of self-assessments, business assessments and monitoring

2019 - 2020

An overview of NRRI sites by external experts, to assess whether the supported sites are sustainably developing their potential and delivering scientific and socio-economic benefits for the country

Order to outsource the potential and scientific and socio-economic benefits to the country from the NRRI

October 2020

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STAGE III

Existing RIs are being developed and a regular assessment of their efficiency and effectiveness is performed from their point of view of the exploitation and commercialization of research results

Order to perform a regular evaluation of efficiency and the exploitation and commercialization of the results of the research carried out by the NRRT

2021 2022

Implementation of NRRI – period of development of RIs

Decision of the SC of NRRI on the fulfilment of the pledge in the development period

2021 2022

Ensuring financial support for the activities of all significant RIs, included in NRRI

A decision of the Council of Ministers to provide financial support for the activities of all relevant infrastructures, included in the NRRI

2021 2022

Performing of self-assessment, business evaluations, and monitoring of financing the RIs

Decision of the SC of NRRI to overcome self-assessment, business assessments and monitoring of funding and implementation

2021 2022

Prioritizing of significant infrastructures in Bulgaria in the context of the new priorities for development of applied research in the country and in EU

Decision of the Council of Ministers on Prioritization of Significant Infrastructures in Bulgaria

JAN 2023

New update of NRRI, which matches the update of the National Strategy of Research Development of the Republic of Bulgaria and predetermines the next cycle of prioritizing significant infrastructure in Bulgaria

Decision of the Council of Ministers on the update of the NRRI, which responds to the update of the National Strategy for the Development of Scientific Research in the Republic of Bulgaria and defines the next cycle of prioritization of significant infrastructure in Bulgaria

DEC 2023

Governance

There are several common elements for the management of the national RI complexes. These are summarized as follows:

Development of medium term scientific programs, business plans and plans for commercialization of the scientific results;

Development and implementation of annual operational plans for implementation of their research program;

Introduction of international expert advisory councils;

Establishment of scientific, technical, and financial committees to control the implementation of the programs and plans, with clearly identifiable functions and tasks. 

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These committees will include representatives of MES, Ministry of Economy, NSF, and the National Innovation Fund. Development of bilingual websites of infrastructure sites to ensure publicity and access.

Involvement of non-governmental organization and private bodies, active in the field of research, in the management committees to guarantee partnership and work on socially significant issues and issues with applied nature for the national economy.

Separately, a specific approach will be applied to every research complex, tailored to the specifics and type of each research complex.

The activities and instruments in the operational plans will include timeframe and milestones, financial sources and indicators for monitoring. The monitoring indicators will include the relevant indicators of ERA, adopted by European Research Area Committee (ERAC), as well as the relevant indicators from OP SESG.

RI complexes have the responsibility, wherever this is applicable, to offer services to businesses and to work in cooperation for the development of new scientific knowledge and its commercialization for the benefit of local and national private sector. In this relation, the RI complexes have to develop Management Plans, including the engagement to define common conditions for access to the RI, and to develop the respective request forms for offering specialized services for citizens and business.

Each RI will have the responsibility to prepare annual scientific and financial reports to NSF to provide publicity of their activities. An important element of the activity of the RIs is to foster the interest of young scientists in science, with the aim to create a new generation of scientists.

Monitoring & Evaluation

The general implementation of the National Road Map and the development of the

individual RI will be subject to regular national and international Monitoring &Evaluation (M&E). It will include a general review of the implementation of the NRRI policies at a national level, as well as corrective measures and possibilities for introduction of new instruments and schemes. The efficiency of the individual RI participation in the European Road Map and the implementation of their research and technological programs and activities will be monitored and evaluated.

NSF will organize an independent external evaluation of the research activity of

the national infrastructure complexes every two years, incl. the conduct of opinion polls and cost-benefit analysis for the regional and national economy. The assessment criteria of the individual RI will include, overall, the following components:

Demands and benefits of their scientific research Development, maintenance and usage of research apparatuses and equipment Scientific quality of the research and key beneficiaries of the research results

(assessed through publications, patents, citations, number of consumers) Institutional capacity (composition of the scientists, who perform the scientific

research; availability of habilitated staff; number of PhDs, age profile, etc.) Management of Programs for scientific research, financed on a competitive basis

from national and international sources (number of current program and projects) Activity in attracting funding from different sources Social-economic benefits and relevance of the research results (availability of

created product, technology, methodology, etc.) Established partnerships – national, regional and European.

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For the overall monitoring of the implementation of the NRRI a new Standing

Committee (SC) will be constituted as a consultative body to the Minister of Education and Science (see, structure and functioning of the SC, Appendix 6). This committee will help MES in the planning, monitoring and assessment of the NRRI implementation. The SC shall analyse the implementation of NRRI and propose prioritizing of the NRRI complexes on the basis of a methodology that is pre-approved by the Minister of Education and Science. The SC meetings will take place at least twice a year, as the committee shall review the report of the Executive Council of the NSF on the scientific achievements and the financial reports of the individual research complexes.

The SC responsibilities and its operational procedures shall be prescribed in written Rules for operation of the Standing Committee, approved by the Minister of Education and Science. These rules will include a methodology for assessment of the individual research complexes of the National Road Map, based also on public and expert monitoring of the results of the RI.

The assessment of the RIs in the National Road Map will be conducted in

compliance with the methodology for review and assessment of the social and economic effects for the development of RI in the National Road Map (Appendix №4) at three stages: (1) self-assessment, based on expert cards, developed by international evaluators; (2) annual assessment about social and economic impacts of the RI by individual experts, hired by the Ministry of Education and Science, and (3) scientific and financial peer review by independent and international evaluators, hired by the National Science Fund. These peer reviews will be approved by the Executive Council of the National Science Fund and will be presented together with the Plan for financing to the Standing Committee of NRRI.

The same order, including a methodology for assessment as per ESFRI criteria (Appendix №2), will be imposed when new RIs are included or existing RIs are excluded from the National Roadmap. New national RIs could be proposed for the National Road Map, based on regular international assessment or/and upgrade of the existing scientific complexes with national and European significance. The inclusion of new and/or upgraded consortiums will start with the development of a detailed project for construction and modernization of specific RI, when a new call is announced for new RIs. Each new project will undergo an international expert assessment. Based on these assessments, one will be able to upgrade the existing research complexes with European and national significance, as well as to add new national RIs.

The RIs, which have been established under Strategic Goal 1 of the Operational Program for Science and Education for Smart Growth (Centres of Excellence and Centres of Competence), will be directly included in NRRI, as these projects would be approved by a high level of international evaluation procedure and prioritised for further national support. The same procedure will be applied for those Bulgarian research groups, participating in RI projects of Program Horizon 2020. The budget for implementation of the NRRI will be part of the budget for science of the Ministry of Education and Science, and it will be spent through the Annual Operational Program of the NSF. The Standing Committee will propose annually the financial distribution for the individual RI in NRRI.

Long-term financing and sustainability

Several types of funding instruments will be used to ensure the implementation of the NRRI, as shown in the Table below. The costs described in the table below are in accordance with the new Implementation Plan of the National Strategy for Development of Scientific Research 2017-2030.

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The table reflects the planned intensive capital expenditure by 2023 to accelerate the construction of modern research infrastructures, followed by a significant increase in the share of maintenance costs and the sustainable development of these structures. In the first three years, European funding prevails in relation to the implementation of the first axis of OP SESG, and in the following years the national funding shall dominate. Total funds for the period are almost equally distributed between the state budget and European sources.

Activities funded by the state budget will be included in the Ministry of Finances’ medium term forecast as a part of the budget for science. Budget funds will be used to develop the RI of NRRI through several instruments, as follows.

- National funds for the construction of infrastructure complexes, as well as for their development, modernization, maintenance and operational activity will be provided through a special national program “NRRI”, which will be implemented through the NSF or NSF’s successor (Executive Agency to MES) when established. The funds from this program will be included in the Annual Operational Program of NSF, which is approved annually by the Minister of Education and Science.

- The funds for membership fees for participation in international infrastructures (such as CERN and Dubna) will be provided through the Science budget of MES.

- Separately, a certain share of the resources allocated from the state budget to secondary spending units such as HEI, BAS and Agricultural Academy will be used for scientific programs and for salaries of scientists and technical staff on full-time contracts in the respective scientific organizations which work in the NRRI sites.

- European funding for the different types of centres from OP SESG will be implemented on a competitive basis, according to the IS3 priorities within the foreseen funds for building and developing four CoE and eight CoC. Separately, Horizon 2020 and other European programs (e.g. COST, COSME, etc.) are expected to fund on a competitive basis Bulgarian projects, implemented in the respective research infrastructures.

The total funds allocated for the construction, development and maintenance of RI for 2018-2023 amounts to 986.5 million BGN, incl. the financing of CoE and CoC under the OP SESG on a competitive basis. Out of these, capital costs amount to around 28%, infrastructure maintenance amounts to around 56% (including salaries of researchers working in research infrastructures, consumables and overheads), membership fees amount to around 10%, and access to scientific information amounts to about 8%. Total ESIF funding for RI is estimated at 55 %, thus providing a balancing between the state and EU funding.

Table 7: Estimated European and National Funding for the NRRI Implementation (2018-2023), in million BGN

Items 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Тоtal

2018-2023

NRRI Sites – total funding from the state budget 21 23 28 33 48 65 218

- activities 15,0 16,0 18,0 20,0 30,0 45,0 144,0

- NSF programs, inc. capital costs 6,0 7,0 10,0 13,0 18,0 20,0 74,0

Membership fee (from state budget) 18,50 16,50 15 15 15,50 15,50 96

NRRI Sites – funding from Horizon 2020 programs 13 14 15 16 17 20 95

CoE – total OP SESG 70 70 40 10 10 0 200

- European funds (85%) 59,5 59,5 34 8,5 8,5 0 170

- National co-funding (15%) 10,5 10,5 6 1,5 1,5 0 30

CoC – total OP SESG 50 50 30 10 10 0 150

- European funds (85%) 42,5 42,5 25,5 8,5 8,5 0 127,5

- National co-funding (15%) 7,5 7,5 4,5 1,5 1,5 0 22,5

Regional Research Centers – total 30,00 30,00 20,00 10,00 10,00 0,00 100

- European funds (85%) 25,50 25,50 17,00 8,50 8,50 0 85

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              - National co-funding (15%) 4,50 4,50 3,00 1,50 1,50 0 15

Unique infrastructures – total 7.0 7.0 7.0  7.0 8.0 8.5 44.5 

- European funds 5.95 5.95 5.95  5.95 6.80 7.23 37.8 

- National funds 1.05 1.05 1.05  1.05 1.20 1.28 6.7 

Access to European databases with scientific information

12.0 12.0 12.0  13.0 16.0 18.0 83.0 

- European funds 0.0 0.0 0.0  6.0 6.0 6.0 18.0 

- National funds 12.0 12.0 12.0  7.0 10.0 12.0 65.0 

TOTAL 221.5 222.5 167.0  114.0 134.5 127.0 986.5 

- State budget 75.1 75.1 69.6  60.6 79.2 93.8 453.2 

- European funding 146.5 147.5 97.5  53.5 55.3 33.2 533.3 

Source: National Strategy for Research Development “Better science for better Bulgaria, 2017-2030”, April 2017 Note: In addition, funding is envisaged under OP IC – PA1 “Technology Development and Innovation” with dedicated budget for

stimulating cooperation between business and academia with a total amount of EUR 298.2 million.

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CONCLUSIONS

This document defines the strategic focus of the National Road Map which is among the key instruments for implementing the National Strategy for Development of Scientific Research 2017-2030 and the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization. The National Roadmap reflects also upon the ESFRI agenda. It is concluded that: (i) the diagnоstic review of Bulgaria's RI reveals the insuffisance of modern infrastructure, an uneven spatial repartition but also some potential and gaps to support smart specialisation which will be a key requirement for receiving ERDF funding from OP SESG and OPIC (ii) all RIs in the National Roadmap have a strategic focus and have entered or have the potential to enter pan-European RI; (iii) There are other RI or emerging RI's projects in Bulgaria which can enter the National Roadmap in the following years. Before the end of 2017, all successful Centers of Excellence and Centers of Competence, funded under OP SESG, will automatically enter the National Roadmap. The same rationale will also apply to research projects funded under Horizon 2020. The Regional Research Centers may also enter the National Roadamp, but not necessarily, as they have rather a regional impact.

At present, out of the 161 research infrastructures in Bulgaria, 12 have European significance (7%), 84 have national significance (52%) and 65 have a regional significance (40%). A total of 23 RI complexes (14 after the last update in 2014 and 9 new projects) were selected and included in the National Road Map for RI 2017-2023 as key drivers of the national science system of Bulgaria.

The implementation of the NRRI is planned in three stages, namely: (i) synchronization (2017-2018); (ii) building (2019-2020), and (iii) development (2021-2023).

All significant research complexes, included in the NRRI, have a commitment to develop a Management Plan, incl. access conditions to research infrastructures, application forms for providing specialized services to citizens and business, where applicable. The implementation of the Roadmap and the construction of research complexes will be subject to a permanent national and international monitoring and evaluation. For that purpose, Standing Committee of NRRI will be set up as a consultative body to the Minister of Education and Science. The NRRI shall be included in the medium-term budget forecast of the Ministry of Finances. An emphasis will be put on long-term financing and sustainability of the NRRI. Overall, European and national funding for the NRRI implementation constitutes 986.5 million BGN by 2023 and there is a balance in funding between national and EU sources.

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REFERENCES

1. Conclusions to the Council for Priority Projects of the ESFRI 2014-2016 Roadmap- http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/142794.pdf

2. European Road Map for RIs – http://www.esfri.eu/sites/default/files/20160308_ROADMAP_single_page_LIGHT.pdf

3. European vision for promotion of impactful RI- http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/era_100216.pdf

4. Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science (2017). Bulgaria: Diagnostic Review of Research Infrastructures and Equipment. Document, prepared for the MES. April 2017. www.mon.bg

5. Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science (2017). National Strategy for Development of Scientific Research in the Republic of Bulgaria 2017-2030, April 2017, published at www.mon.bg

6. Bulgarian Ministry of Economy (2017). Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization 2014-2020, available at: www.me.bg

7. Legal Framework for the creation of European infrastructure consortiums - http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/council_regulation_eric.pdf

8. Report of the ESFRI Group for Regional Issues - http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/esfri/publications/esfri_regional_issues_wg_2008_en.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

9. Report of the E-Infrastructure Group - http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/esfri/publications/esfri_regional_issues_wg_2008_en.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

10. Review of the condition in the European countries as it relates to the availability of National Road Maps - http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri-other-roadmaps

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Appendix № 1: HISTORY OF NRRI DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING AND NEW RI IN BULGARIA

The first National Roadmap for RI of the Republic of Bulgaria has been adopted in 2010 with CoM decision № 692, and it defined the national demands in the research infrastructure field. The Roadmap derived from the priorities of the European Strategy for RI of the EU member states.

