The meeting was attended by:

- The District Governor through an authorized representative Vanya Boneva - Junior Expert in the District Administration - Varna,

- Municipality of Varna, represented by Mr. Peycho Peychev - Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Varna,

- Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" represented by Mr. Yani Yanev - Vice President of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" and Chairman of the Board of RAPIV,

- Prof. Evgeni Stanimirov - Rector of the University of Economics - Varna,

- Medical University of Varna represented by Prof. Todorka Kostadinova - Director of the Directorate "International Cooperation, Accreditation and Quality" at MU "Prof. Dr. P. Stoyanov "- Varna,

- Naval Academy "N.Y. Vaptsarov ”, represented by Assoc. Prof. Peycho Kaloyanchev, Head of the Marine Technology Transfer Office at Naval Academy "N.Y. Vaptsarov ",

- Industrial Association - Varna, represented by Mr. Ognyan Spasov - Executive Director of the Industrial Association - Varna,

- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitar Radev,

- Ms. Janeta Georgieva - Chairperson of the Board of the Agency for Social Development "Vision",

- Mr. Valeri Penchev - Manager of Cores Ltd,
- Ms. Ralitsa Zhekova - Executive Director of RAPIV and

- Mrs. Mariya Zlateva - Financial Manager of RAPIV.

 

The Report on the activity of RAPIV was presented and discussed, noting the main results achieved:

1. Business Incubator - Varna at RAPIV continues its activities on the initiative of the team, without financial security, under the accelerator program Start2Up, as well as for the support for start-up businesses. During the reporting period, 16 young people who established their companies with the support of RAPIV received regular consultations on various topics.

2. The work on 4 projects continues successfully:

INTRA "Internationalization of regional SMEs", under the INTERREG EUROPE program.

DTP2-048-1.2. WOMEN IN BUSINESS "Promoting entrepreneurship among young women in the Danube region" under the DANUBE TRANSNATIONAL program, in partnership with VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" and 12 foreign partner organizations.

 "D-CARE" "Development, piloting and validation of models of smart care in the Danube region to support social innovation, improving competencies and entrepreneurship" under the Danube Transnational Program; in partnership with NASO and Aksakovo Municipality and the participation of Medical University - Varna, VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", ICT Cluster - Varna and 23 other foreign partner organizations.

ATU “Access to Universities for People with Disabilities” under the Erasmus + Program of the European Commission, Key Activity 2: Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education. In partnership with VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" and 3 other foreign partner organizations.

3. Successfully completed the implementation of project BG05M90P001 - 1.023-0007-C01 "Promotion of entrepreneurship among unemployed, inactive and working youth up to 29 years in Northeastern Bulgaria" under OP "Human Resources Development".

4. RAPIV was selected as a partner of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in Food - EIT Food for the implementation of the program EWA "Empowering women in agrifood" 2021 for Bulgaria. The Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Economics - Varna has been involved as a collaboration partner.

 

 At its meeting, the General Assembly elected a new Management Board of the Association:

1. District Administration - Varna;

2. Municipality of Varna;

3. Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar";

4. Medical University "Prof. Dr. P. Stoyanov ”- Varna;

5. Naval Academy "Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov", Varna;

6. University of Economics - Varna;

7. Industrial Association - Varna;

8. Yani Dimitrov Yanev;

9. Ralitsa Zhekova Zhekova.

 

Future joint initiatives with the members of the Association were also discussed, such as organizing and conducting a debate on the strategic development of Varna and the region.