International Forum on the Culture and Business - Together in the Digital World

The Rector Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov presented UNWE in the International Forum on the Culture and Business - Together in the Digital World. The event is part of the jubilee celebrations on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Wonders of Bulgaria campaign. Co-organizer and moderator of the Forum jointly with Standard News media was Maxim Behar, CEO of M3 Communications Group, Director for International Development of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation  /ICCO / and member of the UNWE Trustees Council.

Among the official guests of the event were the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Maria Gabriel, MEPs Iskra Mihailova and Tsvetelina Penkova, Europa Nostra's Secretary General Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic and its Vice President Pete Jasper, the Minister of Culture Velislav Minekov and the Minister of Tourism Stella Baltova, the President of BAS Acad. Julian Revalsky, the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova as well as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Bulgaria H.E. Mrs. Zakia El Midaoui. The Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria Iliana Yotova - a longstanding patron of Wonders of Bulgaria campaign - addressed a greeting to participants in the Forum.

Prof. Dimitrov presented the joint project between the UNWE and the Wonders of Bulgaria Foundation entitled Digital Routes for Cultural and Historical Heritage. He took part in the panel Business and Municipalities - Digital Projects for Cultural Tourism moderated by Martin Zahariev, Deputy Chairman of the National Board of Tourism.

The moderator of the second panel Martin Zahariev, the Minister of Tourism Stella Baltova, Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Assoc. Prof. Ivan Trenchev, lecturer at University of Library Studies and Information Technologies /ULSIT/, Prof. Anna - Maria Totomanova, lecturer at Sofia University /from the left to the right/

"In the eve of the 101st anniversary of UNWE I was asked what luggage we would enter our second century with and I had no hesitation answering that the UNWE had entered its second century with a digital luggage. We keep our traditions, our history, all that has been built up over the years but meanwhile we are in progress and confidently look ahead", said Prof. Dimitrov.

He pointed out that the Forum gives a clear answer that the right direction is digitalization in all aspects of life and especially regarding the tourism and cultural and historical heritage. "That`s why two months ago jointly with the Wonders of Bulgaria Foundation we officially launched a new joint project for digitalization of tourist routes. I wish success to this project because its structure is unique - as a lego-toy that could be useful for 10 or 100 municipalities", added the Rector.

During the Furum the UNWE was also represented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Musov, Vice-Rector for Research and International Cooperation, Prof. Dr. Tsvetana Stoyanova, Vice-Rector for Institutional and Business Cooperation and Student Policies /in the picture below/, Prof. Dr. Nikolay Shterev, Head of the Industrial Business Department and the UNWE Rector's Office Director Gergana Kirilova.

"Today we would like to be the spark that will ignite the synergy between the culture and the business by the new European opportunities provided through the new European Bauhaus, Creative Europe, Horizon 2020 Programme for creating new smart cities - beautiful, ecological, having a memory of heritage and a vision for the future", said Slavka Bozukova, Editor-in-Chief of Standard newspaper, at the opening of the Forum /in the picture below/.

"People are most valuable. The creative and cultural sectors provide emplyment to the most people - it means to give to already employed ones the opportunity to see a perspective as well as to attract more young people. As a Commissioner for Education, I could say that the Erasmus+ Programme which enables young people to acquire new skills, has a double budget of €28 billion for the next programme period – it means that much more opportunities will be provided”, pointed out the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Maria Gabriel /in the picture below/.

Working discussions between the panels

With the EU Commissioner Maria Gabriel	With the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and Gencho Kerezov
With the MEP Tsvetelina Penkova and Minister Stella Baltova	With the Deputy Chairman of the National Board of Tourism Martin Zahariev

With the Bulgarian deputy Assoc. Prof. Dr. Petar Chobanov, MEP Iskra Mihailova, Slavka Bozukova – founder of Wonders of Bulgaria campaign and organizer of the Forum /from the left to the right/