Over 2,500 submitted projects for BGN 634 million have already applied under the Recovery Plan for Technological Modernization

2,539 submitted project proposals for BGN 633,841,469 in grants were submitted under the first open procedure "Technological modernization" under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan (RSP). The application process began on 22.07.2022 and ended today (21.09.22) at 4:30 p.m. The budget of the procedure is BGN 260 million and is aimed at micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The documents were submitted entirely online through the ISUN 2020 system. The evaluation of the projects will be completed by the end of the year.

The procedure targeted four of the country's economic sectors – C (Manufacturing), E (Water Supply; Sewerage Services, Waste Management and Recovery), J (Creation and Dissemination of Information and Creative Products; Telecommunications) and M (Professional activities and research). These are mainly manufacturing companies – for medicines, medical devices and appliances, computers or optical materials, food, beverages, clothing, etc. Also eligible were businesses that deal with waste collection or material recycling, film and television studios, radio, television and news agencies, as well as companies with architectural, engineering or research and development activities. For micro-enterprises, the total grant amount can be up to BGN 180,000, for small enterprises it is up to BGN 350,000, and for medium-sized enterprises – up to BGN 700,000.

24 hours before the application deadline, more than 1,700 projects were submitted for over BGN 440 million in grants.

According to the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, a second procedure is about to be opened under the PVA - it is for cyber security and ICT solutions. The budget is BGN 30.6 million. It has been published for public discussion, and proposals and comments can be made until September 30, 2022.

According to it, Bulgarian companies can receive grants from BGN 3,000 to BGN 20,000, and co-financing will not be required. The funds will be able to cover costs for creating corporate websites, mobile applications, online stores, digital marketing, customer relations, business analytics systems, online employee training and web-based services for information sharing platforms and intranets . The increase in cyber security will also be financed, as well as software for optimizing management decisions, protecting information in local networks, etc.

In a few weeks, the opening of the third procedure under PVA, which is for the construction of renewable energy sources for own energy production, is to be opened. It is in the amount of BGN 200 million.

According to the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, BGN 600 million has been earmarked for micro, small and medium-sized companies by the end of the year.