“I have often talked to enterprising Bulgarians who say that they have a business idea, but do not have the finances to implement it, and without a credit history it is difficult to get support from a bank or other institution. Two years ago, a student from Veliko Tarnovo told about an innovative technology for charging an electric bicycle, which he had invented and almost developed. If he has not yet started his business, he will soon be able to register with any of the collective financing platforms in Europe and seek funding from consumers, who may be ordinary citizens looking for a meaningful investment of their savings. Once the amount has been collected and the business has started, investors can receive, depending on the conditions of the platform, a percentage of the business, the funds they have invested plus interest, or a product produced. This model works effectively in the United States, and I hope to unite Europe’s potential for innovative business development. But also to encourage more people to invest directly, even small amounts, in innovative ideas, products and services, “added Maydell, who is a member of the EP’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

In addition to monetary resources, a successful collective financing campaign can highlight the potential and public confidence in the business, which will make it easier to find additional funding from other financial sources that will accept the project as less risky. Businesses often start successfully after such a campaign because they have already garnered popularity and support from potential customers during the fundraising campaign.

There are a number of types of collective financing. The best known are collective financing through partner lending, equity and compensation, most often in the form of a product or service voucher when they are ready.

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“An important clarification is that EU funds are applied for with programs and plans for investments and reforms. We need to protect the need for investment in certain sectors and show how we will improve certain systems in order to receive a grant. But Bulgaria has proven that it can quickly organize and invest European funds with some of the lowest error rates of all EU countries. That is why I am convinced that if we focus on sustainable modernization of the economy, EU funds will be a springboard for raising living standards, “added Eva Maydell, who was a special guest at the webinar on the effects of Kovid-19.

“We are in intensive talks in the European Parliament on how to improve the recovery plan. We need to ensure that the money invested by countries is clearly marked as European, so that the key role and solidarity of the EU is visible to every citizen, “Maydell said during the discussion.

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“All affected by the crisis will be able to benefit from the ambitious plan – small and medium and large businesses, state and municipal institutions and enterprises, medical and educational institutions, etc. Importantly, the aim is not simply to return to the situation before Covid19, but to focus on recovery through new technologies, digitalisation, sustainable environmental policies and measures, ensuring the sustainability and independence of key sectors of the economy. Ie this is a plan for economic growth, which aims to make the EU more competitive with China and the United States in two years’ time than it was before the pandemic. ”This added Eva Maydell.

The EC’s proposal is for a recovery plan totaling 750 billion euros, of which 250 billion euros will be in the form of loans, providing liquidity to businesses in difficulty and stimulating private investments. In parallel, the EC presented an updated proposal for the next 7-year EU budget – until 2027, worth a total of 1.1 trillion euros. The European Parliament and the Member States are due to discuss the proposal and agree on a final version to be voted on by the two institutions in the coming months.

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“Innovation enabling regulation may sound oxymoronic yet not so much. If we do it right, if we think ahead when drafting legislation, it can be a driver for change. This is why dialogue between the institutions and the innovation-makers is key.” asserted MEP Maydell of the EPP Group during the opening remarks. Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation and Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo headed the panel “Europe on its way to a global hub for digital innovation”.

Carlos Moedas pointed that Europe is going back to science and engineering. “Artificial intelligence, block chain, robotics is not anymore part of the science fiction but part of our everyday life”, he added. Alexander de Croo, asserted that less regulation is not necessarily leading to more innovation, yet regulation is important to provide a stable environment for innovators.

Overall, all panellists agreed that creating the right ecosystem, and especially developing skills and understanding in the society about new technologies is essential. “Some 1.6 million students have been trained for IT skills in network academy led by Cisco”, stressed Pastora Valero, a Vice-President Public Policy and Government Affairs. Reinventing education that delivers digitally skilled people is indispensable. “Let’s have universal learning rights”, appealed Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister De Croo.

Casper Klynge from Denmark, the first tech Ambassador, opened the second panel of the conference, dedicated to “Data-fuelled economy for Europe in the Age of AI”. The Danish diplomat shed light on what ‘techplomacy’ means. “Bringing back knowledge to government on what the new tech trends are, what will technology bring us. Technology may cause inequalities on a geopolitical level.” stressed Klynge.

