Dimitar Hristov - Chairman of the Board of Cluster Sofia Knowledge City

This month (December 2022) Cluster Sofia Knowledge City turns six years since its creation. On 25.10.2016, twenty five legal entities incl. companies, scientific institutes and a university signed a contract for the creation of a consortium under Trade Law with the aim of implementing a project to transform Sofia into a city of knowledge.

A little later, on 19.12.2016, a decision was made to re-register this consortium into an association under the Law of non-governmental organisations.

More than one year ago, on March 2021, the research company ESI ThoughtLab released Smart City Solutions for a Riskier World, a forward-looking study that provides city decision-makers with an evidence-based playbook for driving better social, environmental, and economic outcomes in today’s transformed world. A team of 30 economists and subject matter experts assessed the impact of technological, economic, and demographic shifts on cities.

The research, based on a survey of 167 city leaders from 82 countries around the world, dramatically underscores the vital role of technology, data, partnerships, and citizen engagement in enabling municipalities to helping give rise to a new class of cities-Cities 4.0.

Within the framework of the Fight Climate Change project, the cluster member KISMC participates in, a survey was conducted in the period January - March 2022, which aimed to obtain indicative information about the readiness, commitment and needs for doing business or implementing projects in such sensitive thematic areas as "fighting climate change" , "green transition" and "circular economy".

The responses received, while not claiming to be representative, nevertheless contributed to a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges for conducting and doing business in these areas. 

Two of the members of the cluster, Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) and Euro-perspectives Foundation, implement projects directly resulting from the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

Both projects are related to the role and positive impact that business, entrepreneurship and education can play in the fight against climate change and to preserve biodiversity.

Over the past 50 years, the world has been transformed by an explosion in global trade, consumption, population growth and mass urbanization.