Projects

The Program of the Cluster is based on several strategic directions and consists of number of Projects, which are closely interlinked and support the realization of the objectives of the Cluster

The official start of the PRECISEU was held on 10-11.07.2024  in Barcelona 

PRECISEU = 𝗣e𝗥sonalised medicine 𝗘mpowerment 𝗖onnecting 𝗜nnovation eco𝗦ystems across 𝗘𝗨rope!

The consortium is led by Biocat, BioRegion of Catalonia and consists of 25 partners from 12 EU regions and 10 Member States! The project is recognised as the Regional Innovation Valley for Personalised Medicine, funded by the HorizonEurope program.

The goal of the PRECISEU project is to connect innovation ecosystems across Europe so that they can effectively move towards truly personalized healthcare, transferring practices and scaling deep-tech innovations based on Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP) and health data across Europe.

Health Sciences Cluster Bulgaria is part of the first project of the European I3 Programme that aims to boost innovation by advising, mentoring and financially supporting projects in areas of smart specialization towards successful commercialization and scaling. 

INNAXE: Inclusive and Aligned Innovation Agendas Across Europe

The Horizon Europe (EIE) INNAXE project brings together a consortium of 6 cluster organisations to dynamise and accelerate the Life Sciences and Healthtech innovation community. 

What is the impact of our support and services to our ecosystem? Does the support given to industry/academia meet their expectations?  What are the high impact trends on a European level? How do we reinforce our innovation capacities? 

INNAXE will address these questions!

INNAXE aims to: 

·        strengthen interconnexion and foster open dialogue amongst European innovation ecosystems

·        increase their efficiency and innovation capacities 

·        produce a joint long-term programme (Joint Action Plan) to overcome current fragmentation in innovation capacities

To reach these objectives, several activities will be carried out: 

i)                    Intra- and inter ecosystem Assessment

The consortium will develop indicators to assess the impact of actions and services that cluster organisations conduct and a methodology for benchmarking with other clusters.

The main activities of the Intra- and Inter-ecosystem Assessment will consist in the pooling of best practices, impact assessments and a cluster benchmark to widen scope.

Assessment guidelines and a White Paper on Trends will be delivered and will be amongst the resources used for the drafting of the Joint Future Agenda for Innovation.

ii)                  Connect and Scale-Up

The Joint Future Agenda for Innovation will be validated with the inputs of industry, academia, policymakers and society, the so-called quadruple helix. This will include surveys to industry and academia players, activities with the quadruple helix and meetings with opinion leaders.

The strategy proposals to the above-mentioned actors in each partner’s ecosystem will contribute to INNAXE’s ambition in the alignment of agendas across Europe.

iii)                 Definition of Joint programme & Implementation plan 

Through the valuable input gathered and cocreated in the Ecosystem Assessment and the Connect and Scale-up phases, the consortium will have strong grounds to draft a finalized version of the Joint Future Agenda for Innovation based on field needs.

An implementation plan will also be worked upon to prepare grounds and maximise impact.

The Definitive version of the Joint Programme, the Implementation Plan and the publishable executive summary of the Joint programme and Action Plan will be delivered. 

INNAXE partners: BIOCAT, La Fundació BioRegió de Catalunya, Medicen Paris Region, France, BIORN Cluster Management GMBH, Germany, Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Foreningen Danish Life Science Cluster, Denmark, Council of European Bioregions, Belgium.

Guidelines for ecosystem monitoring, benchmarking, and impact evaluation results HERE

Creation of a first BioCenter in Bulgaria

The Center is in a result of successful collaboration with Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria, Sofia Tech Park and Sofia Municipality, through Sofia Development Association. The establishment of the Center is expected to strengthen the ties and create new partnerships between the academic, research, industrial and regional community as a condition for the development of specific regional and local innovation ecosystems in Bulgaria.

