The European Day of the Entrepreneur /EDE/, traditionally organized by Sofia Municipality and Sofia University "St.Kliment Ohridski" will be carried out for the sixth time on 30 - 31 of October 2008 at the Inter Expo Center, Sofia. All the relevant Ministries and more than 20 important public, non-governmental and private structures are co-organizers of this significant forum.

This year the European day of the Entrepreneur will be held under the motto "FOSTERING ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH INNOVATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER". As usual the event will provide a unique environment for promoting innovation and technology transfer activities. In plenary and panel sessions topics on European and National programs supporting innovation process will be presented in order to foster economic development and growth of the country. Newly established technology transfer offices in Bulgarian universities will meet together to present their results and challenges.

As each year in the concomitant events focus will be on the opportunities for deepening the cooperation between research and business in the establishment of a knowledge based society.

THE EUROPEAN IDEA

The EDE idea is an initiative with earnest traditions of the United Europe. This event is organised in the frame of the PAXIS Network (The Pilot Action of Excellence on Innovative Start-ups) aimed at dissemination of best models for establishing new technology based companies. The concept of this forum is introduced by EUROCITIES (Network of the European Towns) and the European Commission.

EUROPEAN DAY OF THE ENTREPRENEUR, PAST EDITIONS

The first EDE event (October 2003) was held under the motto “INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT”. More than 300 participants had the opportunity to get acknowledged with successful practices of European networks in support to the innovative entrepreneurship. Foreign partners from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Spain, Serbia and Macedonia, as well as representatives from the European Commission exchanged their experience and actively participated in the different discussion sessions. The event was highly evaluated by foreign and Bulgarian guests.

In 2004 the EDE had the slogan EU MARKET: “OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES”. In two plenary, 16 panel sessions and 3 concomitant events again key stakeholders from Bulgaria and Europe discussed successful models and effective solutions in the implementation of the innovative development of the country and outlined the paths for harmonization of the entrepreneurial activities to the European standards.

In 2005 the forum was held under the motto “INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENCOURAGEMENT AT LOCAL AND REGIONAL LEVEL and was oriented directly towards the local and regional authorities in Bulgaria.

The 2006 event was focused on "EUROPEAN FUNDS AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT" and the main discussions were on challenges in front of the business and local authorities for planning and implementing projects under the EC Structural Funds.

EDE 2007 motto was "INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP" and was focused on new technology transfer as catalyst of quality entrepreneurship and business growth.