The discussion proceeded into looking at AI from the perspective of fundamental rights and the opportunities it gives to ease the lives of people with disabilities. “From legal viewpoint the one thing that is new about AI are the unforeseeable causalities it could create”, warned Paul Nemitz, Principal advisor at DG Justice, European Commission,. Google’s Kiran Kaja and Antoine Bordes, lead of Facebook’s AI Research Paris Lab, exemplified the variety of possibilities AI brings in our everyday life. “Artificial Intelligence has a positive net value for society, we need to develop trust in customers, tackle the misperceptions”, concluded  Nick Goode, Executive Vice President of Sage.

 Jim Brunsden, the leading financial services reporter for the Financial Times Brussels moderated the conference, which took place on 29 November 2017 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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This is a part of a speech EPP/GERB MEP Eva Maydell gave on the 29th June 2017 at a high-level business forum in Brussels organised by Facebook and the Lisbon Council brains trust.

‘Technological development and the digitisation of trade and commerce transcend national boundaries and legislatures’ she continued ‘It is a question of helping the process along and making things easier, smoother and safer for both entrepreneurs and consumers by introducing a unified, Europe-wide legislative framework. Having only one set of laws to deal with instead of 28 will make doing business easier, while all European citizens will have equal access to digital content and services, and be less vulnerable to breaches of their personal data and cybersecurity.’

The forum, on the DSM and the opportunities it presents, was attended by the founders and CEOs of some of Europe’s most notable small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), as well as a number of high-ranking European officials.

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The two day event, which also included an appearance by Belgium’s deputy PM Alexander De Croo, saw Ms Maydell set up a working group on the subject of strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Europe and providing the tools and resources it requires to thrive.

‘It is of utmost importance that we connect start-up cultures, from Sofia to Lisbon and from Valetta to Helsinki, to encourage the exchange of ideas and experience. Finalising and implementing the Digital Single Market (DSM) is the best chance we can give European entrepreneurs to take their successes global.’

‘Net Futures 2017’ brought together professionals from across the digital field, industry leaders such as Google and Ericsson, as well as senior politicians. Bulgarian start-ups were represented by Sasha Bezuhanova from EDIT.bg (a network of over 300 digital entrepreneurs) and the Bulgarian Business Forum. The conference was aimed at getting stakeholders to think strategically about the digital economy and allow businesses to build upon the opportunities of a newly interconnected world. In the long term, it is to serve as a precursor to a EU-wide start-up knowledge exchange.

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Ms Maydell spoke about the wealth of funding opportunities for innovative business ideas provided by the EU, and urged Bulgarian entrepreneurs to make use of them.

‘It is encouraging to see more and more Bulgarian companies exhibit at prestigious events such as Makerstown. It is even more impressive for someone like Lubomir Yanchev, a young Bulgarian entrepreneur, to be specifically invited by the organisers alongside leading global innovators. It comes to show that if you have an original business idea, the support is there to make it a reality and create a really high-quality product’

‘There are two ways to increase business investment – pour more public money in, and ease the flow of capital across the European market. The better we are at the latter, the less of the former we would need. This is why the Juncker plan offers banks various loan guarantees if they lend to SMEs, while simultaneously working towards abolishing inter-state barriers to financial transactions such as credit and exchange fees. This should hopefully result in better online access to potential investment and make the job of finding funding a lot smoother and easier.’

Ms Maydell is the former EPP rapporteur to the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, focusing on the future of financial technologies (FinTech) and the progress of the Juncker investment plan.

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‘I am a strong believer in social entrepreneurship and couldn’t be more pleased that brilliant and capable young people focus their business acumen on ameliorating social issues instead of simply chasing profit. Our Romanian winners are further proof, if any was needed, that technology can help bring good ideas to fruition, regardless of where in Europe (or, in fact, the world) they originate. I am convinced that they’ll be successful and am looking forward to seeing the Mitra eyewear brand improve people’s lives in Bulgaria too.’ said the MEP, who celebrates her third year on the panel of the prestigious award organised by AmCham and Junior Achievement Europe. Apart from Ms Maydell, other judges included the acting US Chief of Mission to the EU Adam Shub and the UPS President for Europe Nando Cesarone.

The 3D printed glasses help the visually impaired move about safely by utilising numerous integrated sensors and object recognition algorithms to provide real-time navigation. At the award ceremony, the Oculus team was presented with a cheque for £10,000 and the opportunity to be mentored by some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.

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The comment was made by EPP/GERB MEP Eva Maydell in a debate on Europe’s role in a globalised world during a regular session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 16th May 2017.

