MOVE.BG has published a special report, summarizing the data from the survey.
From left to the right: Sasha Bezuhanova, founder of MOVE.BG and moderator of the conference; Neven Boyanov, founder of the green startup Sonnis Energy Bulgaria; Hristo Nikolov, director of Green Balkans; associate professor Hussein Yemendzhiev PhD, lecturer at the Burgas University “Asen Zlatarov”; and Albena Markova, partner at PwC, head of Consulting Services for Southeast Europe.
Bulgarian green initiatives are creating unique innovation at the global level, and if they are supported, these initiatives can turn the Bulgarian economy from a resource- to a value-based one. This is one of the conclusions from the first national survey of green initiatives in Bulgaria - “Green Solutions from Bulgaria 2024”, which MOVE.BG has presented at a special conference. The study's results and recommendations for improving the framework for developing green solutions are available in a special report, which can be viewed here (in English).
The research data and the ways to support green innovators were discussed during the “Green Solutions from Bulgaria: The Results” Conference on September 26. Founders of green initiatives, representatives of the institutions, and experts took part in the forum. The conference was moderated by Sasha Bezuhanova, founder of MOVE.BG. During the forum was also presented SCION - a new initiative that supports green innovators working on solutions for nature conservation. MOVE.BG is a co-organizer and main partner of SCION.
“For more than four years at MOVE.BG we have been developing projects in support of the green development of Bulgaria. Our work has shown that the country lacks systematic data on who the people and organizations working to protect and restore nature are. The lack of data hinders the adoption of the right policies for nature conservation and the effective greening of our economy. It is also an obstacle to the commercialization of scientific projects and the motivation to create VC funding instruments for startup companies in the field.
With this motivation and the understanding that the quality of our lives and the prosperity of our country depend on the health of nature, we conducted the “Green Solutions from Bulgaria 2024” National Survey. Because the economy of the future is not only digital. It is also green,” said Sasha Bezuhanova.
On-stage audience during the conference.
What are the findings of the study?
The “Green Solutions from Bulgaria 2024” National Survey covers the three key groups developing solutions in support of the successful green transformation: 1. startups and scaleups, 2. civil society initiatives, and 3. research projects. The study has two focus themes: green innovation and solutions for energy transition.
The products, services, and initiatives, proposed by Bulgarian innovators cover all key areas of green transformation. In the case of startups, solutions for the development of a circular economy and waste reuse predominate, in the case of civil society organizations - work on education about green issues and activities to tackle the effects and causes of climate change prevail, and in the case of science - the leading themes are sustainable water use as well as climate mitigation and adaptation. The survey data were presented by Georgi Stefanov, climate and energy expert and author of the report “Green Solutions from Bulgaria 2024”, summarizing the results of the survey. All data is available in the Report here (ENG).
Green Innovation
The survey data shows optimistic trends for green innovation, with 42% of green startups and the same percentage of green science projects as well as 26% of green civil society organizations reporting that they are developing global innovations. Green innovators, however, face several challenges, the survey results show.
Only 20% of green startups are backed by VC capital, and only 7% by government support. In terms of the amount of external capital, 38% of green innovative SMEs have not raised any, and only 12% have raised more than €1 million. Over 36% of innovative SMEs are in the scaling-up phase, yet over 40% have an average of 3 employees, a significant constraint to reaching their full potential.
For green civil society projects, a major issue is ensuring the financial stability of the organization - cited by 80% of respondents. Almost half of the green CSOs (44%) rely on funding from European programs, while only 25% have managed to attract financial support from businesses. Therefore, the most strongly supported measure is the creation of a national green fund, which is demanded by 81% of respondents.
In green science projects, the main problems are related to the implementation of scientific transfer - the commercialization of innovation solutions. Lack of capacity to carry out scientific transfer was the main challenge identified by survey respondents (40%). Lack of business interest in implementing innovative research projects (35%) was the second main problem, and two challenges - financial difficulties and legal constraints - were cited as third by a quarter of the respondents.
