During the Academy of Innovation 2019 students had the opportunity to develop and present their own ideas on the following topics:

• "War on the Roads"
• "Depopulation of regions, care for the elderly"
• "Health and Technology"
• "Cleanliness, Green Ideas and Ecology"
• "Communication projects with a social mission which make people happy"

On the 10th and 11th of May at the "Peroto" Literature Club in the National Palace of Culture, young people had the opportunity to elaborate their ideas in short 15 minute presentations and product and services demos. The competition runs over a period of 24 hours under the jury's mentorship.

The grand prize for the winning team in 2019 is 10,000 leva and a visit to Brussels. Two more ideas were distinguished with special awards and cash prizes from partners of the Academy of Innovation 2019.

Members of the jury

Academic jury

• Theodor Sedlarski, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", honorary chairman of the jury
• Prof. Tsvetan Davidkov, Faculty of Economics, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
• Christian Postadzhian, Director of the Program Council, Department of Cinema, Advertising and Showbusiness, NBU
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emilia Zankina, Vice-Rector American University Blagoevgrad
• Professor Vladimir Poulkov, Department of Telecommunications, Technical University - Sofia
• Detelina Smilkova, Vice President of VUZF
• Prof. Stoyan Kapralov, Director of University Center for Work with Talented Univesrity and High-school Students, Technical University - Gabrovo
• Dr. Svetlin Nakov, Manager of Innovation and Inspiration @ Software University
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eleonora Tankova, Dean of the Faculty of International Economics and Administration, Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar"
• Assist. Prof. Georgi Baev, Department of National and Regional Security at the National Military University "Vasil Levski"

Business jury

• Andreas Beikos, Head of the Sofia Office of the European Investment Bank in Bulgaria
• IRAVAN HIRA, Managing Director of HPE Bulgaria, powered by Selectium
• Kalin Dimchev, Executive Director of Microsoft
• Nikolay Spasov, Chief Operating Officer of TBI Bank
• Laura Terziev, Chief Operations Officer, SAP Labs Bulgaria
• Vesko Kolev, Vice President of Developer Products, Progress
• Rumen Iliev, Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures

Non-government sector and associations

• Boyko Blagoev, Head of Communications at the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria
• Yavor Gochev, Program Director at "Rinker Center for Entrepreneurship"
• Natalia Miteva, Program Director for Education at the America for Bulgaria Foundation
• Vesela Kalacheva, CEO at BAIT
• Maya Marinova, Executive Director at BASSCOM
• Venice Netsova-Angova, President of ABLE

Jury Criteria

• Well-defined problem and adequacy. The Project has to address a significant priority issue in an adequate and comprehensible way. Weight of criterion 20%.
• Target audience and potential market size. The project has a clear addressee (in the sense of target audience, clients, partners) and clarity about the size of the market for which it proposes a solution. Weight of criterion 10%.
• Sales, sales channels. Validation. Who am I competing with for the client's money? Criterion weight 20%.
• Innovation, originality. The project has to offer a wholly new or improved solution to a problem. Well-defined competitition advantages. Criterion weight 20%.
• Business plan, trackability and goals. The project is to have aims which are possible to achive within the specified deadlines. It is to have a clearly outlined implementation plan within the $ 10,000 prize awarded for the initial development of the idea. Criterion weight 20%.
• Soft skills. Team, personality, presentation skills, leadership. Weight of criterion 10%.

Winners of the Academy of Innovation 2019