1. Bulgarian Association of Software Companies Sofia, 31 March – 1 April 2006 European IST Training www.basscom.org

2. BASSCOM  33 software companies Main goal & mission - software industry  essential part of economy - promote competitive advantages - encourage company excellence Activities Company Excellence: -software process improvement; -project management and QA according to the newest quality standards; -ESI Center-BG Education, R&D an Innovation - collaboration with government & academics - Improving IT education Bulgarian Association of Software Companies

3. National ICT Competitiveness Strategy -Industry development -Higher competitiveness -IT penetration in all industries -building up the information society -i2010 European Strategy Marketing software business -Branding BG software & IT industry -Eastern Europe  high-quality software hub -Better exposure abroad  recognized presence at the global software market -Expos, fairs… Business networking -Conferences -Best Practice IT BG partner -EU-funded projects

4. BASSCOM’s Role in EU projects Project: European IST Start date: 1 Jan 2005 Duration: 24 months Partnership: 1.SC FIMAN Development Services SA – coordinator 2.Asociatia Romana pentru Industia Electronica si Software (ARIES), 3.Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund), 4.Asoc. de empresas de electrónica, tec. de la inf. y telecom. de España 5.BASSCOM 6.EUROQUALITY (EQY), 7.Research Promotion Foundation (RPF) 8.Hungarian Association of IT Companies, (IVSZ) 9.Association of Information Technology Companies of Northern Greece (SEPVE) 10.(Institute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Sciences –IPPT PAN) 11.Foundation for Reasearch and Technology HELLAS (Help-Forward)

5. Project: European IST Objectives: Enhancing participation of research organizations from Associated Candidate Countries (ACC) & maximize the number of proposals submitted under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) and IST thematic priority Activities: -free training -consultancy    on EU-funded research projects -information spread At national level: organization of training sessions, promote the FP6 and IST program via dissemination of information materials, press articles, mailings, website; project proposals elaboration support to researchers; At transnational level: Develop a database of research organizations; facilitate formation of partnerships by organizing two brokerage events (in Romania and Greece); a European conference;

6. Project: European IST More info at: www.european-ist.netwww.e

7. SEE Innovation Project Start date: 1 July 2005 Duration: 24 months Partnership: 1.Greece - Planet S.A – coordinator 2.Austria - Center for Social Innovation (CSI) 3.Belgium - Technical Support for European Organizations, TESEO 4.Bulgaria - BASSCOM 5.Greece - Association of Information Technology Companies of Northern Greece, SEPVE 6.Albania - Albanian Studies and Education Institute in Information Technology, ISSETI 7.Croatia - ZaMirNET 8.Macedonia - Macedonian Association of Information Technology, MASIT 9.Romania - Romanian Association for Electronic Industry and Software, ARIES 10.Serbia and Montenegro - SCG 11.Turkey - The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey, TUBITAK

8. SEE Innovation Project Objectives: -training on FP6, in particular the IST and related programmes, for innovative ICT SMEs interested to participate in RTD-related activities; -support those ICT SMEs in shaping competitive technological offers to be of; -facilitate networking between SMEs in the SEE  joint research collaboration between SMEs and EU organisations  to get them involved in joint projects Activities: At national level: 7 national Mentoring Workshops for training SMEs representatives on the Framework Programme funding opportunities

9. SEE Innovation Project Activities At transnational level: -on-line Directory of SEE ICT SMEs; -3 trans-national Know-how Transfer Workshops for transferring research results and -assisting SMEs in elaborating ideas for future research proposals; -distributing across the EU 21 showcase brochures explaining the competence & target domain of 21 high potential SMEs (3 from each SEE country). -Dissemination activities More info at: www.see-innovation.orgwww.see-innovation.org

10. THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION!