Bulgarian PM Denkov Kick-Starts Davos With Recommendations For Scientific Innovation In Europe

Today, Bulgarian Prime Minister, Nikolai Denkov, kick-started the World Economic Forum in Davos with recommendations for EU scientific innovation. Denkov participated in the first session of the Forum under the title "Europe's Rush to Innovate", alongside EU Commissioner, Iliana Ivanova.

Bulgarian leaders' presence at the Forum has never been so robust. Bulgarian foreign minister, Mariya Gabriel, is also scheduled to address Davos on the topic of EU enlargement later today.

There were years when Bulgarian leaders were not even invited to Davos. Then there was Bulgaria's presidency of the EU and Bulgarian leaders made it to the Forum. This year, Bulgarian leaders will not only be seen but will be heard, as well.

In the first Davos session today, Bulgarian Prime Minister Denkov argued for a strong push for scientific innovation in Europe, comparing Europe to Asia. Denkov said that Europe was a leading innovation power in the 60s, 70s and 80s. "But then what happened is that states in Asia realized faster than Europe that we should not oppose the fundamental basic science to the applied science", Denkov said. The Asian powers combined the two faster and were able to attract the talent, the Prime Minister added.

"They developed their ecosystem with science linked to innovation faster than Europe; I want to say as a scientist, as a person working with ERC for years, this was really an example how the basic, fundamental science can be supported at the public level", Denkov said.

There are several points on which Europe should focus. First, Denkov said, to have a successful product you need to make experiments. The second point, according to Denkov, are the public-private partnerships. "Again, we were late in...