The continent’s openness to global trade has been hugely advantageous to its citizens. Research by the European Commission shows that every billion euros-worth of exports is responsible for keeping 14,000 Europeans in their jobs. ‘Whether we will remain a global leader depends on whether the Union manages to ride the wave of digital and technological innovation’ warned Ms Maydell after the debate.

She presented a broad outline of the factors necessary for that to happen, including enhancing the workforce’s digital competency, advancing a favourable regulatory framework, stimulating the exchange of data across the EU and acting as an incubator for innovation. ‘Finalising the Digital Single Market (DSM) is something we have to do, now, before we lose our competitive edge’.

The Parliamentary debate provided an opportunity for European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen to present the conclusions of a report on the subject prepared by the EC and introducing a number of considerations, including the redistribution of profits from global trade, easing the pressure on employment in Europe and facilitating economic growth in the developing world. The report is part of a broader debate on the future of the Union that started in March.

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Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, headed the panel ‘Innovation-driven Europe’. He presented the Commission´s instruments supporting innovation – the innovation tool and the innovation deals, which provide guidance on introducing new technologies within the flexibility of existing legislation. „Innovation needs to be seen in a dynamic way – in 60/70% of cases no change of laws is needed for it to be accommodated“. Attila Narin, Head of Business Development at Amazon Web Services, presented the consumer´s perspective on the issue, emphasising the necessity of understanding how innovation can be used in practice.  The panel was concluded by Alessandro Curioni, Head of IBM Research in Europe, who pointed out that „the real value of innovation is realized when real economic and societal needs and challenges are being met.“

The second panel of the conference, dedicated to ‘Competitiveness through smart regulation’, began with a statement by Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition. The Commissioner asserted that „you need both competition and a reward for innovators“, underlying the importance of rules protecting the freedom of innovators. Martin Lorentzon, Co-founder and Chairman of Spotify, expressed his strong support for the EU’s Digital Single Market initiative: „Spotify spent almost seven years to get the licences for music. The DSM and its on-going copyright project will make things so much easier to close those licences with 29 countries, levelling the playing field.“

Rachel Whetstone, Senior Vice President at Uber, voiced her company’s support for well-tailored regulation of safety and consumer protection issues and gave a number of examples of how Uber is increasingly serving underprivileged groups in Europe. “In the digital sector, any new legislation risks being outdated by the time it is implemented.  Possible platform regulation is a prime example for that“, observed Niklas Maydell of Cleary Gottlieb, the law firm. The panel was concluded by David Roy Lidington, the longest-serving Minister for Europe in the UK. „Europe will only be competitive if we uphold and support innovation. For instance, we should seeplatforms and robotic changes as an opportunity not as a treat.“

Commissioner Vestager and MEP Paunova agreed that the conference should just be the first in a series of joint, high-level events to come that will be committed to continuing the dialogue between policy-makers and stakeholders in search for better and well-fitted regulation in support of innovation.

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American IT giant Google, in partnership with GERB Entrepreneurs, GERB Youth and EPP MEP Eva Paunova,   gave its first conference in Bulgaria on the subject of ‘Young Entrepreneurs in the Digital Age’, launching the #GenerationD campaign. The session was chaired by Ms Paunova, GERB’s Mayoral candidate for Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and Google’s Public Policy Manager Georgios Mavros.

Ms Fandakova expressed her commitment to making Sofia a regional centre of Europe’s digital single market, citing advancements in e-governance, smart traffic control and public transportation as examples of the capital’s potential. She also re-stated the Municipality’s intention to make its data publically available as soon as possible.

Mr Mavros congratulated Bulgaria on having some of the most capable and talented IT specialists in the world and confirmed that Sofia could become the start-up hub of the Balkans. He also introduced some of the initiatives that Google has in store to encourage digital entrepreneurship across the continent, including plans to organise IT courses for up to 1 million Europeans by the end of 2016.

Ms Paunova spoke about the impending changes in the technology sector, which will require all stakeholders in the market economy to be well-informed and computer literate. She pointed out that Bulgaria is the first country in the world to introduce coding in its primary school curriculum and that this should be widely publicised as part of the country’s international ‘brand’.

Opening the event, together with GERB Youth’s Georg Georgiev, GERB Entrepreneurs head Valya Chilova said ‘We live in a very different era, a brand new economic model is being created. We can no longer afford to talk about entrepreneurship without thinking about its digital aspect, about cloud computing and digital manufacturing’.

