Innovations in Bulgaria: Problems and challenges for sustainable development

Abstract

The main goal of the research is to study the limitations, deficits, advantages, and potential for innovation in Bulgaria with focus on sustainable development and green models. The study goes through different dimensions of factors such as: availability of favourable infrastructure, the development of innovation activities at the company level, and the achieved results of the innovation activity. By carrying out a comparative analysis, we aim to identify directions for improving the innovation ecosystem. The main result is establishing the key problem areas in the research of innovations in Bulgaria after the country’s acceptance into the European Union especially green and bio innovations and their key role for development. We found that the major implication was the need for targeted and systematic interventions at a high level, including strategic documents that support the creation and implementation of innovations. The research pointed permanent deficits and outlined some positive processes.