Big Data
for Smart Society

GATE Institute is one of the 12 partners in the European project “European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness”, funded under the Digital Europe Programme. GATE’s participation is through its “Cities of the Future” research direction, which is developing the Digital Twin of Sofia in collaboration with Sofia Municipality. At the core of the development is the modeling and analysis of urban data from a wide range of sources — geospatial, demographic, transport, environmental, energy, and infrastructure data. A broad spectrum of technologies based on big data, artificial intelligence, and physics-based simulations is used to conduct analyses supporting informed decision-making related to urban environmental quality (air and noise), climate change (urban heat island effect and heat risk), mobility and walkability, energy efficiency,...

On April 27, 2026, the final event of DisInfoHack 2026 took place at the GATE Institute at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The initiative is a research hackathon dedicated to information resilience and countering disinformation. The event brought together 46 students who, over the course of one month, developed and presented analytical projects addressing real-world cases from today’s information environment. DisInfoHack is being held for the third consecutive year and is part of the activities of the research project CoDE, which focuses on analysing the information environment in Bulgaria and developing sustainable approaches to tackling disinformation. The format of the so-called “slow hackathon” provides opportunities for in-depth team collaboration, mentorship, and the application of scientific methods in the study of...

On April 22, the event “AI-Driven Growth: Scaling Business Internationally in the AI Era” took place at Sofia Tech Park, bringing together experts and organizations to explore the impact of artificial intelligence on global business expansion. Among the co-organizers was the GATE Institute, reinforcing its role as a key driver of innovation in Bulgaria. During the forum, the Institute’s Director, Prof. Sylvia Ilieva, presented GATE’s vision for the future of smart cities, highlighting the importance of digital twins as a tool for more intelligent and adaptive urban management.

The GATE Institute at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” hosted Next Gen Entrepreneurs Day—an event that brought together representatives of European institutions, the investment community, academia, and startups. The forum is part of the “Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria” initiative, organized by the Fund of Funds in partnership with GATE and with the support of InvestEU, the European Commission, and the European Investment Bank.