The conference was attended by over 180 members of the public and business representatives, as well as Google’s Public Policy and Government Relations Manager for Central and Eastern Europe Marcin Olender.

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Ms Paunova, who is also a co-founder of EP’s Digital Agenda Intergroup said ‘It is important to understand and implement the new digital economic model throughout Europe, as it levels the playing field for everyone – start-ups and big corporations, established member-states and smaller countries trying to make their mark. It will also facilitate e-commerce on the European and international levels, stimulating job creation for the future’.

The meeting also welcomed a special presentation by Aura Salla, Cabinet member and Communications Advisor to EC vice-president Jyrki Katainen. Ms Salla outlined the Commission’s priorities for its Digital Single Market Strategy, as well as opportunities for digital entrepreneurs presented by the Juncker investment plan.

European Movement International (EMI) is the biggest umbrella body for NGOs in Europe.

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The conference will feature advice on the priorities for financing SMEs through EU Support programmes, as well as a session on grants available from Brussels directly. The Agency will also lay out its plans for the development of its own regional network of centres for facilitating local business.

Information will be available about relevant trade events, showcases and expositions supported by the Agency, together with tips for participants on how to make the most of their attendance. Another focus of the meeting will be the new ‘Innovation and Competitiveness’ operational programme, aimed at SMEs as arguably the most important factor in growing the Bulgarian and European economies.

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In her speech, part of the panel “Disconnected Europe? The continuing quest for a Digital Single Market”, Paunova stated that the development of a stable European digital economy is one of the key prerequisites for higher growth and more jobs in the EU. The completion of the Digital Single Market will gain the EU benefits of € 500 million in additional growth. For the realisation of the project of full completion of the digital single market, besides favorable legislative framework, it is essential to promote the trust of citizens and businesses that are part of the digital economy.

The timely adoption of a comprehensive and realistic framework for data protection in EU copyright and net neutrality are a key priorities for Eva Paunova. According to her, only when we have completed the single market for digital services, the EU will have the opportunity to compete more successfully outside its borders and to realise its potential as a world leader in the field of ICT.

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During the panel “The secret to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship”, Eva Paunova stressed that Europe needs changes in terms of lowering the administrative burden and expanding the access to finance. “In the basis of all, however, is the development of the individual potential and the human capital. This is why it is crucial to invest in education”, added the Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament. According to her statement, education and training need to be flexible and practical, embracing innovative approaches and the use of new technologies. “For instance, instead of complaining that mobile devices are a cause of distraction for pupils and students, why not integrate them as tools for the learning process? This is just one example of how we can adapt to the fast-moving environment we operate in nowadays.”

Eva Paunova concluded by stating: ´The secret to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship? It is in every one of us. We need to nurture the individual potential through innovative practices”. The Bulgarian Member of European Parliament also pointed out that successful young entrepreneurs should be given greater visibility, as this can encourage other young people to realise their ideas. The JA-YE and AmCham EU Youth Entrepreneurship Award provides a good illustration of how this can be achieved. Ms Paunova, who was member of the jury for the competition, granted the award to the winner Pynk Systems. This start-up, which received a 10 000 EUR prize, was awarded for its project Ergon Desk, which demonstrates how traditional business industries, such as furniture manufacture, can be digitalised. More information available here: http://www.pynksystems.com/.

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During the debate, representatives of EU institutions, international organizations and businesses discussed how a “disruptive” development can be achieved in Europe through entrepreneurship and innovations. According to Eva Paunova, our continent cannot simultaneously compete globally and maintain its social model without the help of new technologies. “It is important to realize that the digital revolution is the one that will move our continent forward. Only by thinking digital counties like Bulgaria, for instance, will be able to catch up with their Western partners.”

Innovation is closely related to entrepreneurship, whose support is other key objective of the European institutions during the new mandate. With this fact in mind, the Bulgarian MEP noted that the EU plays mainly a supportive role for the business: “It is tempting to think that an EU success only occurs when a law is passed or a cheque is written. But for most start-ups the best thing the EU can do is create a favorable environment and provide freedom for their development.”

Eva Paunova was one of the co-hosts of the event, jointly with the European Forum for Young Innovators EYIF, Association for Youth Entrepreneurs “Euromentors”, MEPs Mircea Diaconu and Renato Soru. The roundtable was held in the context of the initiative “Disrupt Europe 2015”, which aims to encourage a debate about new ways of European development via digital technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Photos: Kristina Jasaityte

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