The update of the National Roadmap of RI has been adopted with CoM decision № 569/July 31st, 2014, and it provided a review and assessment of the existing and new RIs and identified those, which comply with the European priorities and aim to develop and/or modernize new research facilities. The assessment is conducted at two levels – national and international.

The national evaluation in 2014 included representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Bulgarian commerce-industry chamber (BCICH), Bulgarian chamber of commerce and industry (BCCI), Sofia University St. Kl. Ohridski, University of chemical technology and metallurgy (UoCHTM), Technical University - Sofia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). The national level assessment has been conducted by inter-governmental working group, which involved also representatives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, higher education institutions, non-governmental organizations and sectoral ministries. The national working group reviewed, assessed and selected 16 projects out of 35 received ones based on thematic areas. Twelve of the initially received projects were rejected due to non-compliance with the RI criteria. Ten projects received a high score and were recommended for validation from an international expert panel, and other thirteen projects – recommended for re-processing and/or consolidation.

As a result, 23 project proposals were proposed for international evaluation, some of which agreed to join in a single consortium. The project evaluation methodology covered quantitative and qualitative criteria based on pre-defined criteria (Appendix 2). The international panel evaluated and recommended 10 projects with a score of the scientific quality criteria over 7 (out of 9 points) and with total average rating over 6.5 (out of 9) to receive support for the update of the NRRI in Bulgaria in 2014. Four other projects proposals were recommended for feasibility studies.

The evaluation in 2014 covered the following two types of RI:

А. National infrastructures:

o Large-scale, interdisciplinary and unique facilities, databases; computer networks;

o Widely accessible, multifunctional RIs of scientific importance at the national, regional, and/or international levels;

o Technology and financially visible RIs under achievable conditions; o Availability of national scientific potential for their complete exploitation;

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B. Participating in international RIs:

o Availability of a consortium of research units/groups from different types of scientific institutions, interested in participating in the international infrastructure;

o Argumentation on the need of Bulgaria’s participation in the international infrastructure; relevance to solving national and regional scientific problems; social and economic effect on our country;

o Evaluation of the effect of our participation in the international research infrastructure to increase the scientific potential of the country and to realize economic prosperity;

o Availability of resource certainty for the scientific units/groups to participate in a certain international research infrastructure, including available facilities, human capital, etc.;

o Correspondence of the scientific work of the units/groups with the scientific areas that will serve the international research infrastructure;

o Traditions of the scientific units/groups in the certain scientific field(s); o Availability of scientific projects that are implemented in the last 5 years by the

relevant scientific units/groups and which correspond to the scientific field(s) of the international infrastructure;

o Evaluation of the necessary additional resources for the participation of the scientific units/groups in the international infrastructure;

o Evaluation of the risk for participation.

Two types of national research infrastructure projects were presented to the NRRI 2014:

In the advanced stage of development:

1. National Grid Infrastructure (member of EGI.eu); Bulgarian Supercomputing Center: high-performance infrastructure for computer modeling, simulations and research applications in industry, medicine, pharmaceutics, energy, transport, finance and environment - PRACE;

2. National university complex for biomedical and applied research (NUCBAR , in compliance with the Bulgarian participation in BBMRI;

3. Regional astronomical center for scientific research and education - RACIO;

4. Energy storage and hydrogen energetics; 5. European Social Survey - ESS; 6. Infrastructure for biological microscopy and biomedical imaging methods -

Euro-BioImaging; 7. National interdisciplinary research e-infrastructure for culture and

humanities - DARIAH - BG; National interdisciplinary research e-infrastructure for integration and development of electronic resources for Bulgarian language - CLARIN;

8. Distributed infrastructure of centers for production and research of new materials and their applications for conservation, access and e-store of artefacts (archaeological, folklore) (INFRAMAT).

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9. National cyclotron center; 10. Distributed infrastructure for sustainable development in maritime

development - EURO-ARGO. In the early stages of development:

11. Research and innovation in agriculture and food; 12. Allianz cell technologies - ACT; 13. National Geoinformation Center; 14. Eco and energy saving technologies.

Comprehensive mapping of RIs and research equipment was launched by the Ministry of Education and Science in 2015, to compile new information, needed to prepare the calls for Regional Research Centres (RRC) under OP SESG, as well as to prepare the new update of the National Roadmap, which needed to reflect upon the new conditions for the 2014-2020 period, as well as the vision for leng-term sustainability of the RIs.

Research organizations and higher education institutions were invited to describe their research infrastructures, their location and area of impact. Each research facility was identified with priority areas in line with the thematic areas of IS3 of Bulgaria, to comply with the requirement for investment in research and innovation in strategic areas of the Bulgarian economy. This mapping exercise continued throughout 2016 until March 2017 with consultations at national and regional levels, which involved stakeholders (academy, business associations and representatives of government institutions). The goals of the consultations targeted clarification of the level of readiness of the RIs from the National Roadmap (2014) to enter ESFRI 2018 Roadmap, as well as to reflect upon the priorities of IS3. Assessment of the business plans for all RIs in the 2014 National Roadmap was conducted by June 2016, as an interim assessment of their condition. The assessment and the analysis was developed by national experts, who followed the ESFRI methodology which included both qualitative and quantitative indicators. The analysis demonstrated the readiness of the infrastructures to work with users, as well as their sustainability. 

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Appendix №2: METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATION OF THE ENTRY OF RIs IN THE NATIONAL ROAD MAP AS PER ESFRI CRITERIA (year 2014)

The international peer review panel included the following scientists:

1. Prof. Jan Hrusak, Member of Czech Academy of Sciences and of the Executive Board of the ESFRI (material science);

2. Prof. Jacques Demotes, General Director of the European Network for Clinical Research (medicine and biology)

3. Prof. Giorgio Rossi, Director of an experiment on peak researches on photo emission, National laboratory TASC-INFM, Vice-Chair of ESFRI (natural sciences and physics).

4. Prof. Jacque Dubucs, Chair of the ESFRI Strategy Working Group on Cultural and Social Innovation (social sciences).

A. Scientific and technological excellence of the RI (50% weight of the assessment):

i. The significance of the RI for the specific research fields (Relevance of the scientific objectives of the RI to facilitate and promote top-level science in Bulgaria; Capacity of providing potential for world class research and scientific breakthrough; Expected benefits for the national scientific and technological system for conducting cutting edge research at an international level, namely to increase the participation in international collaborative research projects, such as, those of the Horizon 2020)

ii. Adequate identification of the RI's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis)

iii. Degree of internationalization, including the integration in international RI initiatives, namely those of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) Roadmap

iv. Degree of inter-disciplinarity, including the effect of the RI on strengthening interdisciplinary research in Bulgaria

v. Quality of the proposed training of researchers

B. Governance capacity and implementation feasibility (25%)

i. Degree of adequacy of the management structure and governance of the RI to the proposed scientific aims

ii. Adequate management and action plan implementation (Leadership; Distribution of responsibilities; Experience and capacity; Identification of RI's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats-SWOT analysis)

iii. Competence and complementarities of the nodes and added value of the national RI at the regional, national and international levels, including contribution to

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increase access to knowledge resources and scientific capacity in the field of operation of the RI

iv. Adequate equipment and relevance of improvements to the existing and/or acquisition of new equipment, considering the scientific aims of the RI

v. Quality of the access policy and data management plan (Transparent policy for access to the infrastructure, including international access activities, conditions for provision of access, addressing remote access needs in relation to availability of e-infrastructures and data management issues; Access policy for industry (addressing IP rights - if applicable - fees and confidentiality issues)

vi. Operational readiness: maturity of the RI and appropriate relations between partners of the infrastructure and, if relevant, of the integration in an international research infrastructure

C. Budget and Sustainability (25 %)

Includes technical feasibility, human resource costs and cost-effectiveness of the proposed infrastructure (based on adequacy of requested funding and envisaged sources of funds, multi-annual budget plan with funding sources information and long-term sustainability plan of the investment).

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Appendix №3: CONSULTATIONS WITH STAKEHOLDERS AT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LEVELS (2015-2017)

2015

o Meetings in the period Sept.1-Sept.10, 2015, conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), together with the Ministry of Economy (ME), Horizon 2020 National Contact Points, General Directorate “Structure Funds and International Educational Programs” (GD SFIEP), representatives of a company for consultancy services “Hiron”, National Innovation Fund, National Research Fund, which organized a national seminar-rally with the main theme “Opportunities for joint projects between scientific and business circles and local authorities in the context of regional application of the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization (ISIS)” in the following cities: Sofia, Stara Zagora, Russe, Gabrovo, Vratza, Plovdiv and Burgas.

o In 2015 MES organized two meetings with coordinators of research infrastructures of the National Roadmap (NR), during which the progress on building the infrastructures, and preparation of documentation for inclusion of projects, applying for ESFRI 2016 roadmap, as well as the possible connections of the sites with the sub thematic areas of RIS3.

2016

o On February 11, 2016, the Ministry of Education and Science, in cooperation with BASCOM (the software business association) and BAIT (the hardware business association), organized a meeting with lead managers of ICT companies in Bulgaria and lead professors. Specific topics and priorities of scientific research in one of the four priority areas – ICT – were discussed among targeted audience of 50 representatives (general managers of ICT companies and lead professors) at the Sofia Municipality, which hosted the meeting. During the meeting, the national RI priorities were discussed in detail.

o On February 16, 2016, the Ministry of Education and Science, together with BG Pharma Association, organized a national meeting of businesses and academic to discuss the priority research areas of the ISIS. Over 20 representatives were present and specific topics for scientific priorities under the health industries thematic area were discussed. During the meeting, the national RI priorities were discussed in detail.

o On April 12, 2016, a conference on “Initiative for innovative medicines”, was organized by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Association of R&D Pharmacy Producers in Bulgaria. The goal of the forum was to offer IMI expertise through lead lectures to an audience of businesses and academics to provide a stimulus for future applications. Concrete projects in EU member states were

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discussed and a lot of examples of contributions to the pharmaceutical research in Europe have were provided. The Ministry of Education and Science offered an update about the NRB, which will serve as one of the key driving engines for new IMI initiatives in Bulgaria

o Under the patronage of the Ministry of Education and Science, VUZF University organized on May 31st a conference, entitled “Next level: Global technological commercialization and international experience for Bulgaria”. The event was hosted by Sofia Tech Park and it accommodated businesses, academics and state officials. In fact, the event gathered representation from France, Serbia, Turkey, Russia, USA and UK, who received a series of interesting presentations from global experience in technological commercialization. More information is available at: http://nextlevel.guide/

o The National Strategy for Research Development 2025 was discussed through a series of social discussions between June 2 and July 2 by the Ministry of Education and Science. More particularly, the focus was on Pillar 3, which introduces conditions for development of the scientific capacity and infrastructure. The social discussion was also complemented by meetings for introducing the draft strategy in consultation with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), The Union of Scientists, The Union of Women in Business, the Agricultural Academy, scientific sections in other ministries, representatives of the scientific and business community, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance among other.

o During July – September 2016, the Ministry of Education and Science, together with the Ministry of Economy, took part in 10 regional meetings, as follows: Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Smolian, Montana, Pazardjik, Lovech, Varna, Shumen, Veliko Tarnovo and Ruse, to introduce the National Strategy for Research Development 2025 and the NRB NR to state, municipal, scientific and business communities.

2017

o Temporary consultative group for RIs – meeting at the Ministry of Education and Science on March 8th, chaired by the Minister of Education and Science with representatives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia University “St. Kl. Ohridski”, Technical University – Sofia, Medical University – Sofia, Food Technology University - Plovdiv, Joint Research Center, and National Science Fund.

o Meeting of representatives of Bulgarian RIs in the National Road Map of Republic of Bulgaria, April 7th, organizer: Ministry of Education and Science.

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Appendix №4: METHODOLOGY FOR REVIEW AND ASSESSМЕNT OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECT FROM DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF RI IN THE NATIONAL ROAD MAP (CoM Decision №569/31.07.2014)

1. Evaluation of the effect of:

The scientific programme for the organization itself

The scientific programme for the team

The plan and the exploitation of scientific results for the economy

The potential of scientific results on the market

The benefits for the related to these scientific results economic fields

Evaluation on the type of infrastructure regarding the group of the resources i. “concentrated” – concentrated at one place in one resource

ii. "distributed” (organized as a network of resources) iii. “virtual” (the service is provided electronically)

2. Measuring (qualitatively and quantitatively) the effect of:

2.1. Verifying and proving the relevance and practical accessibility of the selected target at the specific internal and external conditions:

analysis of the internal environment (legal status of the organization; available human and financial resources; strategic and plan documents; achieved results);

evaluation of the organization’s goals regarding the external macro-economic factors information and (PEST and SWOT analysis);

mission; strategic and specific goals of the sought improvement/expansion of the R&D 

infrastructure to achieve the set goal;

scientific programme of the organization/team to achieve the set goal;

involved human resources to achieve the set goal (including a programme for encouraging the involvement of young scientists and researchers in R&D; attracted Bulgarian and foreign leading experts, involved in R&D);

motivation of the organization’s team to achieve the set goal.

2.2. Detailed description of the provisioned R&D for achieving the set goal/and (data base system):

plan-table of R&D events;

plan-table of the R&D process;

optimizational model, optimizational task and optimization of R&D infrastructure;

plan-table for accounts of the types of R&D products under the scientific programme by years for planning account;

tables for revenues, expenditures and gross profit by months and years of the planning horizon;

money flows by months and years of the planning horizon

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2.3. Degree of coverage of the area/specialization of the services provided to us with the priority sectors, activities and profile of the potential beneficiaries, set out in

Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization

Operational Programme “Innovations and Competitiveness” (OPIC)

others …

3. Justification of the necessary financial resource (construction, maintenance, creation of a network/s, participation in international R&D) according to the potential of scientific results, sought by:

3.1. the market (by economic sectors) and the society (human resources, incl. education; security; public processes and attitudes; health care; ecology)

3.2. assessment of the value of the invested public funds – return (short-medium-long term)

4. The influence of this infrastructure on different sectors to create new scientific knowledge in the field of:

Promotion of the technology transfer and development of the natural, technical, social sciences, humanities, and innovations;

Solving important problems in the field of economy, education (ecology, human resources, security, defense and health (health care, education, public processes, economy, environment, agriculture, defense and security, ecology, cultural and historical heritage etc.)

5. Proving the anticipated socio-economic effect of the planned investments for this purpose: Report – assessment of the socio-economic efficiency of the investment (anticipated results for protection of the public interest), including, for example, the expected:

number of project groups/ number of projects;

number of patent applications;

number of patents;

an average number of anticipated users of R&D infrastructure;

number of „spin-off” (newly emerged) companies;

number of transferred technologies;

participation in international research and added value to the state from this participation

etc.

6. Clearly defined criteria and indicators for evaluation of the implementation of the business plan for development of R&D infrastructure

6.1 Conditions and ways to use the RIs

Degree of defining / defined equipment and offered services

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Degree of defining the access policy by the basic research projects or programs.

Availability of written and public rules/conditions for using the RI

Availability of public authority/body/council and mechanism, used by it for evaluation and selection of projects, organizations and separate researchers for using the capabilities of RI

Availability of research and description/definition of the scientific communities (customers) and their needs

To what extent/Degree RI covers the needs of the scientific communities (customers) and their needs

To what extent/ Degree RI is overlapping with the existing research organizations, entities, programs and projects

6.2. Uniqueness and compatibility of RI

Degree of compatibility of RI and European research infrastructures

Degree of duplication with other RI (as equipment, services, policies), included in the Roadmap

7. Marketing strategy for the promotion of the scientific results from the expansion of R&D infrastructure

8. Indicators for preliminary assessment of “pan-European significance” of the research infrastructure

8.1. Key indicators for evaluation of the partners’ involvement

Number and share of national and international partner organizations (members), committed to shareholding in construction or during operations, related with RI

Maturing/Internationalizing of RI and/or of its individual members

Number of units of Distributed RI, the partner facilities

Analysis of RI management

Structure of commitments to the (a) construction and (b) exploitation of RI (in cash and/or in kind)

Estimated value of the national centers, contributing to RI for (a) construction and (b) exploitation (cash and/or in kind)

8.2. Consumers strategy

Percentage participation of potential consumers of RI (percent of scientists from the country in a certain field, geographical distribution of RI units); distribution of RI in different scientific fields, interdisciplinarity of the research in a certain RI, anticipated search (interest of users), initiatives for consumers, data base about the consumers in the field of research through periodic consultation with research and industrial communities

Level of service delivery (anticipated number and consumers and annual hours of access)

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Efficiency of data management and of RI access (incl. centralized and distributed RI) (share of the estimated investment in infrastructure, that gives opportunity for adaptation of data to the international standards in that field)

8.3 Creating research network

Number of consumers (consortiums) ready/planned to load/engage/involve their own sources in the use of RI

Anticipated share of non-European consumers (an indicator for the internationalization of the project)

Expressed/Declared/Reported interest to use RI by different scientific communities (multidisciplinary)

Excellence in a certain research field (Science Excellence)

Attractiveness of the RI for researchers outside of the country

8.4 Knowledge Transfer

Doctoral programs working with universities (anticipated number defended PhD theses, made in RI or citing results, obtained in RI.

Accessibility of RI for consumers from the industry with the purpose to implement projects, resulting profit from the use of RI, which profit is shared between the company and the RI

 

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Appendix №5: PROFILE OF THE RI IN THE NATIONAL ROADMAP IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA,

National interdisciplinary research e-Infrastructure for resources and technologies for the Bulgarian language

and cultural heritage, integrated within the European infrastructures CLARIN

Coordinator: Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IICT-BAS), Sofia, Bulgaria Infrastructure location: The infrastructure is virtual and distributed in several regions of the country Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator: The Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IICT-BAS); Consortium members:

o Members of the consortium: o Institute for Mathematics and

Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI-BAS);

o Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" (SU);

o New Bulgarian University (NBU);

o Konstantin Preslavsky University of Shumen;

o Bulgariana - non-profit organization for the protection of cultural heritage (Bulgariana);

o South-West University "Neofit Rilski"

o Sirma Media (SМ) o Cyril and Methodius Research

Center, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (CMRC-BAS);

o Institute for Balkan Studies with Center of Thracology,

Description of infrastructure:

The main objective of CLaDA-BG infrastructure is to create a national technological infrastructure for resources and technology for the linguistic, cultural and historical heritage. CLaDA-BG will provide public access to language learning resources and digital presentations, software tools and services for the listed areas. The infrastructure will support solving different tasks aimed at a professional and broader audience. This objective will be achieved through: 1. Adaptation of Bulgarian conditions to European achievements in the field of language technologies through close integration with the European infrastructure CLARIN ERIC and in the field of cultural and historical technology through integration with the European infrastructure DARIAH ERIC. 2. Complementing the existing language resources and technologies, and creating new ones as the necessary minimum for the functioning of the national infrastructure for word processing of texts in Bulgarian. 3. Further development of the existing technologies in cultural and historical heritage (mainly 3D technology and semantic technologies) and digitalization of databases for cultural and historical heritage to support the functioning of the national infrastructure in the arts and humanities. Computer linguistics: development of software tools for creation and management of bilingual resources (bilingual online dictionaries and bilingual aligned corpora of Bulgarian language), compatible with TEI morpho-syntactical specifications for Bulgarian language (coding and annotation of Bulgarian language corpora and lexicons) and creating language resources. Theoretical and contrastive linguistics: evaluative morphology; semantics (formal modelling of semantic phenomena); aspectology; writing systems, their history and typology. The main scientific and practical results, achieved by collaborators of the section in the field of technologies for knowledge processing and multimedia technologies, are digital libraries, representation and processing of electronic content for cultural and historical heritage, interactive platforms for e-learning and their content development, applications in information security and the Semantic Web.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure: Over 50

 

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Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS);

o Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IEFSEM-BAS);

o Burgas Free University (BFU); o National Library "Ivan Vazov"

- Plovdiv (NLIV-Plovdiv); o Historical Museum – Sofia o Ontotext (in Sirma Group –

leading Bulgarian software company)

o Filed of activity: Social and cultural innovations Type of infrastructure: CLaDA-BG is a Bulgarian virtual distributed research infrastructure, achieved connected related centers that use the services and resources of the infrastructure and provides a link with other centers and consumers as well. It provides access to resources and services electronically. Draft budget for the 2016-2020 period:  Total: 7.7 million BGN. Participation in European infrastructure: The National infrastructure CLaDA-BG (at BAS) has been a member of CLARIN ERIC. Year of inclusion: 2012 Membership in DARIAH ERIC is envisaged in the future.

Impact / benefits:

1. Linguistic and other humanities studies that require work with a huge amount of texts or specific types of texts

2. Training in Bulgarian language and literature, in studies of texts oriented towards education

3. Systems for training in other disciplines, through semantic annotation and search for documents, and the introduction of personalized / adaptive learning

4. Studying Bulgarian language as a foreign language by developing specialized software for automation of typical processing activities of text

5. Studying foreign languages by Bulgarians using graded resources in accordance with the European Framework

6. Creation of software for automatic processing of Bulgarian language both for research purposes and in a variety of useful applications - for example, automating text processing polls and more.

7. E-Government, by analysing administrative documents and their indexation and more flexible information search, hidden facts and interactions etc.

8. Supporting the activities of cultural institutions through the creation of software for managing the collections of cultural institutions that allows cataloguing, digital storage and presentation of collections in every size and type

9. Development of “Bulgarian linked open data”, through increased participation in Wikidata, DBpedia, GeoNames and others, which will increase access to information for consumers in the Web.

European Social Survey for Bulgaria (ESS)

Coordinator: University of National and World Economy Infrastructure location: http://www.ess-bulgaria.org/ Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator:

Description of infrastructure:

Distributed research infrastructure ESS ERIC-Bulgaria was established to ensure full and equal participation of Bulgaria in the pan-European infrastructure ESS ERIC, which with a decision of the European Commission is a transformed version of the hitherto functioning project of EC and ESF - (European Social Survey - ESS), in which Bulgaria has almost 10 years of successful participation by the Agency for Social Analyses (ASA).

 

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Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: University of National and World Economy Consortium members:

o Society and Knowledge Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS)

o Agency for Social Analyses (АSА)

o Union of Economists in Bulgaria

Field of activity: Social and Cultural Innovations Type of infrastructure: ESS is the type of fundamental research projects and according to the specifications of the European research infrastructure ESS ERIC for full participation for necessary government financial guarantees. Draft budget for the 2016-2020 period:  Total: 1,5 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: By ESS ERIC-Bulgaria is provided collaboration with ESS ERIC of the European infrastructure consortium - European Research Infrastructure Consortium for the European Social Survey Research Infrastructure - ESS ERIC, established under a European Commission decision from 22 November 2013 (2013/700 / EU) Coordinator of the ESS ERIC is the City University, London, UK Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: 2005

The global goal of the infrastructure is for both Bulgaria and Europe to have reliable data every two years on the social climate at national, regional and European level, in order to reveal the dynamics of the attitudes, values and concerns of European citizens. The organization of the functioning of the ESS in Bulgaria is subjected to the general idea that the results from the ESS shall bring multiple benefits not only for the academic and research community at home and abroad, but also they shall be useful for the widest possible range of individuals and institutions - politicians, governmental and non-governmental organizations, students, journalists, university professors, graduate students, young and experienced scientists, researchers – i.e. all who are interested in the fact where Bulgaria is on the social map of Europe and why it is there.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure: Over 20

Impact / benefits: The benefits for Bulgaria to maintain the research infrastructure ESS ERIC-Bulgaria and from participation in ESS ERIC can be grouped in the following general areas:

o Thanks to its participation in the ESS, Bulgaria has reliable, up to date, and comparable geographic and prompt information with a wide range of application: it may be used for scientific, educational, political, diplomatic and other purposes.

o ESS covers an extremely broad spectrum of social, economic and political problematic topics, trends and attitudes towards them in dynamics, which provides a unique opportunity for comparability over time and between countries.

o ESS provides an opportunity for the academic community, state and business to not only have information about the dynamics of the social climate in the country and in Europe updated every two years, but also with a special innovative training program ESS EduNet, which allows synchronization of higher education in Bulgaria with the European and the world one, and to train students and young scientists of modern research methods and techniques.

o ESS provides journalists with a rich set of "news" in comparisons between Bulgarians and other Europeans, which serve not only to inform the public "Where are we?", but to provoke civil activity in search of answers and questions like "What are we? "," Why are we like this? ", and many others.

o ESS provides rich material for organizing scientific discussions, seminars and public debates on topics and problem areas that provoke interest in people, institutions, businesses;

 

 

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National Cyclotron Center

Coordinator: stitute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy – BAS Infrastructure location: Sofia and Varna http://www.inrne.bas.bg/ Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: nstitute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy – BAS Consortium members:

o Medical University – Sofia; o Medical University – Varna.

Field of activity: Natural and engineering sciences Type of infrastructure: National cyclotron center (NCC) is a start-up scientific and business cooperation in research and development. Essentially NCC will constitute a conglomerate between a Research Institute (INRNE) and a starting social company. Draft budget for the 2016-2020 period:  51.9 million BGN Note: Donation from the Department of Energy of the US and Kozloduy NPP Fund amounts to 5 million USD in 2016 Revenues: 24.8 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: The cyclotron in Multidisciplinary Institute Hubert Curie in Strasbourg, France (Le cyclotron Cyrcé l’IPHC), the Cyclotron at the European Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy

Description of infrastructure:

The Cyclotron center, as a large-scale research infrastructure, will consist of a building in which to accommodate the cyclotron accelerator, laboratories for research in radiochemistry and radiopharmacy, a laboratory for applied research. The basic building block of the setting is the cyclotron, as it includes the accompanying equipment (vacuum pumps, power supplies, transmission lines for the beam of accelerated particles, etc.). The premises for synthesis and related equipment will be positioned as hot cells with modules for synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals; systems for gas, liquid and thin layer chromatography as part of the laboratory for quality control; apparatus for measuring the purity of finished pharmaceuticals; equipment for microbiological control of waste products, etc..

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

Over 20

Impact / benefits:

Improved healthcare through timely and precise making of medical diagnosis and access provided to radiopharmaceuticals on the Bulgarian market at affordable prices for all patients in need of medical research

The construction and operation of NCC and of the specialized laboratories will have direct economic and social impact, which will result in reduction of costs for end-users when purchasing highly specialized isotopes for diagnosis and treatment of various types of cancer and neurological diseases. At the moment, the country spends 10 million euros a year for the purchase of isotopes from other countries, without considering transportation costs.

The production of radiopharmaceuticals for internal and external market worth several million levs a year

Provided support to socially vulnerable groups of societies - in this case oncology and other patients

Providing new, modern facilities for research through the creation of three laboratories - radiochemical, microbiological and one for quality control - and

 

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(JRC Cyclotron, IHCP Ispra), the National Laboratory for Nuclear Research in Lenyaro, Italy , PET-Center Dresden-Rossendorf in Germany (PET Center Dresden-Rossendorf), the Bronowice Cyclotron Center in Krakow, Poland, Jülich Research Centre, Germany and others. Some of these centers have already expressed interest in cooperation and are now looking for the way to conduct these collaborations.

purchase of equipment with an innovative character necessary to conduct research

Training of highly qualified specialists and inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers.

 

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Distributed infrastructure of centers for production and study of new materials and their

applications, as well as conservation, access and e-store of artefacts (archeological and folklore) –

INFRAMAT

Coordinator: Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Infrastructure location: The major part of resources for Module 1 is located on the campus of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences at the 4th km in Sofia. Infrastructure laboratories for Module 1 can be found in the two faculties of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", located on the University campus on "James Bourchier" street, Sofia (Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Faculty of Physics). Some resources are available within the UCTM, Sofia, and Central Laboratory for Applied Physics in Plovdiv. Resources for Module 2 are located in the building of NAIM, BAS in Sofia at No2 Saborna Str. Infrastructure laboratories associated with Module 2 can also be found in the Faculty of Chemistry and in the Centre for Archaeometry of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". http://ipc.bas.bg/page/bg/ dogovori/obschoinstitutski-infrastrukturni-proekti/proekti/inframat.php Bulgarian consortium Financial coordinator: The Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: 1. Module 1

1. Institute of Physical Chemistry – BAS 2. "St. Kliment Ohridski" (Faculty of

Chemistry and Pharmacy and Faculty of Physics)

3. Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, BAS

4. Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, BAS

5. Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems, BAS

6. Institute of Polymers, BAS 7. Institute of Catalysis, BAS 8. Institute of Optical Materials and

Technology, BAS 9. University of Chemical Technology and

Metallurgy, Sofia

Description of infrastructure:

INFRAMAT (Module 1) offers unique opportunities for comprehensive characterization of materials with a variety of applications. Instrumental units of Module 1 cover basic methods in modern materials science and a multitude of new, modern and unique to the Republic of Bulgaria devices such as electron microscopes, X-ray diffractometers, spectrometers of various types, laboratory complex for nuclear magnetic resonance, microtomography scanner, nanoindenter and many others. INFRAMAT laboratories provide expert assistance to many Bulgarian industrial companies to control the quality of their products and to support their innovation and development. INFRAMAT (Module 2) includes basic scientific and educational institutions working in the field of archaeometry research, diagnostics and conservation of movable cultural heritage of archaeological and ethnographic nature. Module 2 laboratories carry out activities in diagnostics, restoration and conservation of artefacts for the purpose of their research and prevention from destruction and further impact on environment. The interaction between the two INFRAMAT modules gives an opportunity for fruitful implementation of additional techniques in the study of archaeological and ethnographic artefacts.

