The Memorandum of Understanding, signed between the Mayor of Sofia Municipality Mr. Stefan Sofianski and the Rector of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" Prof. Doctor Habil Boyan Bioltchev on 3 July 2003 stated the formal agreement and the main objectives of the cooperation in the Sofia EUROPEAN DAY OF THE ENTREPRENEUR organization. Sofia University and Sofia Municipality together with a wide network of co-organizers from business circles, the central governmental administration, as well as non-profit organizations, participate in developing of the programme.

The European Day of the Entrepreneur (EDE), 4 - 5 November 2004, will be held under the motto "Opportunities And Challenges In The Enlargement of The European Market".

The objectives of European day of the Entrepreneur is to improve the Bulgarian entrepreneurship environment, to encourage the innovative thinking and innovative practices by:

• Establishment and development of networks for partnership and dialogue with the participation of all interested parties;
• Support to the government for development of an adequate strategy and policies encouraging the entrepreneurship;
• Gathering and dissemination of up-to-date information;
• Development of networks for competitiveness benchmarking;
• Sharing knowledge, learning from experiences and good practices of the others and finding new business opportunities.

EVENTS FORESEEN IN THE EDE '2004 CALENDAR

• The Entrepreneurs' Europe;
• A plenary meeting with a dialog between the Government and the Bulgarian entrepreneurs;
• Financial frame in the process of integration: Adopting the funds of the integration;
• Financing the entrepreneurship;
• National strategy of Bulgarian Republic for developing the innovations and the Innovative entrepreneurship;
• Informational technologies and entrepreneurship;
• The responsibility of the greats; the internal entrepreneurship in the Bulgarian Corporations;
• Education; world champions and\ or outsiders;
• The enterprising spirit of the people with specific needs
• PAXIS net, presenting of good European practices produced in the net;
• "The Super Champion Cup" - business game in the net;
• Projects for encouraging the innovative entrepreneurship (PROPLUS project);
• Current for the entrepreneurs: insurance products;
• Investors in people - standard practices;
• Ecological entrepreneurship;
• On what do the explorers work - an invitation to the innovative entrepreneurship;
• How to prepare a successful project?
• European - Bulgarian culture center. Financing the projects in the sphere of culture.

The calendar of EDE events also includes Bavarian High Tech Days, November 2004 in Sofia and regional publications of the European day of the Entrepreneur, which are planed for the beginning of 2005 in Gorna Orjahovitsa, Haskovo and Targovishte.

The visitors of the EDE will have a chance to see the exposition of the Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies - BAIT EXPO, 2-7 November '2004 at the INTER EXPO CENTRE.

THE PAST EVENT - SOFIA INITIATIVE, 8-9 OCTOBER 2003
The University of Sofia is a member of the PAXIS network implementing PROMOTOR PLUS project. This project aims at improving the performance of the start-up market in the Newly Associated Countries (NACs) by promoting the cooperation between companies and organisations from the Member States and NACs. Through this cooperation with the PAXIS network, the University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" and Sofia Municipality promoted the first local Entrepreneur Day with a European dimension (Sofia, on 8-9 October 2003) that took place for the first time in an Accession Country.

"INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT" was the motto of Sofia's European Day of Entrepreneur, 8-9 October 2003. More than 300 participants attended the event. Foreign participants from Belgium, Greece, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Spain, United Kingdom, Serbia and Macedonia, as well as representatives of the European Commission shared their experience and actively participated in the discussion forums. 20 co-organizers held 12 thematic sessions and more than 60 presentations were given. Four concomitant events were also carried out.