Regional Innovative Ecosystem

The major regions in Bulgaria that the cluster already started collaborations are Sofia, Stara Zagora, Varna, Plovdiv and Gabrovo

Life Sciences Club 

The Club Biotechnology & Life Sciences is a result of a successful partnership between Health & Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria and Sofia Tech Park Groworking Space. 

Support for the Bulgarian Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH)

Cluster participate into the creation of Digital Innovation hub (DIH) in Stara Zagora.

Mapping & Report for the Bulgarian Life Scences Sector

Mapping of the Current Capacity, Resources and Economic Potential on a Regional and National Level of the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Industry in Bulgaria

GAP analysis and economic forecasts and models for calculating the investment and return on financial resources, including investment in research activities.

The project will be delivered in a collaboration with Oxentia (Oxford's Global Innovation Consultancy)

Building of a Technology Transfer Platform (TTP)

Development of a Digital Platform for Technology Transfer (PTT) with inbuilt analytics that allow for provision of meaningful statistical data and professional analysis, which, in turn, could be the basis of expert recommendations for future politics that support generation of growth in the industry.

The Platform shall have the ability to provide customized solutions for various inquiries by potential investors thus supporting the process of technology transfer. In its core, the PTT is constructed to be a useful and sustainable tool for commercialization of the interactions between organizations from different Target Groups (see the Mapping project).

Venture Building

Venture builders are organizations dedicated to systematically producing new companies, which they help grow and succeed.

There are five core activities in which venture builders engage: identifying business ideas, building teams, finding capital, helping govern or manage the ventures and providing shared services.

EU Projects & Programs

Searching and establishment of collaboration opportunities in EU and International Projects with focus over the Green Deal, Horizon Europe.


Memberships

The cluster participates in the Management Board of the Bulgarian Bioscientific Society and in the Management Board of the Bulgarian Employers' Association for Innovation and Technology (www.brait.bg), which is legal successor of the Bulgarian cluster association), together with Automotive Cluster, Mechatronics Cluster, BAIT, BASCOM, ICT Cluster and others. The founding members of the cluster are into the core of the creation of The AI Cluster Bulgaria (www.aicluster.bg) in order to stimulate and create high value cross industry projects.

Borderless AI

Health & Life Sciences cluster together with AI Cluster Bulgaria, AI Austria, AI Serbia, AI Sweden, and UK established the initiative during the summer 2020.

Meeting series

The goal of the meetings is to exchange information on current situations and challenges in front of European and international AI community. The first three meetings combined the specialist from Austria, Sweden, Bulgaria, UK and Serbia AI organisations.

Bioethical Hub

The Bioethical Hub is an independent organization working for the promotion and development of bioethics in Bulgaria and dealing with translational science.

The Bioethical Hub protects the rights of the patient and the interests of people and animals subject to medical and pharmaceutical research, works to improve the quality and ethics of Bulgarian healthcare, organizes public discussions on topical issues of bioethics and works for the synchronization of national legislation with the highest international ethical norms and standards.

The Bioethical Hub conducts research and offers advice and training in all areas of bioethics: medical ethics and health ethics, ethics of clinical research on humans, ethical treatment of animals and the environment.

Media Center

The Media Center has been established as a unit of the Health & Life Science Cluster Bulgaria in order to promote the freedom and access to information, to support the biotechnology community, to promote contemporary Bulgarian journalism in the field of technology and knowledge exchange, and to expand the cooperation between the state administration, the private sector, educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations, with a view to further improve the coverage of scientific topics in Bulgarian media. 

Incubator Program

The Biotech-Incubator provides a dynamic and stimulating innovative environment in which biotech companies can develop their ideas and technologies.

The Biotech-Incubator support entrepreneurs and early-stage start-up companies by either competing or cooperating with other companies in the search of the most interesting, valuable and viable start-ups. Along with venture capitalists, business angels, consulting companies and institutional investors, incubators provide financial and managerial support.

The Biotech-Incubator offers facilities, infrastructure, pre-seed financing, business development, project management, and intellectual property rights (IPR) services.

Events