SlavConf., the international conference for career and creative development in the fields of culture, education and arts, took place in Sofia for the fourth consecutive time. Again, we joined the event as an institutional partner, and this year also as participants in the conference programme. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held fully online.

At the invitation of the organizers, Gencho Kerezov, Deputy Mayor for Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development of Sofia Municipality, and Ana Georgieva, Expert “Digitalization, Innovation and Investments” at Innovative Sofia, joined with the presentation “Sofia: Innovative. Intelligent. Creative”, providing overview of the development and potential of the creative sector in Sofia and Bulgaria, data on the industry and the projects the team of Innovative Sofia currently works on.

“Nearly ¾ of the creative sector in the country is concentrated in Sofia. Undoubtedly, the creative industries sector is something that Sofia can be really proud of, and its potential should be further developed,” commented Ana Georgieva during the presentation. She presented the creative sector in Sofia, data and successful stories from the gaming and film production subsectors (with over 900+ companies and 4000+ employees), as well as the events and supporting organizations, part of the local creative and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Creative industries are among the fastest-growing sectors with the highest added value in Sofia’s economy. While they account for about 4-5% of large cities’ economies in Europe, their share in Sofia is about 8%.

During the presentation, Deputy Mayor Gencho Kerezov announced our work-in-progress project,  the so-called “Sandbox for Innovative Solutions” – an initiative for testing pilot innovative tech solutions related to urban challenges. Solutions will be sought for environmental, educational, transport, entrepreneurial, and other issues defined by the city administration, with the goal to turn Sofia into a testing ground for products or services developed locally by Sofia-based companies.

You can find a short video with some of the highlights from SlavConf. here.