National Innovation Fund

National Innovation Fund (NIF)

• The NIF was established in 2004 when the Council of Ministers approved the Innovation Strategy of Bulgaria and specific measures for its implementation (Government Decree No 723 of 8 September 2004);
• According to the Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specialisation of Bulgaria for the period 2014—2020 (final version adopted by Government Decree No 857 of 3 November 2015), the NIF is one of the tools for implementing the Innovation Strategy.

The NIF mission is to foster R&D at enterprise level and promote science-business cooperation

Direct objectives of the Fund:

• Increase production volumes;
• Improve the quality of products, services or processes;
• Reduce the amount of the resources used;
• Foster investments in efficient enterprises.

Eligible costs:

• Staff costs;
• Depreciation charges for tools or equipment;
• Expenses for external services;
• Materials and consumables costs;
• Business trips in other countries.

The application process:

• Competitive bidding;
• Evaluation;
• Contracting;
• Implementation;
• Reporting;