Press conference on the UNITE project

Five Bulgarian universities create a unique Center of Excellence in the field of informatics and ICT

On 20.07.2018, an opening press conference for the UNITE project (Universities for Science, Informatics and Technologies in the e-Society, BG05M2OP001-1.001-0004-C01) was held in Burgas. The main goal of the project is the creation of a Center of Excellence in the field of informatics and information and communication technologies (ICT). The project partners are Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", which is the lead partner, and will work together with Technical University - Sofia, Ruse University "Angel Kanchev", University "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov" - Burgas and Shumen University "Episkop Konstantin Preslavski". The project is funded by the Operational Programme "Science and Education for Intelligent Growth" and through it, the European Regional Development Fund finances an approved budget of 29,781,882 leva.

The creation of the Center of Excellence will contribute to the development of the field of informatics and ICT in the country and the focus of scientific activities on the needs of the economy and society. The UNITE project will be implemented in the period 2018-2023. One of the goals is to create a unique research infrastructure, including a new research complex and the reconstruction of 4 existing bases, to turn them into modern scientific complexes.

UNITE is a project oriented towards business as well. The research activities of the partners will be focused on the accelerated introduction of new technologies in the fields of production and services. In this way, a path will be paved for the integration of Bulgaria into the Single Digital Market in Europe. On the other hand, UNITE will encourage the attraction of young and talented researchers to work, thereby stopping the process of brain drain to other countries.

Solving key problems related to the construction of a digital society in Bulgaria is another goal that the experts working on UNITE will strive for. The development of ICT will ensure better education and the creation of specialists in various fields. This in turn is a key factor for the creation of a developed and competitive economy.

Representatives of the five universities participated in the press conference: Prof. Dr. Krassen Stefanov (Sofia University), Prof. Dr. Sotir Sotirov and Prof. Dr. Magdalena Mitkova (Burgas University "Asen Zlatarov"), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zlatka Jarvis (Technical University Sofia), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vezhdi Hasanov (Shumen University) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Desislava Atanasova (Ruse University).

"The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that, for the first time, a distributed scientific infrastructure is being established in Bulgaria, which will not be concentrated solely in Sofia, but will include major cities across the country and the leading universities within them," stated the project leader, Prof. Dr. Krassen Stefanov. "The goal is to utilize some of the best scientists from across the country in fields such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry to develop models that enable the processing of large volumes of data in modern informatics and ICT," he added.

Prof. Dr. Sotir Sotirov from the University "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov" Burgas welcomed the journalists and working teams. He emphasized that within the framework of the project, four laboratories related to the analysis and processing of large amounts of data will be built in Burgas. "I hope that we will continue to work together so diligently, so that we can congratulate ourselves on a truly successful project," he said.