Bulgarian projects are expected to receive nearly €12bn from EUs structural funds from 2007 to 2013. According to the agreement, EU financing should be less than 75% of the total project value. This means the Bulgarian Government will have to provide another €3bn.

Bulgaria has a lack of companies investing in high technology development, Damyan Damyanov from the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria said. For this reason EU funds were the best source of financial resources for such projects, he added.

Over 99.7% of Bulgarian companies are medium or small sized and over 89% of those fail to introduce any innovations to the production process, Damyanov said. Other possible sources for funding of innovations and scientific projects include state financial aid, bank loans, foreign investment and volunteer sponsorship.