Recommendations to support green innovation
Based on the survey data, MOVE.BG has developed recommendations in support of the development of green innovation in Bulgaria. The main recommendation is the establishment of a national mechanism to support green innovative businesses. The mechanism should be a holistic program supporting green entrepreneurial solutions in their growth and development from Bulgaria. Among the mandatory elements of this program should be: the creation of a thematic fund to support green startups as part of the Fund of Funds portfolio, the creation of a dedicated green focus within the Bulgarian Development Bank to support green entrepreneurs, the creation of a dedicated green focus within municipal investment agencies, and the creation of a dedicated training program for applying to pan-European programs such as those of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the European Innovation Council (EIC).
The second key recommendation to improve the development of green innovation is to create a national platform for green initiatives to improve collaboration between entrepreneurs, science, and civil society initiatives. The third recommendation is to create a national fund for green civil society initiatives, similar to the National Culture Fund but with guaranteed independence.
Green energy solutions
The second focus of the research is related to the key challenge for a successful green transformation in Europe and Bulgaria - the energy transition. An additional questionnaire was used to analyze the green energy solutions and their potential.
In terms of the thematic profile, the data shows a leading role of the topic “energy efficiency” - 61% of the energy SMEs, scientific, and civil society projects covered by the survey develop solutions in this direction. In second and third place are solutions in the field of low-carbon energy production (56%) and clean energy storage (44%).
In terms of the implementation of these solutions, they are mainly focused on the development of energy communities and initiatives, with priority given to communities based on public-private partnerships (76%), followed by household energy communities (61%). Another portion of green energy solutions is focused on supporting the just transition of coal regions (41%) and offering products and services to power distribution companies (32%).
In terms of green policies, respondents are aware of and expect to take advantage of funding opportunities under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), where over 50% of funds are aimed at decarbonization, innovation, and digitalization in energy use and/or consumption. Around 1/3 of respondents are interested in applying for these opportunities.
Political instability is cited as a major issue hindering the energy transition, according to 63% of respondents. Other challenges include insufficient funding (15%), the effects of climate change (12%), and low public awareness (5%).
Georgi Stefanov, a climate and energy expert, presented the survey’s results.
Recommendations for a successful energy transition
The section of the survey on green energy projects also includes a group of questions related to the creation of recommendations to the Ministry of Energy. According to respondents, several key measures are needed to support the development of green energy innovation, the main one being the creation of a long-term strategy - this is expected to be drawn up by 71% of those who participated in the survey. The other measures are organizing regular meetings with stakeholders(56%); setting up an Expert Council at the Ministry of Energy (51%) to discuss innovations supporting energy transformation; strengthening cooperation with universities (49%); increasing expert capacity in the Ministry of Energy (49%); and introducing rules to monitor the implementation of energy transformation measures (46%).
The main priorities that the Ministry of Energy should consider according to respondents are: accelerating the development of renewable energy communities (59%); improving regulations on energy transformation (56%); developing energy storage technologies (54%); improving and developing energy grids (54%); developing renewable energy (39%); developing geothermal energy (37%).
Watch the full recording of the "Green Solutions from Bulgaria: The Results" Conference here (BG). The conference gave the floor to key stakeholders: Albena Markova, partner at PwC, head of Consulting Services for Southeast Europe; Neven Boyanov, founder of the green startup Sonnis Energy Bulgaria; Hristo Nikolov, director of Green Balkans; and associate professor Hussein Yemendzhiev, PhD, lecturer at the Burgas University "Asen Zlatarov".
The conference was supported by PwC and Mastercard. View an album from the forum here.
"Green Solutions from Bulgaria 2024" was conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Energy. Read the full survey data here (ENG). Georgi Stefanov's presentation of the Report is available here (BG).
Learn more about the SCION SOCIETY, whose co-organizer and main partner is MOVE.BG, here (ENG).