Scientific and technical team of research infrastructure:

Over 50

Impact / benefits:

1. Improving the quality and competitiveness of research in the field of materials science and nanotechnology, green, purification and non-waste technologies, utilization of raw materials and bio-resources, and national identity in accordance with the priorities of the National Strategy for Development of Research 2025

2. Ensuring broad access to unique in its complexity and level of technical capabilities unified infrastructure for all interested users of the research, public and private sector of the Republic of Bulgaria

3. Ensuring the conditions for sustainable development of scientific research and innovation in the Republic of Bulgaria in sectors structurally important for the industrial development of the country

 

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10. Central Laboratory of Applied Physics, BAS, Plovdiv

2. Module 2 11. National Institute of Archaeology with

Museum, BAS 12. Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

(Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy) 13. National History Museum, Sofia 14. National Academy of Art, Sofia 15. New Bulgarian University, Sofia 16. Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of

Thracology, BAS 17. Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre

of Phytochemistry, BAS 18. Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies

with Ethnographic Museum, BAS. Field of activity: Natural and engineering sciences. Type of infrastructure: FRAMAT is distributed infrastructure (para 6.2.) with a high concentration of resources. Draft budget for the 2016-2020 period:  Total: 23 million BGN Revenues Total: 23.5 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: INFRAMAT (Module 1) has made a formal request for inclusion in the European distributed research infrastructure CERIC (Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium). There is a principle agreement on participation and currently the means and scope of this inclusion are being specified. Module 2 – Since 2012 the National Archaeological Institute with Museum has been part of the European infrastructure for electronic exchange and electronic storage in the cultural EUROPEANA through the electronic network CARARE for the conservation of cultural heritage. Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: Module 2 – 2012 - EUROPEANA

4. Presence of the Republic of Bulgaria on the map of the European roadmap for research infrastructures in the fields of materials science and opportunity for reciprocal use of European research infrastructure units.

5. Providing capacity for conservation, restoration and study of existing museum collections and cultural values

6. Creating a critical mass of young researchers and practitioners through specializations in leading laboratories abroad to ensure sustainability of conservation, restoration and study of national cultural heritage in the next two decades at least

7. Connecting conservation and restoration work with a research subjects

8. Development of research on ancient technologies and sources of raw materials

9. Creating conditions for the construction of Balkan Centre for Conservation, Restoration, Archaeometry and its integration with education in the region and Bulgaria

 

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Regional astronomical center for research and education (RACRE)

Coordinator: Institute of Astronomy with the National Astronomical Observatory (IANAO) Situated in one place – National Astronomical Observatory (NAO) – Rozhen Infrastructure location: Rozhen http://nao-rozhen.org/ Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Institute of Astronomy with the National Astronomical Observatory Consortium member: o Astronomical Observatory,

Belogradchik, o Department of Astronomy of

the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski";

o Astronomical Center of Shumen University "Konstantin Preslavski"

Area of activity: Natural and engineering sciences. Type of the infrastructure: concentrated, virtual Budget project for the period 2016-2020:  45.6 million BGN Revenues: 0.5 million BGN

Description of the infrastructure:

RACRE is an association of research and educational institutions in the field of astronomy in Bulgaria. In the National Observatory - Rozhen concentrated are specialized resources for astronomical observations, where students and doctoral students are training. With its unique infrastructure and surveillance technique, as well as with the available basic infrastructure, the National Astronomical Observatory is the largest functioning observatory in Southeastern Europe. The main components of the specialized infrastructure are four telescopes:

200 cm. Ritchey-Chretien-Coude telescope 60 cm. Cassegrain telescope 50/70/172 сm. Schmidt telescope 15 сm. Bio coronagraph

The construction of an observatory of Shumen Plateau is currently in progress with a 40-cm telescope that will allow teachers and students to do research.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

96

Impact / benefits:

The telescopes of NAO – Rozhen are used to obtain a unique observational material that serves to research a wide range of activities of modern astrophysics. The results of these studies are published in many prestigious international astronomical journals. NAO works closely with several universities such as Sofia University (SU) and Shumen University who have accreditation for training in astronomy. Many studies are conducted in collaboration with scientists from almost all European countries, USA, Canada, Chile and other countries with highly developed astronomy. IA's founder and an active participant in a sub-regional astronomical Committee for Southeast Europe. Expected benefits shall be pointed: o Retention of the status of the biggest astronomical

observatory in Southeast Europe; o Improving the quality of education and strengthening the links

between education and research sector through practical training of students in astronomy in real terms;

o Applying innovative methods of observation to study the processes occurring in inaccessible for terrestrial laboratories

 

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Participation in European infrastructure: Participation in ASTRONET and OPTICON. A preliminary study for participation in the European Southern Observatory was made.

conditions: powerful gravitational and magnetic fields, huge densities and temperatures, nearly absolute vacuum and temperatures close to absolute zero, relativistic speeds;

o Studying physical processes in celestial bodies to develop areas of practical application, such as nuclear physics, plasma physics, neutrino physics and magneto-hydrodynamics;

o Detection and tracking through astronomical observations of passing dangerously close to our planet asteroids and comets.

 

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National Geo-Information Centre

Coordinator: National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography (NIGGG) Infrastructure location: Located all over the country http://www.niggg.bas.bg/ Bulgarian consortium: Coordinator:

- National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography (NIGGG)

Участници в консорциума: - National Institute of Geophysics,

Geodesy and Geography (NIGGG) - National Institute of Meteorology and

Hydrology (NIMH) - Institute of Oceanology (IO) - Geological Institute (GI) - Institute of Mathematics and Informatics

(IMI) - Institute of Information and

Communication Technology (IICT)

Field of activity: Environment Type of infrastructure: NGIC is a new research infrastructure with national coverage. Draft budget for the 2016-2020 period:  Total: 44.5 million BGN Revenues: Total: 9.5 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: EPOS (European Plate Observing System), DANUBIUS (Danube International Centre for Advanced Studies for River-Delta-Sea-Systems), EURO-ARGO (European ‘infrastructure’ for Argo international program), ICOS (Unraveling Earth’s greenhouse gas balance with measurements), ACTRIS

Description of infrastructure:

National Geo-information Centre (NGIC) is a newly established research infrastructure for collaboration and integration of human resources and information products of ICT-based systems (monitoring networks and observatories), their complex (integrated) and broad analysis and creation of mathematical models.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

Over 50

Impact / benefits: o Responding to natural and anthropogenic

disasters and emergencies and establishing prevention plans, including hazardous weather conditions (hot waves, cold, hurricanes, etc.) and related health issues;

o Overall, 98% of Bulgaria's territory can be subjected to seismic impact of 7th and higher degree intensity, of which with a magnitude of 7th degree - 51%, 8th degree - 28%, 9th and a greater degree - 19%.

o For sustainable urban development; land use; designing and implementation of large infrastructure projects (pipelines, highways, water supply, etc.);

o Improving water resource management through better understanding of the water cycle, improving the management and conservation of terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems;

o IGIP will contribute for clarification of the environmental factors affecting human health and welfare, as well as assessment, forecasting, mitigation and adaptation to climate change;

o NGIC will raise public awareness on natural disasters and industrial accidents through new interactive products;

o The new IGIP of NGIC will serve not only state institutions but also the private sector, which will lead to commercialization of research results and interaction with various business entities;

 

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(Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research Infrastructure Network). Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: 2012 DANUBIUS

o The activity of NGIC will encourage and facilitate the transfer of research results into operational technology by fostering the cooperation and collaboration between research communities;

o NGIC information products will support research and development in key areas of Earth Sciences, contributing to progress in science and technology.

 

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Infrastructure for sustainable development in the field of marine research, bound and with the participation

of Bulgaria in the European infrastructure (Euro-Argo)

Coordinator: Institute of Oceanology Location of the infrastructure: Varna http://www.io-bas.bg/ Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Institute of Oceanology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Consortium members: - Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; - National Institute of Meteorology and

Hydrology, BAS - Center for hydro- and aerodynamics, Varna,

to the Institute of Metal science, equipment and technologies, BAS

- Institute for fishery resources, Agricultural Academy

- Higher Naval School “N. Y. Vaptsarov”, Varna

- Technical University – Varna; - Medical University - Varna;

Area of activity: Environment. Type of the infrastructure: Distributed – organized as a network of resources The research infrastructure combines the efforts of all participants of the project, who have their units, as well as both along the entire Black Sea coast of Republic of Bulgaria and research centers in its interior (NIMH, IMST). Through the implementation of project activities an opportunity will be created, which will enable the pooling of these resources, their optimization and subsequent activity as an organized network of resources. Draft budget for the period 2016-2020:  

Description of the infrastructure: It is consist of four thematically unified scientific modules:: 1. Research fleet; 2. National Operational Marine observational system; 3. High Performance Computing; 4. Research laboratory complex. Each module represents a differentiated part of functional basis of the research infrastructure and consists of separate elements, physically distributed in various scientific organizations in Varna. The modules include: scientific equipment, facilities, databases, specialized scientific laboratories and centers connected on a computer network and needed to the scientific community to conduct modern, high quality and competitive research, transfer, exchange and protection of scientific knowledge.

The main areas of research are summarized in the following groups: - Hydrodynamics of coastal zone (wind waves in deep and

shallow water, wind-wave climate, modeling of wind waves), litho- and morphodynamics of the coastal zone (sediment transport, recent changes in the profile of the underwater coastal slope, dynamics of beaches and cadaster) and management of the coastal zone;

- Marine Physics (marine hydrology, water circulation, currents, modeling the processes of half-closed and closed basins - Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aegean Sea);

- Marine Biology and Ecology (phytoplankton and zooplankton, microphytobenthos and zoo benthos, assess the state of fishery resources, biodiversity);

- Marine Chemistry (monitoring and analysis of hydro-chemical components of marine, river and lake environment, indicators of environmental status of the marine environment: nutrients, oxygen, heavy metals in water and sediments);

- Marine geology and archeology (geological, geophysical and geochemical surveys, geological mapping, geomorphological and tectonic processes, ancient seashores);

- Ocean Technology (development, maintenance and servicing of ocean instrumentation, specialized and precise devices and systems)

 

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Total: 66 million BGN Revenues: 33.2 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: MASRI is developed in line with major European initiatives and infrastructures: ‐ Euro-Argo Infrastructure, ‐ WATERBORNE – The European

Technology Platform, ‐ ECMAR - European Council for Maritime

Applied R&D, ‐ ITTC – International Towing Tank

Conference, ‐ EUROFLEETS network, ‐ SEADATANET network, ‐ ESONET - European Seas Observatory

Network, ‐ GeoSeas, ‐ BLACK SEA SCIENTIFIC NETWORK, ‐ Mediterranean and Black Sea Technology

Platform for Maritime and Marine Research Innovation and Training,

‐ JERICO, ‐ DANUBIUS-RI, ‐ Fix03, ‐ EMSO, ‐ Copernicus/MyOcean Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure:

- Oceanographic Data Centre (collection, quality control, processing, storage, archiving and dissemination of oceanographic data and information).

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

Over 50

Impact / benefits:

The oceans and seas are the key to climate change and weather, influenced by the currents and temperature changes in large basins. The ARGO system is a unique development, through which it is possible to measure the changes in salinity and temperature and their storage, the changes in currents and the possibility of oceans and seas to absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ARGO is an essential component of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and in particular, the section on marine research. GMES is an initiative for Earth observation, led by the European Community and carried out in partnership with the Member States. Earth observation allows the collection of information on physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet or the so called Monitoring of the environment. The benefits for Bulgaria's participation in EURO-ARGO can be grouped in the following areas: o Construction of a center for studying of various factors

affecting the marine environment and its preservation; o Databases and monitoring of industrially significant

fish species in order to determine their stocks and in view of their rational exploitation as well as the conservation of biodiversity;

o Developing the competencies and the infrastructure in the field of marine technology and in particular the use in maritime and coastal engineering, aerodynamics and water transport;

o Improving existing technologies to prevent pollution from shipping and oil spills;

o Development of equipment and technologies for collecting oil spills, petroleum and other pollutants from incidents above and below the water;

o Participation in various European networks and technology platforms for data exchange and joint research programs;

o Improving the methods of scientific training and qualification of young people in the field of marine science and technology;

o Construction of modern laboratories and centers for competitive presence in European networks and programs in marine research and technology;

o Development of preoperational and weather numerical models of physicochemical and environmental parameters in the coastal and open-sea areas;

 

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o Assessment of the climate change in the surface and deep layers.

 

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Energy storage and hydrogen energy (ESHE)

Coordinator: Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems – BAS Infrastructure location: istributed Infrastructure: Sofia (BAS, UMG, UCTM), Blagoevgrad, Plovdiv http://iees.bas.bg/bg Bulgarian consortium: Finanancial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems – BAS Consortium members: ‐ Joint Innovation Centre, BAS ‐ Institute of Polymers, BAS ‐ University of Mining and Geology “St. Ivan

Rilski” (UMG) ‐ Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski” -

Laboratory for bio-electrochemistry (PU) ‐ University of Chemical Technology and

Metallurgy - Center for Hydrogen Technology (UCTM)

‐ Central Laboratory of Solar Energy and New Energy Sources (CLSENES - BAS)

‐ South-West University "Neofit Rilski" - Innovative Centre for Eco-Energy Technologies (ICEET-SWU)

Field of activity: New energy and energy efficient technologies. Type of infrastructure: „Energy storage and hydrogen energetics” is distributed national research infrastructure (NI ESHE), which unites 9 structural units - 5 research institutes and the Center for Innovation in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and 3 universities (in Sofia, Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad). It has an emphasized interdisciplinary character of scientific and applied competence in several scientific fields - electrochemistry, physical chemistry, physics, materials science, organic chemistry, corrosion science, bio-electrochemistry, and engineering sciences.

Description of infrastructure:

The Infrastructure fully covers the priorities of the 2020 Strategy and provides conditions for the integration of Bulgaria in the implementation of the European strategic plan for low-carbon energy technologies (SET-Plan). It brings together the active Bulgarian research centers working in the defined area with their existing base (scientific equipment, expertise, research and innovation potential, international cooperation), for joint scientific and applied activity in a highly relevant for both the European and the Bulgarian economy area - production, storage and use of renewable energy sources and rapid penetration of hydrogen technologies in various areas of economy. Coordinated targeted modernization will be provided, consistent with the principles of smart specialization and specificity of the different geographical areas of the country, which will include:

o gradual modernization and expansion of 4 distributed thematic laboratories (constructed on the basis of the existing 15 laboratories), thereby establishing an electronic infrastructure to digitize the experimental processes (VRIMS);

o establishing a laboratory for the certification of batteries for filling a vacant niche at national and regional level;

o establishing a common laboratory for testing of batteries and fuel cells (components and systems) for electric vehicles and energy storage, thereby their inclusion in the network or renewable energy sources.

The thematic orientation of the infrastructure will ensure an environment for public-private partnership, for closer cooperation with the stable national battery industry, and expert support for the introduction and effective implementation of the new hydrogen technologies. It will create a new generation of experts in this field and will contribute to the promotion of innovative technologies.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

Over 20

Impact / benefits:

 

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Draft budget for the 2016-2020 period:  Total: 33.1 million BGN Revenues: 20 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: ‐ Network communications in the area Central

and East European Polymer Network - CEEPN ‐ European Internet Centre for Impedance

Spectroscopy - EICIS ‐ EERA Joint Programs "Fuel cells and hydrogen

technologies" and "Energy storage". Active participation in this structure aims to stimulate support from the European Commission for fundamental research as well as creating a common European science policy at national level, i.e. assisting in developing a national strategy consistent with both European priorities and the national interests.

