Bulgaria is at the Bottom of the EU by Number of Innovative Enterprises, According to Eurostat

Bulgaria is in the last three countries of the European Union (EU) with the lowest share of innovative enterprises in the Union, according to data from Eurostat analysis of the survey of community innovations in 2017. In Bulgaria only 27% of the total share of enterprises develop some effective innovation activity, with an average EU indicator of 51% of high-tech enterprises. Only Poland is behind us - 22% and Romania - 10% of R & D enterprises.

Despite the relatively low share of innovative enterprises, Bulgaria is the EU country with the highest annual growth in budget spending on innovative activity - about 30%, while countries like Luxembourg and Iceland have around 2%, but are still the top ten innovative countries in the community.

According to the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the total costs for innovative activity in Bulgaria in 2017 amounted to nearly BGN 760 million, of which 530 million were earmarked for the business activity of enterprises, another 170 million for the state sector , about 43 million leva - for higher education, etc. Of these R & D budgets, the largest part was allocated to the Southwest region of the country - nearly BGN 530 million, and at least to Northwest Bulgaria - nearly BGN 30 million.

The most innovative technologies have been used in the manufacturing industry, with 180 million BGN allocated to this sector. A further BGN 170 million was for businesses in the field of communications or collection and dissemination of information - BGN 170 million.
 
The highest percentage of innovative enterprises compared to the total share of enterprises is registered in Belgium and Portugal - 68%, respectively, Eurostat. Other countries with highly developed technology enterprises are Finland,...

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