Driving Innovation in Bulgaria
On January 24th, GE and the US Embassy partnered in organizing a stakeholder dialogue in Sofia on today’s challenges in sustainable energy, water and process technologies, efficient lighting and affordable healthcare. Some 170 representatives of the state administration, businesses, local authorities and NGOs gathered to talk about how the economy can benefit from GE’s technologies and solutions in the future. The event took place at a time when the Bulgarian government was in the process of redefining its national priorities towards innovation and growth.
“I love the ‘Life is innovation’ slogan”, said H.E. James Warlick in his opening remarks, adding that technology and innovation are the main features of the US economy and both are well represented by GE. Although the economy in the region and in Bulgaria is in a difficult situation, he stressed that the government’s support would attract US companies like GE.
“GE is № 1 worldwide in terms of number of registered patents in the field of materials science. GE’s technology generates one quarter of the world’s electricity and GE Water’s equipment provides purified drinking water to 40 million people every day. In Central and Eastern Europe, as in other regions around the world, our priority today is to build sustainable models that provide innovation-based solutions. GE’s commitment to Bulgaria aims to support the country in its efforts to develop infrastructure and achieve long-term growth”, – stated Cristian Colteanu, GE President & CEO for Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova.
The opening remarks were followed by three sessions that took place simultaneously: one was held by Carmen Neagu from GE Energy, the second by Karoly Toth General Manager at GE Lighting and the GE Healthcare session was held by Vasilis Sakkas. The one on energy was undoubtedly the most popular. Carmen Neagu, the business’ Regional Executive for South East Europe, emphasized that innovation, combined with the creation of a proper business and legal framework, is an important step forward. She stressed that GE Energy has been deeply connected to the region through a number of projects, with both small and large companies as GE’s business partners.
“I am happy to see here old friends, partners, current and potential customers with a similar view, all directing investment to innovation and a new kind of thinking” she said. Neagu emphasized that innovation, combined with the creation of a proper business and legal framework, is an important step towards this common goal and, together with her team, demonstrated that GE Energy is deeply connected to the region through an important number of projects ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises to much bigger ones.
“Don’t miss the moment; you have now the unique opportunity to benefit from the most advanced technologies. Why buy yesterday’s and even today’s technologies when, by the time they are implemented, they already become obsolete. Use the opportunity to benefit from state-of-the-art solutions”, said Carmen Neagu.
Instead of giving more details, you can grasp the atmosphere through the participants’ voice below:
According to the opinion of Peter Lithgow, AmCham President, AES Country Manager, it was an “Excellent forum to meet industry people and discuss business opportunities. The stakeholder dialogue is an emerging subject people should understand the value of. It can generate new business partnerships and ideas both for the Government and for the business community. GE’s initiative will certainly have key outcomes useful for Bulgaria and its citizens.”
“People need broader public information about the availability of technologies for precise diagnosis and fighting serious illnesses so that they can benefit from them and the Bulgarian authorities should focus their goals on making the patients’ life and the improvement of technologies a top priority”, stated Rumyana Marinova, editor for Medical Magazine.
A project initiated on the basis of a state-public partnership for building a modern hospital is currently under development in Burgas and the mayor of Burgas city has stated his firm commitment to deploy the most innovative equipment available for this particular project. It is logical, of course, that if we want high-quality healthcare, we need to possess contemporary technologies”, added Karamfilka Apostolova, Vice President of the Board of Directors of Port of Burgas.
After the GE Lighting panel, Lilia Aladjem, Manager of LA Engineering Ltd., agreed that “Such event is needed to gather a larger number of businesses and experts in order to create a forum and dialogue between each other, as well as with the government for the successful implementation of innovative and sustainable solutions, which I think is necessary for a decent future of the country!”
During the GE Lighting panel, Christophe Richon, Product General Manager of EMEA GE Lighting, presented the latest GE solutions in outdoor lighting. Using many examples appealing to the audience, he showed that GE Lighting continues to lead in innovation, design, production and application of outdoor products, with a focus on providing the best outdoor white light solutions available. “We have heritage in this country and we have proved our capabilities in Bulgaria. Today we try to show that our way of using the technologies we produce will give our partners different solutions”, said Richon in his key note.
A participant to the GE Energy session, Vladimir Nenchev, General Manager of Nextpower, highlighted: “This is a very good initiative for Bulgaria. It should happen more often in order to bring together the Government, the investors and the local companies yearly or every two years. The stakeholder dialogue type of event should advance the investors’ response regarding the market to the highest levels in state. It is the right time to continue the initiative and identify solutions to trigger change of mutual benefit.”
“I attended a meeting with the incumbent President, Mr. Plevneliev, which was held in the port of Burgas several months ago and I got the impression that the current government and higher authorities were definitely heading towards dialogue and prioritizing the country’s progress through innovation and modern technologies for sustainable development. I support such attitude and also believe that sustainable development requires certain incentives for businesses and investors, such as discounts on the prices for construction land and state co-funding for businesses that want to rely on innovative technologies”, said Karamfilka Apostolova from Port of Burgas.
