OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION AND GROWTH IN THE BULGARIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

The main objective of the report is to systematize the potential and available opportunities for increasing the innovations and stimulating through them the economic growth in Bulgaria. The interest in such an analysis is triggered by the great importance of innovation for increasing the competitiveness and export potential of firms and accelerating the rates of economic growth. It is assumed that by 2018 Bulgaria is lagging behind in innovation, according to data from the European Innovation Scoreboard 2018 Bulgaria is defined as a "modest innovator". At the same time, Bulgaria ranks fourth in innovation dynamics, but has an unbalanced innovation system. Similar diversity assessments lead to an analysis of the opportunities for innovation and growth, which are revealed in the report depending on the sectoral structure of GDP, the size structure and the sectoral distribution of the Bulgarian companies and innovations. The results show certain limitations and insufficiently exploited opportunities for innovation in certain economic spheres, existence of retention factors and prerequisites. The main conclusion is the limited possibilities for expected moderate impulse of the innovations and growth in the Bulgarian economy in the coming years. In the study, methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, and methods of descriptive analysis are used.