The European Commission’s initiative Mutual Learning Exercise -The Whole of Government Approach in Research and Innovation – made its first country mission to Sofia. The event took place on 25-26 April 2023 and was hosted by Sofia University.
The Mutual Learning Exercise supports participating countries with identifying and exchanging good practices, and engages them in mutual learning on the application of the whole-of-government approach to the design and implementation of national R&I strategies and plans.
Prof. Sylvia Ilieva, Director of the GATE Institute delivered a presentation on the GATE project in the session “Policy instruments for science-business cooperation – sharing of practices and discussions”. She focused on the process of institutionalizing GATE Centre of Excellence (CoE) – Big Data for Smart Society Institute and shared experience regarding cooperation with universities and business. Prof. Ilieva outlined the main applied research areas of the Institute and briefly presented some of its major collaborative projects and initiatives. She stressed upon the GATE’s endevour to be the heart of the research and innovation ecosystem in the field of big data and artificial intelligence.
Representatives of the Bulgarian government, project leaders and international guests took part in the event.
Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on the Whole of Government Approach in Research and Innovation (R&I) will deliver policy recommendations for its deployment in the design and implementation of national R&I strategies and plans that foster the transformations of our key socio-economic systems towards sustainability.