‐ NI ESHE is in synergy with other European programs and infrastructures: Intelligent Cities and Communities, Smart, Green and Intelligent Transport, TEN-T, ECCSEL, EU-SOLARIS.

Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: 2008

o Methods, equipment and technology for replacing non-renewable raw materials and fossil fuels with renewable ones based on waste biomass

o Hybrid Lithium-ion and Sodium-ion batteries with cheaper electrode materials

o New bioelectrochemical systems and transfer of know-how to potential users

o Algorithm and preparation of digital database for management and coordination of the experiments conducted in a distributed research infrastructure

o Creation and improvement of processes, equipment and technologies for increasing raw material and energy efficiency of existing and newly created enterprises

o Hybrid system (battery/fuel cell) for non-road transport (electric, water)

o Databases for storage and transport of data, images and other information products (Web Library)

o Platform for e-learning o A device for additional energy independent power

supply for transport vehicles o Technology for integrated waste management

(municipal, industrial, hazardous), combined with their use as renewable raw materials and energy source

o Technology for lead batteries to power bicycles and scooters (in Iskra factory - Pazardzhik)

o Technology for hydrogen production through electrolysis or reforming to hydrogen fuel station (Adenchar, Samel)

 

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Eco and energy-efficient technologies

Coordinator: Technical University – Gabrovo Location of the infrastructure: Gabrovo Bulgarian consortium: Potential participants in a future consortium are scientific partner organizations such as the Technical University – Sofia, Technical University - Varna, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Ruse University “Angel Kanchev” Field of activity: Energy Type of the infrastructure: Concentrated – focused at one place Budget project for the period 2016-2020:  Total: 11.9 million BGN Revenues 0.5 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: Technical University - Gabrovo is a member of the European University Association / EUA. It is a candidate member of the University Energy Cluster, founded in 2015, in order to make Europe-wide mapping of university teaching and research activities in the field of energy. TU – Gabrovo is a member of IEEE – Bulgaria (a professor at the Technical University of Gabrovo is the first IEEE Senior member from Bulgaria). The research infrastructure "Eco and energy-saving technologies" will allow integration in research networks and in European technology platforms such as: the European Network for Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST); the scientific networks of the European Science Foundation; ENTREE - European Network for Training and Research in the field of electrical engineering and others. Year of inclusion in European infrastructure: 2015

Description of the infrastructure: The research infrastructure focuses on (?) Eco and energy efficient technologies, Mechanical and Instrument Engineering, CAD / CAM / CAE, laser technologies, recognition of materials and environments systems, electronics and automation, electric vehicles, photovoltaic systems, energy efficient lighting systems, solar-thermal, wind and hybrid systems, accredited measurements and tests in the fields of activity. The research infrastructure will create an innovative environment that will enable the application of “know-how” of TU-Gabrovo and the partner organizations in the creation of eco and energy-saving technologies, machinery and equipment, specialized parts and assemblies, recognition environments and materials systems, laser systems, accredited measurements, testing and expertises. Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure: Over 100 Impact / benefits: The research and applied research results of the research infrastructure’s wok will find application in the industrial enterprises of manufacturing industry sectors covering the thematic area of ISIS “Mechatronics and clean technologies” such as: engineering, electronics, automation and robotics, precision engineering, electrical engineering, electric, energy and renewable energy sources. The geographic al location of Gabrovo allows for quick access of industrial enterprises from the region and across the country to the research results, including consultations at place, overview of models and prototypes, measurements, testing and expertise. The research infrastructure will enable the production of unique and precision components, parts, assemblies, systems, including replacement parts, and it will be able to perform precise measurements and tests. This will enable companies to not invest in the precision engineering that cannot load technologically. In many cases, the rapid problem solving in production makes companies more competitive.

 

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National infrastructure for research and innovation in agriculture and food

RINA

Coordinator: Agricultural Academy Location of the infrastructure: 1080 Sofia “Schosse Bankya” 7 Str. Bulgarian consortium: Consortium members:

1. Agricultural Academy – Coordinator

2. Sofia University 3. Faculty of Biology 4. Genomic Center 5. Bulgarian Agency for Food

Safety 6. National Agricultural

Scientific Information Complex (NASICo)

7. Central Agricultural Library – ССА

8. Agricultural University Plovdiv

9. Trakia University – Stara Zagora

10. University of Forestry – Sofia

Area of activity: Health and food. Type of the infrastructure: Union of five scientific complexes, which has the necessary modern material-technical base – laboratories, experimental stations, demonstration farms, information systems and databases, etc., as well as the necessary financial resources for conducting numerous trials and tests, the results of which will be deployed in the economy.

Description of the infrastructure:

The National Infrastructure for Research and Innovation in Agriculture and Food – (RINA, Research, Innovation, Agriculture) is a consortium of research institutes, which will upgrade the currently existing scientific and servicing units and will put them together in 5 research complexes in the main thematic areas of agricultural science.

1. Scientific Complex for sustainable soil resources management, water efficiency and defining the environmental risks and threats.

2. Scientific complex for genetic research and plant selection 3. Scientific research complex for food and beverage 4. Scientific research complex for livestock breeding, fisheries and

aquacultures 5. Scientific Complex for agricultural information, agricultural

management and Rural Development.

RINA aims to create a modern national research infrastructure for achieving significant scientific and applicable results, transfer of knowledge and technology in the fields of agriculture, food and conserving the natural resources. NI will work for integrating modern fundamental and applicable research and educational activities to achieve an economically viable and stable industry in terms of adaptation to climate changes, ensuring the quality of life of the population. The unification of resources of scientific complexes - laboratories and laboratory equipment, genetic resources, existing and newly created information systems and databases, demonstration farms and research capacity in various thematic areas in order to create complex scientific solutions which will in result lead to – from technologies for sustainable production of important economic crops and animals through appropriate high-yielding and quality varieties and certified seeds for them to technologies for processing into a final product with high nutritional and health qualities. Providing an open access to the scientific results, to big data bases and genetic resources by creating e-platforms will reflect on the results of the infrastructure activity. The purpose of the NI RINA is conversion of research infrastructure into a preferred partner for international research and the creation of clusters between science, agriculture and processing business.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

Over 500

Impact / benefits:

1. Innovative approaches for obtaining ecologically clean, functional foods and beverages of plant and animal origin

 

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Budget project for the period 2016-2020:  Total: 52.5 million BGN Revenues 21.8 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure: In the Strategic Report on Research Infrastructures – a Roadmap of the European Commission from 2010 as an omission and weakness is given the lack of specialized European research infrastructure for Researches in agriculture that should bring together the key thematic areas. Working group "Research in Agriculture" at SCAR suggests the creation of new research facilities, consisting of integrated infrastructures for research and development, to be designed as a limited number of interdependent infrastructures with modern technological equipment. At this stage, the proposed research infrastructure is still not involved in such European infrastructure.

2. Forecasts and strategies for sustainable and rational use of soil resources of the country

3. Improving the sustainability of the sector by introducing new Bulgarian varieties and breeds that are better adapted to the specific soil and climatic conditions.

4. Increasing the variety of foods for special target groups with chronic diseases – diabetes, overweight, obesity, cardiovascular diseases

5. Direct importance in the production of materials, substrates, pure cultures for pharmaceutical industry

6. Direct significance for development of a competitive niche for the production of a child and student clinically tested new generation of foods

7. Distribution of new technologies in the food business and increasing its competitiveness in the production of foods and beverages

8. Breeding programs, technologies, forecasts and strategies for sustainable and rational use of national resources for the development of livestock

9. Technology transfer to SMEs of new special foods with high added value, suitable for realization of expensive food markets

10. Increasing the scientific and creative potential and the experience of staff of the Centre, which will provide continuity of knowledge and experience for the sake of future prosperity. Transfer of knowledge and increased awareness of farms and agribusiness on innovation and potential to improve competitiveness

11. Improving the policy for supporting young scientists; introducing demonstration and practical modules

12. Improving the quality and efficiency of services in support of agribusiness and rural areas

13. The deployment of capacity for research and innovation will provide an opportunity for new partnerships with businesses and establishing new enterprises in the agricultural sector

14. Easier use of agricultural information and ordering analyzes and developments from state institutions, NGOs and businesses

15. Increasing the accessibility of research results and acceleration of their practical application

 

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National university complex for biomedical and applied research

Coordinator: Medical University – Sofia by the Center for Molecular Medicine (CMM) Location of the infrastructure: Medical University – Sofia and Medical University – Plovdiv http://mmcbg.org/bg/index.php Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Medical University – Sofia Consortium members:

o Center for Molecular Medicine;

o Medical Faculty o Faculty of Pharmacy o National Genetic

Laboratory, Specialized Hospital for Active Treatment in Obstetrics and Gynecology (SHATOG) “Maichin Dom”;

o University Hospital for Active Treatment „Alexandrovska“,

o University Hospital for Active Treatment and Emergency Medicine „Pirogov“;

o University Specialized Hospital for Active Treatment of Endocrinology

Медицински университет – Пловдив:

o Medical Faculty o Research Center of

Immunology o Center for medical

molecular biology research

Medical University - Varna: Center of Nutrigenomics Potential partners:

Description of the infrastructure: The national university complex for biomedical and applied research is a distributed infrastructure, organized as a network of resources (biobank, scientific equipment and research units) of two of the largest medical universities in Bulgaria – Medical University – Sofia and Medical University – Plovdiv.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure:

Over 20

Impact / benefits: The role of the Consortium is to link the existing resources, achieving critical mass of expertise and technological capability to boost the research in molecular medicine, genetics and epidemiology areas in Bulgaria in the post-genomic era. The aim is to accelerate the transition between fundamental research and the clinical practice in order to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the most significant for the society diseases.

1. Development of the biobanking in Bulgaria and the inclusion of the national infrastructure into the European initiative BBMRI-ERIC

2. Improving the level of biomedical sciences and education by creating, expanding and maintaining a modern infrastructure for genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and translational researches

3. Stimulation of applied researches in the field of genomic medicine to create approaches for personalized therapy in order to improve the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of socially significant diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, metabolic and rare genetic diseases

4. Development of biomedical research, promotion of the applied knowledge transfer and innovation – This will encourage the establishment of public-private partnership based on providing services in the field of biomedical research and applying of “omics” technologies, will launch and boost the development of spin-off companies based on innovation with undoubted social and economic impact, and will attract partners and customers from research and health organizations from the Balkan region and the EU countries.

5. Enable important issues in science, education and health areas – technological development of the national infrastructure will give the necessary boost to the work of researchers in these biomedicine fields, ensuring the easy access to modern equipment, opportunities for further staff training and the basis

 

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MU-Varna, MU-Pleven, Trakya University and more than 10 institutions Area of activity Health and food Type of the infrastructure: Distributed Budget project for the period 2016-2020: Total: 39.6 million BGN Revenues: 1 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: BBMRI – 2011 (memorandum signed) EATRIS – 2013 an invitation to join BioImaging – plan to join; no action taken to join

for building collaborations for knowledge sharing and transfer of scientific results and achievements in practice

6. Rare Diseases – significant social and economic impact, a fact that gave reason for recommendations from the European Commission and the Council of Europe and reflected in the National Program for Rare Diseases of the Republic of Bulgaria and the National Health Strategy

 

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Center for Contemporary microscopy for fundamental and applied researches in biology, medicine and biotechnology (EuroBioImaging)

Coordinator Institute of Molecular Biology “Academic Rumen Tsanev”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Location of the infrastructure enter for Contemporary microscopy for basic and applied research in biology, medicine and biotechnology (EuroBioImaging), Sofia – city, 1113 Sofia, str. “Acad.G.Bonchev”, bl. 21 http://www.bio21.bas.bg/imb/?lang=bulgarian Bulgarian consortium Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Institute of Molecular Biology “Academic Rumen Tsanev” – BAS Partners are missing for the project Area of activity Health and Food Type of the infrastructure European, distributed Budget project for the period 2016-2020: Total: 5.3 million BGN Revenues: 4.6 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure:

Description of the infrastructure: Euro-BioImaging is a project to create pan-European research infrastructure by the European Strategy Forum based on the Roadmap for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The infrastructure represents multiple centers – facilities for the implementation of fundamental and applied research in biology, medicine and biotechnology areas. The center for contemporary microscopy for fundamental and applied researches in biology, medicine and biotechnology areas (Euro-BioImaging) is the only one recommended for construction unit of the Euro-BioImaging consortium in Southeast Europe. The center for contemporary microscopy for fundamental and applied researches in the fields of biology, medicine and biotechnology to the Euro-BioImaging consortium aims to build infrastructure for modern microscopy to provide the Bulgarian researchers free access to innovative technologies for receiving images. The center will provide access to the following avant-garde microscopic techniques: 1. Multiphotonic and confocal scanning microscopy. This

type of system that is currently not available in Bulgaria, enables monitoring with high resolution deep in the organisms’ tissues.

2. Laser micro-dissection enables the separation of cancer cells from the normal tissue with high precision for a subsequent diagnosis and researches.

3. Light sheet microscopy (SPIM) is a new technique with great potential that allows capturing three-dimensional images of cells and small organisms for days without phototoxicity.

 

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The center for contemporary microscopy on fundamental and applied researches in the fields of biology, medicine and biotechnology is part of the Euro-BioImaging – a pan-European consortium, included in the Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: 2015

4. The high performance fluorescence microscopy enables simultaneous study of the effect on normal and cancerous cells of thousands of biologically active compounds with a potential use in medicine.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure Over 50

Impact / benefits: The development of the infrastructure will enable researchers to take advantage of avant-garde microscopy techniques for monitoring fixed and living cells for studying a wide variety of questions in biology, medicine and biotechnology. Providing of free access to an advanced microscopic technology through the creation of the Center for modern biomedical microscopy as part of the international Euro-BioImaging infrastructure will increase the opportunities of the Bulgarian scientists to develop both fundamental research and development. The establishment of a system for sharing technologies and equipment between science and business will facilitate the conceptual and technological integration of biomedical researches of Bulgaria in the EU. In longer term the creation of biomedical products with protected intellectual property as drug products, other biologically active substances, tests with applications in diagnostics and forensics and more will be stimulated. The opportunities for knowledge transfer from the field of science into the field of production for turning technological design into real production product technology with high added value will expand. This research infrastructure will increase the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy in the field of health and biotechnology and will help build a modern economy based on knowledge and scientific achievements.

 

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Research infrastructure in cellular

technologies in biomedicine (SICTB)

Coordinator Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” Location of the infrastructure Sofia – Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” https://www.uni-sofia.bg/index.php/bul/universitet_t/fakulteti/biologicheski_fakultet2 Bulgarian consortium Financial coordinator: The Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: - BARHE Association (the association unites

embryologists from 35 national centers for assisted reproduction).

