A memorandum of understanding was signed between the German Startups Association and the Bulgarian startup organizations.
Yesterday, the Minister of Economy Teodor Sedlarski and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Brigitte Zypries bestowed the prizes on the winners in this year’s edition of Startup Camp 2017, in which Bulgaria is a partnering country for the first time.
In his speech held in the Aula of the Humboldt University in Berlin given to the representatives of the German and Bulgarian startup communities, Minister Sedlarski said, “Bulgaria is now positioned on the digital map of Europe and has the confidence and claim, with our computer engineers, innovators and dynamically developing startup ecosystem, to be a digital hub of Southeast Europe. We have already stated our ambition at the Europe’s Digital Day which took place in March in Rome and received the support of the Vice-President of the European Commission Andrus Ansip. In Sofia and in the country, representatives of the European startup community already successfully operate – start-up companies from the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Poland, Serbia and other countries are developing here. The conditions provided by Bulgaria include good quality internet and good infrastructure, job opportunities outside major cities – in beautiful places in the mountains or at the seaside, as well as motivated young people fluent in foreign languages.
At the awards ceremony of Startup Camp 2017, the Bulgarian Minister of Economy invited the audience to visit the Sofia edition of Webit.Festival on 25th and 26th April, where the experience of world leading companies in the field of digitization will be shared.
“The new economy requires investments that lead to GDP growth and the investments in start-ups are exactly this”, said the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Brigitte Zypries, known in Germany as “the startup minister”, thanking the German Startups Association for organizing more than 10 years the Startup Camp conference – the biggest event for startups in Berlin, gathering German and European top investors and entrepreneurs. The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy commented on the need for more venture capital to be invested in starting companies, as it happens in the United States.
By participating at the forum the Bulgarian Minister of Economy Teodor Sedlarski and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Brigitte Zypries declared their commitment to the development of startup ecosystem and emphasized on the need for government support for this dynamic sector of the new economy on which high hopes are leaned for more investment and attracting youth activity in economy.
After bestowing the awards at the Startup Camp 2017, the two ministers visited the stalls of the exhibitors, including 26 Bulgarian companies supported by the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency with the Ministry of Economy.
Minister Zypries was interested in the attractive application for education, IT solutions for virtual classrooms, mobile and Web applications for startups demonstrated by the Bulgarian participants.
At the end of the event a memorandum of understanding was signed between the German Startups Association and Bulgarian startup organizations.