During their two-day journey, organised by the representative of the Government of Navarra in Brussels, Mikel Irujo, the Romanian delegation had interviews with the manager of ADItech Technology Corporation and visited four technology centres – the National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER), the Navarra Industrial Society (AIN), Navarrabiomed and Lurederra.

In Bulgaria they are working on the operational programme for innovation and competitiveness for the 2012-2017 financial period, budgeted at about 1200 million Euro. In search of good practices and technical assistance agreements, the Bulgarian delegation was interested in the coordination of technology centres as provided for in the Navarra Science and Technology Act, passed in June at the request of the Economic Development Department.

It is the purpose of the Act to make arrangements in the Navarra R&D+i System (SINAI), promote excellence and cooperation with the manufacturing industry, identify all SINAI actors and establish a registry for them, as well as a list of research teams and staff members, and establish an R&D+i advisory board and an R&D+i observatory.

On the whole, the Bulgarian delegation was comprised of eight people: Tzvetan Spassov, Stefka Pileva-Malinovska and Ivan Ilkov, from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science; Rossana Mateva and Rosen Draganov, from the Ministry of Economy; Desislava Koleva, on behalf of the municipality of Gabrovo; Nikolinka Hinkova, representing the private sector in the area of mechatronics; and Vera Markova, expert in government coordination at the Council of Ministers.

Photo: Mikel Irujo, representative of the Government of Navarra in Brussels, with the members of the Bulgarian delegation at Navarrabiomed.