Participants: - Faculty of Biology at Sofia University - “Joint Genome Center” Ltd, Sofia - Medical center “ReproBioMed” Ltd. - Sofia - In vitro AG Medical Center “Dimitrov” Ltd. - Bulgarian Association of Regenerative

Medicine (BARM) - Bulgarian Association of Reproductive

Human Embryology (BARHE) - Institute for Regenerative Medicine Ltd. Area of activity Health and Food Type of the infrastructure Concentrated Budget project for the period 2016-2020: 24 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure One of the main tasks of the infrastructure is related with the inclusion of SICTB in the European infrastructure for translational medicine (EATRIS), part of ESFRI Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure:

Description of the infrastructure: “Allianz for cell technology“ (ACT) is a civil association of organizations from academic, industry and NGO sectors whose purpose is the development of scientific research, education and applied activities in the field of cellular biotechnology with application in personalized reproductive and regenerative medicine. The association was founded to create a research infrastructure by seven organizations, co-founders of ACT as equal partners. Impact / benefits: Innovations and transfer of knowledge – Innovations in cellular technologies for creating products for humane use based on high quality research, transfer of knowledge and skills, exchange and access to facilities between the separate units and other institutions to ensure that the scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of consumers, which can continue to develop and use the technology in new products, processes, applications, materials or services.

 

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National Center for high performance and distributed computing

Coordinator Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IICT-BAS) Location of the infrastructure IICT-BAS, str. „Acad. G. Bonchev“, bl. 25А, 1113 Sofia http://www.hpc.acad.bg/?lang=bg Bulgarian Consortium Financial coordinator:

o Ministry of Education and Science

Scientific coordinator: Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, BAS, is the scientific coordinator of the following two consortia: Consortium for Supercomputing Applications (since 2009) Consortium members:

o Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” o Technical University – Sofia o Medical University – Sofia o National Center for Geophysics, Geology and

Geography – BAS o Institute of Mechanics – BAS

Consortium for distributed (Grid and cloud) applications (established in 2004, renovated in 2012) Consortium members:

o Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy – BAS;

o Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” o Technical University – Gabrovo; o Institute of Molecular Biology “Acad. Rumen

Tsanev” – BAS; o Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of

Phytochemistry – BAS; o National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and

Geography – BAS; o Institute of Mechanics – BAS;

Institute of Mathematics and Informatics – BAS. Area of activity e-Infrastructure

Description of the infrastructure: The infrastructure has a centralized model of management, maintenance and resource management, which provides computer security, a rapid resolution of technical problems, regular installations and upgrading of middleware as well as supporting the users and the applications. The National Centre for high performance and distributed computing is an electronic infrastructure that integrates computing systems and data storage, software, middleware and services, and offers to the Bulgarian researchers a transparent and open access for the development and operation of computing-intensive scientific applications. Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure: Over 100 Impact / benefits: 1. Transparent access to the most contemporary

computational tools for research teams from different scientific disciplines;

2. Competent support for scientific applications in key areas such as medicine and bioinformatics, ecology and bio-diversity, new materials, transportation, energy efficiency, humanities and social sciences, etc.;

3. Support for the formation of interdisciplinary teams using the latest advances in information technology; Possibility to model processes and phenomena with processing of large volumes of data and complex mathematical models;

4. Exchange of experience and know-how 5. Reinforcement of Bulgaria as a regional

leader in the field of information technology; 6. Expanding the participation of Bulgarian

scientific teams in European projects and research programs;

7. To serve as an electronic infrastructure to other national research infrastructures;

8. Training of young scientists and development of human potential in priority areas.

 

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Type of the infrastructure Concentrated – focused at one place Budget project for the period 2016-2020: Total: 20.8 million BGN Participation in European infrastructure European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) and participation in PRACE through cooperation with NCSA.. Year of inclusion into the European infrastructure: European Grid Infrastructure – EGI (since 2010) European infrastructure for high performance computing – PRACE (since 2010, through cooperation with NCSA)

 

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European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN

Coordinator Ministry of Education and Science Location of the infrastructure CERN is located on the border between France and Switzerland, near Genève. The center has a developed infrastructure on the territory of both of the countries. http://www.cern.ch Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: INRNE, IICT and ISER – BAS, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”, and NCRRP Type of the infrastructure European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN Participation in European infrastructure: The HL-LHC project is included in the ESFRI Roadmap. In 2018 ISOLDE will also be included in ESFRI as a part of the EURISOL DF project. Membership in DARIAH ERIC is envisaged. Year of inclusion On June 3, 1999, the XXXVIII National Assembly ratified the CERN Convention and the Financial Protocol annexed to it, and on 11 June 1999 Bulgaria was officially named by UNESCO as a full member of the CERN. This is the end of the ten‐year 

Description of the infrastructure The European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) is established in 1954 in order to unite the efforts of the European countries in researching elementary particles of matter and the forces responsible for their interactions. This is an international intergovernmental organization with 22 countries as members (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). The associate members of the organizations are Serbia, Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine. The areas of activity are related to fundamental research in particle physics, nuclear physics, information technology and applying of the methods and technologies developed for the needs of business and society, training of highly qualified specialists. The research in CERN is conducted by accelerating stable or long-lived charged particles (protons, electrons and heavy ions) to high energies, which then collide with nuclei of specially selected target or with each other. With the help of the located around the target or at the point of the collision detectors, the products of the reaction are registered, and thus we can judge the ongoing processes. For many years in CERN a unique accelerator complex is built which consists of a chain of accelerators (LINAC, BUSTER, PS, SPS, LHC), as in each subsequent accelerator an accelerated to a certain energy by the previous one is injected. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the last one in this chain and is able to accelerate protons to energies 7 TeV/nuclei and heavy nuclei to 2.76 TeV/nuclei. There are 4 detector complexes in this accelerator (ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb), with the help of which the products of the interaction of the accelerated beams are registered. ATLAS and CMS are for general purposes, while the other two experiments are specialized for solving specific problems. LHC is located in a tunnel, a ring with a perimeter of about 27 km. It has installed 9593 superconducting magnets, securing a stable orbit of particle bundles and 16 radio frequency resonators, accelerating charged particles. The magnetic field is created by the superconducting coils, operating at a temperature of 1.8 K, while accelerating elements operate at a temperature of 4.5 K For the cooling of the entire system about 120 tons of liquid helium is needed. The tunnel and the detectors are located underground at a depth of between 50 and 150 meters.

 

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period of negotiations, preparation and work on the accession of Bulgaria to the largest intergovernmental organization for fundamental research in Europe. On 18 June 1999, at the 113th Session of the CERN Council, the national flag of the Republic of Bulgaria was erected in front of CERN's main entrance.  Budget:

The membership fee of member states is determined by a formula and depends on the GDP of the country, as well as the GDP of all the member states. For 2017, the membership fee is CHF 3,283,900. Over the next few years, a slight increase may be expected. Under the agreement for Bulgaria's accession to CERN and in accordance with pt. 3 of Decision № 354 of 27.05.1999 on and Decision № 753 of 28.11.2008 Council of Ministers to ensure the participation of Bulgarian teams in the scientific program of CERN must be allocated additional funds of up to 30% of the country's contribution for the given year. Currently, our country participates in the following experiments: CMS, NA61, NA62, ISOLDE, SHiP. In order to ensure the full participation of the Bulgarian teams it is necessary to be provided funding amounting to about BGN 1 million per year

ISOLDE is an experimental infrastructure in CERN for producing beams of radioactive nuclei. A proton beam from PSB bombards targets thus creating different cores. After isotopic separation, low energetic beams of radioactive nuclei are formed, which may be further accelerated in the linear accelerator HIE-ISOLDE or be used for research in the fields of nuclear physics, astrophysics, solid state physics, and medical physics. At CERN, the necessary infrastructure is built for maintaining the operation of accelerators and an extremely powerful data center, comprising of 17,000 computing processors (85,000 cores) and storage capacity of 185 PB of data. It collects and storages the experimental data. It is central for the global LHC Grid network, consisting of 170 computer centers located in 42 countries worldwide. The data center at CERN transfers its data to the other computer centers, where it is analyzed. The organizations have a variety of technical services and workshops, which support and produce some of the equipment used at CERN.

Impact / benefits: 1. Linguistic and other humanitarian studies that require a large amount of texts or specific types of texts. 2. Training in Bulgarian language and literature in the study of texts oriented towards learning. 3. Learning systems in other disciplines through semantic annotation and documents search, as well as introduction of personalized/adaptive learning 4. Studying Bulgarian language as a foreign one, through developing specialized software for automatization of typical text processing activities. 5. Learning foreign languages by Bulgarians by creating resources in line with the European framework resources 6. Creation of software for automatic processing in Bulgarian for both research purposes, and various useful applications – for example automatization of text processing of polls 7. e-Government by analyzing administrative documents and their indexation and more flexible information search, hidden facts, interactions, and so on. 8. Supporting activities of cultural institutions by creating software for management of collections of cultural institutions, which enables cataloging, digital storage and collections presentation of any size and type. Development of “Bulgarian Related Open Data” by enhanced participation in Wikidata, DBpedia, GeoNames, and others, which will extend the access of users to information in the web.

 

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Center for Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (CPSBB)

Coordinator Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology “Assoc. Prof. Tsanko Gechev” Location of the infrastructure Plovdiv, Bulgaria http://cpsbb.eu/ Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Consortium „PlantaSYST” http://plantasyst.eu/ Type of the infrastructure Research center in the field of plant systems biology and biotechnology Participation in European infrastructure - Н2020 Project PlantaSYST

Description of the infrastructure: CPSBB is a research center with the following organizational structure: General Assembly – the supreme body; Management: Director and Management Board; Administrative department, IT department and technical maintenance; Research departments: Department 1: Molecular physiology of stress. Department 2: Plant cell biotechnology. Department 3: Biology of plant development. Department 4: Synthetic biology. Department 5: Vegetable production. Department 6: Bioinformatics and mathematic modeling. Department 7: Plant metabolomics. Department 8: Soil fertility. Department 9: Technology transfer, commercialization, IP management, and communications. Department 10: Project activities.

The field of activity is plant systems biology and biotechnology, crop production, genomics, molecular biology, metabolomics, bioinformatics Impact / benefits:

CPSBB will create an innovative, reliable and economical research center in plant systems biology and biotechnology. As a result:

Modern research in plant systems biology and biotechnology will be conducted, thus increasing the research and innovation potential of plant science in Bulgaria;

New technologies for vegetable producing and forecast of the plant yield will be introduced.

The decision making in agriculture will be improved, which will have a beneficial effect on farmers and consumers, and the environment.

Growth in the agriculture and biotechnology sectors in the Bulgarian economy will be stimulated.

Budget:

CPSBB will have different revenues, amounting to a total 21 900 000 EUR for the period 2018-2022, as of EU funding, third parties funding organisations, and services in the field of metabolomics and bio-informatics.

 

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Science and Technology Park “Sofia Tech Park”

Coordinator Association for Research and Development Prof. Marin Hristov m.hristov@sofiatech.bg Location of the infrastructure Sofia, Mladost, “Tsarigradsko Shose” blvd. 11, G http://www.sofiatech.bg Bulgarian consortium: Financial coordinator:

o Ministry of Economy o Bulgarian Small and

Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency

o Sofia Tech Park Scientific coordinator:

o Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

o Technical University – Sofia

o Medical University – Sofia

Type of the infrastructure Research infrastructure Laboratory complex, consisting of 11 laboratory units Participation in European infrastructure Sofia Tech Park is an associated partner of IASP – International Association of Science and Areas of Innovations: http://www.iasp.ws/ In 2013 Sofia Tech Par signed a Memorandum for Cooperation with the Italian Association of Science and Technology Parks (APSTI); STP plans in the period 2017-2020 to apply for membership and partnership in the European Partner Networks, including:

Description of the infrastructure

The complex consists of 11 laboratory units, but seven of them are related with e-Infrastructures:

1. Bioinformatics laboratory “BioInfoTech” The main objective of the laboratory is to create data bases, which hold biological information. This information will be analyzed, which will lead to generation of knowledge about the structure of new drugs. The laboratory will also develop new software instruments, required for generating such knowledge.

2. Laboratory for 3D creativity and rapid prototyping of new products The mission of the lab is to create innovative practices and build unique and affordable opportunities for research and development in the field of 3D creativity through systems for rapid physical materialization of new ideas and products. The lab will serve as a center for innovators and researchers, who will look for new solutions by using technologies for ideas directly from computer models.

3. “Artificial intelligence and CAD systems” Laboratory The lab allows using shared resources, software and information, such as access to multiple CAD-based software applications, which can be used by both academic institutions and businesses, which will develop new products. The lab will develop and test devices, which use electroencephalography, for example robot prototypes, which are controlled remotely by people using their brain waves.

4. Micro Nano Lab The main activities of the lab are related to research, testing and analysis of defects and failures: microelectronic circuits (chips), electronic devices, sensor systems and other high-tech products in the field of electronic devices, alternative energy, automobiles production, communications equipment and computers. The main priority of the laboratory is studying and identifying the reasons for failure of the tested products, optimizing the research process, and developing new products, devices and systems.

5. Laboratory on Cybersecurity The lab is based on modern methods of risk assessment, diagnosis of internal threats and management of complex computer and mobile infrastructures. Moreover, the laboratory will carry out activities, related to design and software development, and complex systems by using the latest methods for secure coding – developing a safe and secure software based on the principles set by CERT Bulgaria and the National unit for reaction to incidents in the computer security.

6. Virtual and Augmented Reality Laboratory The main activity of lab consists in conducting research and implementation of innovative solutions for testing and verifying the properties of new products at a very early stage of their development. The lab will offer innovative service for the country and the region,

 

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Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), Network of European Business and Innovation Centers (EBN), Pan-European association for professionals involved in knowledge transfer between universities and industry (ASTP) and others. Year of inclusion into the European infrastructure: Italian Association of Science and Technology Parks (APSTI) – 2013 International Association of Science Parks and Area of Innovations – 2014

which will consist in training, research and correction of models of devices and equipment in an immersive environment, using natural techniques for interaction and integration of tactile feedback and sound effects with the aim to rapidly develop new products and support for decision taking.

7. Laboratory for High-performing computing http://nestum.phys.uni-sofia.bg/ “Intelligent communications infrastructures” Laboratory

The laboratory will conduct scientific research and development and will conduct tests in the field of railway systems (trains, trams, and metro) traffic management. Research activities of the lab will focus on creating a unique platform for validation and certification of industrial solutions and components in the railway signaling sector (ERTMS) and onboard computers. Impact / benefits: Increasing and supporting the research capacity in the Republic of Bulgaria. Promoting innovation culture and competiveness of enterprises and organizations based on knowledge. Assistance in creating an effective work environment for research and innovation. Budget project for the period 2018-2022: 37,5 million BGN, as of EU funding, third parties funding organisations, and services .

 

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Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna)

Coordinator Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency Location of the infrastructure Dubna, Moscow, Russian Federation http://www.jinr.ru Bulgarian consortium: Financial Coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science

Scientific Coordinator: 1. Institute for Nuclear

Research and Nuclear Energy

2. Institute of Solid State Physics

3. Institute of Electronics 4. Institute of Mathematics

and Informatics 5. Sofia University “St.

Kliment Ohridski”: Faculty of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy

6. Plovdiv University “Pasisii Hilendarski”: Faculty of Physics

7. SWU “Neofit Rilski”: Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

8. Shumen University “Konstantin Preslavski”: Faculty of Natural Sciences

9. National Center for Radiobiology and Radiation Protection.

Type of the infrastructure An international research institute – intergovernmental

Description of the infrastructure JINR consists of seven laboratories, each of which by the scale of conducted research and staff equals a large research institute. The institute operates a unique research base. JINR has: superconducting accelerator Nuklotron, which accelerates protons, deuterons and heavy ions to energies of 4.5GeV/nucleon; cyclotrons У-250 and У-400 for accelerating heavy ions to the energies of 30 MeV/nucleon; cyclic accelerator Fazotron accelerating protons to the energies of 660 MeV, which is used also for proton therapy; impulse fast neutron reactor ИБР-2, which provides intense neutron beams for research in condensed matter physics; powerful high-performance computing complexes. Currently JINR realizes several major infrastructure projects: - Accelerator complex with cross beams of heavy ions NICA (Nuclotron based Ion Collider fAcility) with a project cost of about 500 million $; - A factory for super-heavy elements based on the cyclotron accelerator of the Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions (project cost: around 80 million $); - A detector for cosmic neutrinos in Lake Bajkal with a volume of about 1 billion cubic meters. (project cost: around 50 million $). Impact / benefits: From its membership in JINR our country gets powerful boosts for its development in different directions. Firstly – the preparation of specialists for science and higher education. Over the years over 400 Bulgarian physicists, mathematicians, chemists, engineers, biologists and others have worked there. Annually around 100 scientists from Bulgaria visit the laboratories of JINR for short- and medium-term missions. Bulgarians have defended over 20 dissertations for obtaining the degree “Doctor of Sciences” and over 85 dissertations for the scientific degree “Doctor”, dozens of other dissertations are defended in Bulgaria based on a material, obtained there. For a period of three years or more 5 Bulgarian academicians and corresponding members, and dozens of professors and PhDs have worked in JINR. Hundreds of Bulgarians, who worked in the Institute, subsequently have become heads of institutes, departments, units, leading researchers, and lecturers in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, University of Sofia, Plovdiv University and many others. Large appliances have been delivered to INRNE from JINR: 1. Magnetic alpha spectrometer. It is installed in a channel of the experimental reactor ИРТ-1000. The device is used to examine the fine structure of the alpha spectrum of isotopes of heavy and rare elements; 2. Magnetic beta-spectrometers (2 pieces). Mounted in the basement of INRNE. They are used to measure energetic spectrums of electrons of internal conversion. With their help the structure of the excited states of isotopes of rare earth elements were studied, as the targets are obtained by ЯСНАП installation, JINR-Dubna or are irradiated reactor ИРТ-2000;

 

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organization with 18 member states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Cuba, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and six associated states: Germany, Egypt, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, South Africa. Участие в европейска инфраструктура - Строящият се ускорителен комплекс NICA е включен в Пътната карта на ESFRI. Година на включване – 2016 г. Budget project for the period 2016-2020: According to the 7-year development plan for the 2017-2023 period, approved by the Committee of Plenipotentiaries, the JINR draft budget is as follows: (in millions $): 2018 – 204,5; 2019 – 204,5; 2020 – 207,6; 2021 – 211,7; 2022 – 217,0; and 2023 – 222,4.

3. Magnetic mass spectrometer. It is installed in the basement of INRNE. It is used to determine the age (geochronology) by the lead-isotope method. With this device were tested geological samples of ores from almost all deposits in Bulgaria. With this data the local origin of most of the prehistoric (eneolithic) working tools found in Bulgaria is established. The majority of the infrastructure of the computer network of the physical sciences center of BAS is established with the material assistance and participation of specialists from JINR. In the next three years, with the help of specialists from the IT lab of JINR, a project will be realized, funded largely by the contributions of the Republic of Bulgaria in JINR. As a result, a cloud computer structures, linked with each other and with the related structure of JINR will be built and put in action in the Center of Physical Sciences of BAS and in Sofia University, thus rapidly increasing the effectiveness of the scientific research of the research institutions related, especially those conducting them jointly. JINR funds conducting of important international scientific forums in Bulgaria. Such are the regularly held (every two years) International school on nuclear physics, neutron physics and nuclear energy, and International symposium on nuclear electronics and computer technology. Leading experts from all around the world are involved in these forums, thus enabling a wide range of Bulgarian scientists to learn about the latest results and tendencies in the field of the related research. For the last ten years the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency, jointly with INRNE – BAS and SWU “N. Rilski” organizes “Days of JINR in Bulgaria”. This is a school for Bulgarian students in the field of physics from different HEI, which for a week attend lectures by leading scientists from JINR about the latest results and guidelines for research in key areas of nuclear physics and particle physics. Since 2015 the School is international. Its funding is again at the expense of membership fees of Bulgaria in JINR Every year several Bulgarian students take part in summer student practices and several Bulgarian physics teachers further develop their qualification in special courses, organized by the Scientific and Education Center of JINR.

 

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Bulgarian Antarctic Base “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Coordinator Bulgarian Antarctic Institute Financial coordinator Ministry of Education and Science Location of the infrastructure Bulgarian Antarctic base is located on Livingston Island, which is part of the South Ceaser archipelago. It is located 838 km away from Cape Horn, 124 km away from the Antarctic peninsula, 3,050 km from the South Pole, and 13,800 km away from Sofia. It is located on Hurd peninsula, on the Bulgarian coast on the east coast of the inner gulf of Emona, which is part of the South Bay. Coordinates: 62O 38 '29 "S, 60O 21' 53" W http://bai-bg.weebly.com/10411072107910721090 Type of the infrastructure Established in 1988, the infrastructure provides an ofor conducting a wide spectre of integrated, multidiand interdisciplinary fundamental and applied reseawell as monitoring of the unique conditions of the A

Description of the infrastructure The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 and ratified by Bulgaria in 1978, defines Antarctica as a territory, that shall be used only solely for peaceful purposes and free scientific research and exchange of information and research results. Also, according to Article 2 of the Protocol for Environmental Protection of the Antarctic “… the parties commit to comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and associated ecosystems, and determine Antarctica as a national reserve, devoted to peace and science.” BAB satisfies the ever-growing interest of the Bulgarian scientific community in studying polar regions, providing an opportunity for scientists from both Bulgaria and abroad to conduct scientific research in this unique world reserve. The conducted research is mainly in the fields of geology, geophysics, biology, medicine, glaciology, seismology, and ecology. The role of the infrastructure is to connect existing resources, achieving critical mass of expertise and technological capabilities that would give a new boost to research in the polar regions. BAB is a seasonal base and operates annually during the astral summer, in the period November – March. The capacity of the base is 22 people, of which 15 scientists and 7 logistics team (doctor, mechanic, electrician, mountain guide, boat leader, host-chef). BAB currently consists of the following buildings:

o The main building, built in 1997, size: 11m by 6.6m. The walls are concrete panels with insulating plasterboard. It is a residential building with a living room and a kitchen, a storage room, three bedrooms with 10 beds (out of 28 in the Base), and a basement, used for storage purposes. In the 2005/2006 season a metal annex was added, size: 4 m by 6.6 m, in which the incinerator is located (combustion chamber for burning waste) and a bathroom with two extra showers, a water heater, and a washing machine. The incinerator has two

 

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chambers – the main one, operating at temperatures up to 900 °C, and a second one – for burning solid particles in the flue gases at 1200 °C, with exhaust gas filter.

o “The Limping Dog”, built in 1988 with size 6 m by 3.5 m. It is currently a Museum of Livingston Island (from October 2012), a subsidiary to the National History Museum in Sofia. It has a radio communication center and mail, and, if necessary, there are conditions for occupancy of five people. This is the oldest building on the island. On the XXXVIII Consultative meeting of the Antarctic Treaty, held in Sofia on 1-10 June 2015, “The Limping Dog” was added to the cultural and historic heritage of the Antarctica.

o “The Russian Shack” is built in 1988, with size: 4 m by 2.5 m with wooden panels. It is a workshop, and a warehouse. It has been inundated by two meters of snow and unusable for the last four years.

o The small pyramidal structure “Casa Espagna”, built in 2006/2007. The inner rooms and installations are finished in 2010. It is a two-story building with size 3.6 m by 7.2 m. It has five beds, a bathroom, and a working area for scientists.

o A large pyramidal house built in 2007/2008 and completed in 2011. It is a two-story house with size 9.7 by 7.2, with nine beds, two unfurnished rooms for laboratories, a medical office, and a bathroom. Its foundations, as well as of “The Limping Dog” and “Casa Espagna” are made of oil barrels, dug into the moraine embankment and filled with concrete, and the exterior walls are sheet sandwich-panels with a polyurethane core.

o A generator building built in 1995 with size 6m by 4 m made of tin. The building is currently unusable, as in 2010 it was crushed by the accumulated snow. One of the base’s generators is mounted separately in a small metal container directly in front of the main building.

o The old chapel “St. Ivan Rilski” is built and sanctified om 2003. Its sizes are 3.5 m by 3 m and made of abgeshpert panels, covered with tin sheets. It is located 220 m southeast of “The Limping Dog” and is the first Orthodox building in Antarctica and to most southerly in the world until 2011. During the winter, it is used to store snowmobiles. Despite its modest size, the chapel gained popularity as one of the most original prayer places in the world.

o In season 2011/2012, built was a new building of the chapel with a curved structure with size 4 m by 5.5 m made of tin with plywood inner lining. It is located on the slope of the Pesyakov hill, 60 m south of the “The Limping Dog”.

o An arc shaped tin hangar for the Zodiac boats, built in 2006/2007, with size 6 m by 5.5 m, located

 

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next to the disembarkation zone at the foot of the Hesperides hill. Over the last four seasons it is buried under thick layer of snow, probably deformed and unusable.

o An arc shaped tin hangar for the multifunctional “Manitou”, built in 2015/2016, with size 6 m by 5.5 m, located on the beach near the northern shore of the Big Lagoon, 120 m northwest of the “Main house”.

o Wind generators and photovoltaics. o Two “Zodiac” type boats equipped with engines

with 50 hp and 20 hp., which provide logistical support for the scientific projects on boats and snowmobiles.

Most of its buildings are grouped in 130 m from the coast at an altitude of 12 to 15.5 m between Sinemorets hill and Pesyakov hill. All of them are with a metal support structure. The main building, the old and the new chapel are built on a rock, and the rest of them – on a moraine rock material. Impact / benefits The polar regions are one of the key areas affecting climate change and the time of our planet. Antarctica is the largest nature reserve on Earth, where lie the answers to many mysteries. Budget project for the period 2016-2020:

 

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Research in the field of controlled nuclear fusion (ITER)

Coordinator Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: Institute for Nuclear Researches and Nuclear Energy – BAS Bulgarian consortium The EURATOM-INRNE association includes INRNE, the Institute of Solid State Physics, the Institute of Electronics, Sofia University, and Technical University – Sofia. (2014-2020) EUROFUSION-INRNE is a participant in the European consortium EUROFUSION, which includes 28 European countries and Switzerland. INRNE is the base organization. Other participants, according to the terms of EUROFUSION European Consortium participate as third parties, under the same conditions as INRNE. Contacts Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Sofia – 1784, Tsatigradsko Shose blvd. 72, Program coordinator prof. T. Troev, tel.:02/9740142, troev@inrne.bas.bg. LEAR assoc. prof. D. Tonev, Director of INRNE http://www.iter.org; http://www. f4e.europa.eu. Location of the infrastructure ITER is located in southern France, at the center of Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) in Cadarache. On this place, there is an already built Tokamak (Tore Supra). On 21 November 2006, the seven partners: the EU /EURATOM countries + Switzerland/, Japan, USA, Russia, China, India and South Korea, involved in the project implementation, signed a contract for financing the ITER project. The construction of the fusion reactor began in 2010. EU bears almost half of the construction costs, and the other half is equally distributed among the other participants. The program foresees 30-year project duration, 10 of

Description of the infrastructure Bulgaria has no experimental Tokamak unit. In 2006 there was a proposal for building a Tokamak with specialists from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” on the territory of INRNE – BAS. After discussions and conversations with Euratom it was decided that Bulgarian specialists to participate with projects and use the most modern Tokamak in Europe, as Bulgaria is a member of Euratom since 2006. Thus the financing costs for the participation of Bulgarian scientists in the controlled thermonuclear fusion research would be negligible. Since 2007 our specialists have participated in scientific research at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Garching, Germany, Nuclear Center in Karlsruhe, in JET (Joint European Torus), currently the only one in the world thermonuclear reactor in Colum, Oxford, Great Britain, Nuclear Research Center, Kyoto, Japan, Plasma Institute, Madrid, Spain and others. Impact / benefits ITER is an experimental thermonuclear reactor with the purpose to demonstrate an unlimited source of energy production from thermonuclear plasma. If this test reactor proves to be successful, nuclear fusion will become the main energy source of the mankind. Processing of seawater for receiving the initial products for thermonuclear fusion is much cheaper than processing the same amounts of oil. The fusion reactor will produce clean electrical energy. The reactor is safe from nuclear contamination. Our specialists conduct research and build knowledge and skills in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion. Project participants, as well as doctoral students have the opportunity to participate in discussions and experiments in modern installations around the world. And not the least is the fact that it enables young scientists to work on this subject in the research institutions in Bulgaria. There is cooperation in an extremely convenient manner with the best specialists in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion from the EU, as well as from non-EU countries, which have agreements with EURATOM for thermonuclear fusion. Budget project for the period 2016-2020:

 

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which will be for construction, and 20 for exploitation. The European Fusion Energy Development Authority (EFDA) published a supposed plan for the transition from the first experimental fusion reactor to full-power power plants. According to the experts’ estimation, fusion energy will become reality in 2050. The launch of the international fusion reactor ITER is scheduled for December 2025 – this date is set in line with the updated project schedule, approved by ITER Council. Participation in European infrastructure In 2006 Bulgaria signed a contract with EURATOM for establishing the EURATOM-INRNE Association. The Association participates in projects through the Contract with EURATOM (CoA – Contract of Associations) during the 2007-2013 period. On 1.1.2014 INRNE-EUROFUSION is a participant in the European Consortium EUROFUSION through a Grant Agreement. Horizon 2020 – EURATOM Consortium EUROFUSION. Research is conducted on controlled thermonuclear fusion. Bulgarian specialists participate in various projects listed above in the “Area of activity”. PWI -Plasma Wall Interaction, Diagnostics, Heating and Current Drive, Energy and particle, confinement/ transport systems, Theory and modelling, Development of High-Temperature superconductors for DEMO, Collective training of young engineers and scientists in field of thermonuclear plasma. Preparing master and doctoral students in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion.

The budget for the Bulgarian participation in ITER for 2014-2018 is 373,000 €; for 2018-2025 – 470,000-570,000 €

 

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CTA-MAGIC

Scientific Coordinator Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy – BAS Financial coordinator The Ministry of Education and Science Consortium CTA-MAGIC Association includes INRNE and Sofia University. INRNE is the base organization. Контакти Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Sofia – 1784, Tsatigradsko Shose Blvd. 72, Program coordinator prof. T. Troev, tel.:02/9740142, troev@inrne.bas.bg. LEAR assoc. prof. D. Tonev, Director of INRNE https://www.cta-observatory.org/ Infrastructure location CTA will be located at two places: 1) southern hemisphere in the Atakama desert at an altitude of 1,700 m in Chili, close to the European Astronomical Observatory, 2) in the northern hemisphere, on La Palma island of the Canary Archipelago in Spain. The northern part will be located at the location of MAGIC experiment. The core of the CTA team, which is responsible for the construction and subsequent operation of the facility, consists of participants in MAGIC experiment. The foundation of the first big telescope has already been built. Participation in European infrastructure Bulgaria is an official member of the MAGIC astrophysical collaboration since 2005. The MAGIC collaboration, together with the two world experiments HESS and VERITAS are the founders of the project for a new generation experiment CTA. Currently the CTA consortium

Description and activities of the infrastructure Particle astrophysics has become a globally integrated research field, in which are employed over 4,000 scientists. They conduct experiments under the Earth’s surface and in the oceans, on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, and in space. These studies are funded with around 400 million € per year. Particle astrophysics experiments use huge volumes of the oceans or the Earth’s crust deep below the surface, as well as atmosphere and space during detection. This implies mutual influence and close cooperation with sciences like geography, oceanology, atmosphere sciences, space research and others. Such experiments need to cover the latest developments in science and technologies. A team of researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, participate for the last 10 years in the globally significant astrophysical experiment MAGIC, as a part of a big international collaboration, consisting of 150 researchers from 10 countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Poland, Switzerland, Croatia, Japan and India). The scientific goal of the experiment is to investigate the so-called “Mystery of the Universe”- the daily bursts of gamma rays in space, the discovery of new cosmic sources of gamma rays with ultra-high energies, as well as the study of already known ones. To achieve this goal, the astrophysical international collaboration MAGIC created and operates the largest (until recently) cosmic gamma ray detector in the world. The cost of the experiment exceeds 50 million €. The participation of the physicists group from INRNE in MAGIC allowed participation of our researchers in the global scientific project CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array), without the payment of mandatory entry fee (for example Slovenia payed 1 million €, and USA – 170 million € for entering the experiment). CTA is a new generation of Cherenkov gamma experiments, which integrates the newest technological advances. Over 1,200 scientists from the most developed countries in the world – almost all EU countries, USA, Japan, Brazil, India, are involved in CTA’s design. The northern part will be located on the place of the MAGIC experiment. The core of the CTA team, which is responsible for the construction and subsequent operation of the facility consists of participants from the MAGIC experiment. They

 

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includes over 1,350 scientists from 32 countries. It is included in the 2008 ESFRI roadmap. In the 2016 ESFRI roadmap (http://www.esfri.eu/esfri_roadmap2016/roadmap-2016.php) CTA is the first in the list with three projects in the field of physical sciences and engineering, recommended by ESFRI for funding. The project receives funding from the EU’s framework program for research and innovations Horizon 2020 (agreement No 676134). Specific parts of the project have received grants from the Seventh Framework Program (FP7 / 2007-2013) [FP7 / 2007-2011], Grant Agreement 262053).

will combine their participation in sessions of observation with the MAGIC’s telescopes and the construction of CTA. In July 2015, the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium Directorate (APPEC) visited Bulgaria in order to learn about the funding of science in Bulgaria. APPEC is a consortium of European funding organizations responsible for coordination and funding of particle astrophysics research. There was a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Education and Science prof. Kostadin Kostadinov, and a seminar at the INRNE with representatives of departments of Sofia University and the Institute of Astronomy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. During the meeting and the seminar, the APPEC managers emphasized the outstanding participation of Bulgarian researchers from INRNE in the astrophysical experiments MAGIC and CTA. Practice shows that thousands of students and post-graduates train in these vast transnational teams, which subsequently go to the state-of-the-art and high-tech industries. Bulgarian specialists participate in all stages of conducting the experiments: designing and building of facilities, obtaining experimental data, development of modern methods of analysis of huge data sets, physical analysis of results. Impact/benefits Obtaining first-class fundamental research results. Preparation of Master and PhD students in the field of astrophysics. Maintaining scientific contacts and opportunities for participation in pan-European and global physical experiments.

Budget for 2018-2025 The budget of the Bulgarian participation in CTA and MAGIC is around 200,000 € per year, which sums up to 1,600,000 € for the 2018-2025 period

 

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National research infrastructure for the observation of aerosols, clouds, and trace gases, integrated in the frame of the pan-European research infrastructure ACTRIS

Location of the infrastructure The ACTRIS Community unites partners from 21 countries across Europe and involves more than 100 research institutes and organizations. Coordinator: Financial coordinator: Ministry of Education and Science Scientific coordinator: 1. Institute for Nuclear Researches and Nuclear Energy – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 2. Institute of Electronics – BAS Type of the infrastructure ACTRIS is a distributed infrastructure, composed of 8 connected elements: distributed National Facilities (observation platforms and exploratory platforms) both in Europe and globally, and 7 Central Facilities (Head Office, Data Centre and 5 Calibration Centers). Participation in European infrastructure ACTRIS has been selected to the ESFRI roadmap in 2016. It is supported by the EC projects: 7FP - ACTRIS (Project No.262254, 2011-2015) Horizon2020 – ACTRIS-2 (Project No. 654109, 2015-2019) and ACTRIS PPP (Project No. 739530, 2017-2019).

Description of the infrastructure The strategic aim of ACTRIS is to secure long-term coordinated aerosol, cloud and trace gas observations and ACTRIS services in Europe and to guarantee sustainable resources and feasible governance for ACTRIS operations both at national and European level through an internationally competitive European ACTRIS Research Infrastructure (RI). ACTRIS has been selected to the ESFRI roadmap in 2016. With ESFRI status, ACTRIS will initiate the implementation of the European-wide ACTRIS operations and establishment of the organizational framework to provide services for the ACTRIS users. Aims of the full implementation plan is to set up a research infrastructure service system for the complex data-stream that starts from calibrated instruments at the National Facilities and goes through quality screening and higher level data products made available through the ACTRIS Data Centre, and finally to the repositories that will secure long-term access by a very large community of users, globally. ACTRIS is a distributed RI uniting partners from 21 countries across Europe and involving more than 100 research institutes and organizations. Bulgarian ACTRIS partners are the Institute for Nuclear Researches and Nuclear Energy (INRNE) and the Institute of Electronics (IE) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). The aim of the Bulgarian participation in ACTRIS is the development of research infrastructure for regular remote and in situ atmospheric aerosol and gas traces investigations, as well as providing data from the air-quality monitoring to the European data centers. Remote measurements are performed by using the laser sounding apparatus (lidars) at the IE-BAS, whereas in situ measurements – at the BEO Musala station of the INRNE. Impact / benefits: ACTRIS RI plays an important role for obtaining new knowledge and establishing pan-European policy about the climate changes, air-quality and long-range air-pollution transport. Participation of the Bulgarian organizations in the international ACTRIS RI and in the 7FP and Horizon2020 projects is important for the national environmental monitoring and supporting of the national research capacity. The development of the RI will improve the collaboration between the scientific organizations and competent local authorities in decision making related to atmospheric air-quality and its impacts on ecology and human health. Budget project for the period 2016-2020: For the completion and modernization of the national infrastructure complexes in the two partner Bulgarian organizations, the high-level maintenance of research facilities, the attraction of young scientists, the participation in experimental campaigns, and the payment of membership fees in the European infrastructure, funds amounting to 4 million BGN are needed for the period 2017-2022.

 

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Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Coordinator: Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSK-BAS) Infrastructure location: http://www.share‐project.org/organisation/share‐eric.html    Bulgarian consortium: Financial and project coordinator: Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA), Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich, Germany Scientific coordinator: Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSK-BAS) Consortium members:

o Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSK-BAS)

o The national consortium shall be formed in 2017-2018 with relevant scientific and administrative institutions such as Bulgarian Sociological Association, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

Field of activity: Social and Cultural Innovations. Interdisciplinary, cross-national, longitudinal survey data on health, ageing and retirement. Type of infrastructure: SHARE-ERIC owns interdisciplinary, international, and longitudinal survey with unprecedented quality regarding coherence, breadth and international comparability will in the future be of great significance in many different fields of fundamental and applied sciences such as demography, economics, epidemiology, gerontology, biology, medicine, psychology, public health,

Description of infrastructure:

In March 2011, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) became the first European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). This gives it legal personality and capacity in all EU Member States and other partner countries of the ERIC as well as some of the tax exemptions (e.g. VAT) enjoyed by real international organisations. It also provides a firm governance structure and permits lean procurement procedures for subcontracts, two important advantages for running a large-scale survey such as SHARE. SHARE-ERIC was initially hosted by the Netherlands. Recently the seat was transferred to Munich, where its central coordination is located at MEA (Munich Center for the Economics of Aging), Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Germany. The project aims to help researchers understand the impact of population ageing on European societies and thus to help policy makers make decisions on health, social and economic policy. Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands are the founding members of SHARE-ERIC, with Switzerland having an observer status. Italy joined in June 2011. Since November 2013 also Greece, Israel, Slovenia and Sweden have acceded. On October 22, 2014 Poland has also become a member. One year later, France joined in October 2015 and Hungary became the latest member in February 2017. The SHARE data collection has been funded by the European Commission through the 5th framework programme (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic programme Quality of Life). Further support by the European Commission through the 6th framework programme (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, as an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative, COMPARE, CIT5-CT-2005-028857, as a project in Priority 7, Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge Based Society, and SHARE-LIFE (CIT4-CT-2006-028812)), through the 7th framework programme (SHARE-PREP (No 211909), SHARE-LEAP (No 227822) and M4 (No 261982) and through Horizon 2020 (SHAREDEV3 (No 676536 and SERISS (No 654221) is gratefully acknowledged.

Scientific and technical team of the research infrastructure: Over 20

Impact / benefits: The European Commission and the European Council of 2001(Council Document 6997/01) identifies population ageing and its social and economic challenges to growth and prosperity to be among the most pressing challenges of the 21st century in Europe, which points out serious infrastructure gaps in understanding individual and population ageing, and which then calls to “examine the possibility of establishing, in co-operation with Member States, a European Longitudinal Ageing Survey“ in order to foster European research on ageing. SHARE-ERIC has been selected by ESFRI roadmap process to be upgraded as

 

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health policy, sociology and statistics. It has a legal form of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) incorporated under the provision of Council Regulation 723/2009 of 25 June 2009. The 7-th wave of SHARE is financed by both national international and European funds. The inclusion of the new 8 countries is funded completely by the European Commission. Indicative budget from EC:  Total: 60 million BGN (2004-2011) Total: 5,3 million BGN (2016) Indicative Budget for Bulgaria 2016-2018: Total ЕC: 315000 BGN for data collection Total: 110 000 BGN national contribution Participation in European infrastructure: ISSK-BAS collaborates with SHARE-ERIC since 30.11.2016. The country membership procedure for Bulgaria will be initiated in 2017. Year of inclusion in the European infrastructure: In 2011 SHARE-ERIC receives legal status of ERIC (European Commission, Decision 2011/166/EU) In 2016 ISSK-BAS starts collaboration with SHARE-ERIC.

one of the central research infrastructures of the European Research Area. Bulgaria participates in SHARE-ERIC in 2016-2018 for the first time through an institutional membership of ISSK-BAS, with the financial support of the European Commission. The benefits for Bulgaria to maintain the research infrastructure SHARE ERIC and from participation in SHARE SURVEY can be grouped in the following general areas:

o Tackling the common challenges of ageing societies will be substantially improved by extending the coverage of the SHARE survey to all EU member states, including Bulgaria. The fact that European societies are continuously ageing, leads to a situation that has never existed before. In order to cope with these unprecedented circumstances, EU wide collaboration is essential. SHARE, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe is the largest pan-European social science panel study, unique in the worlds, and able to advance this joint process.

o In 2016-2018 Bulgaria collects life history information through 2000 personal interviews with persons 50+. The Survey is representative for the Bulgarian population at 50+ and comparative with the other countries of the Survey. SHARE-ERIC will provide publicly available information about the childhood, labour history, health status, retirement and social circumstances, cognitive ability and grip strength.

o The Survey information is unique, for the first time in Bulgaria, and will support knowledge based public policies on retirement, employment, education and life-long learning, health and social security.

o Survey will provide important information about the social and public policies and their influence to persons’ life.

o Survey will provide in-depth information for fundamental and applied scientific needs.

o The Survey includes high scientific standards and innovations, which could be used by science and political decision making.

o SHARE-ERIC will provide data for national and comparative analyses on ageing, health and retirement that shall be of a great importance for social, economic and policy development of Bulgaria and the European Union.

 

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Appendix №6: STANDING COMMITTEE FOR NRRI: STRUCTURE, COMPETENCES, AND DECISION MAKING MECHANISM

National Strategy for Research 

Development 

Ministry of Education  

and Science 

ESFRI 

National Scientific Fund Standing Committee for 

NRRI 

NRRI Sites 

EB of NSF 

The Standing Committee, established by an Order of the Minister of Education and Science, includes:

1. Deputy Minister (MES)

2. Science Directorate at MES

3. Representatives of nationally represented business

organizations

4. Representatives of BAS

5. Representatives of the Council of Rectors

6. Representative of NSF

7. Representative of Bulgaria in ESFRI

8. Representatives of the Ministry of Economy

9. Representative of General Directorate “Structural Funds

and International Educational Programmes”

10. Representative of National Innovation Fund

11. Representative of General Directorate "European Funds for

Competitiveness" at ME – managing authority of OP IC

12. Independent experts

 

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Sample competencies of SC of NRRI (set out in its Rules of Procedure): Implementation of NRRI (monitors, makes recommendations, prioritizes during conditions of

financial resources shortage, and controls) Establishes a mechanism for financial resources allocation Assists the Ministers in making decisions Reports to the Minister the results of the annual assessment of the methodology in Appendix 4 Proposes certain decisions to the Minister, based on the report submitted by the NSF for the

financial implementation of NRRI Prepares an annual report on the NRRI Requires (reviews) independent experts’ opinions Reviews and takes decision regarding the interim evaluation of NRRI, assigned by MES External evaluators from EB of NSF Reviews and accepts the report, prepared by the Science Directorate and the NSF on the self-

assessments Secretariat: Science Directorate, MES

- Evaluation → annually - International interim evaluation → every two years

Mechanism for decision making

1. Establishing of SC of NRRI by an Order of the Minister and adopting its Rules of Procedure 2. The sites, included in NRRI, perform self-evaluation, the results of which are presented to the

Science Directorate, MES, and the NSF 3. Science Directorate assigns independent socio-economic evaluation regarding the effects of the

support for the NRRI sites 4. NSF assigns reviews of self-assessments → result; Proposal for annual financing of the NRRI

sites 5. SC of NRRI proposes to the Minister a decision for sites prioritization based on the annual report

by NSF and the evaluation, assigned by the Science Directorate; 6. NSF pays the financial resources of the prioritized for the respective year sites and performs

financial monitoring of the implementation of NRRI 7. SC of NRRI reports annually to the Minister regarding the implementation of NRRI