The CoE UNITe is established as unique centre covering all Bulgarian regions and all ICT thematic areas of ISSS. Its R&I programme is designed with the aim to advance in R&I in new ICT areas, to solve essential ICT problems of the economy and society, and to contribute to more intensive ICT sector growth, higher industrial competitiveness and overcoming several socio-economic challenges in Bulgaria.

The UNITe mission is to consolidate its role as leading scientific organisation in Informatics & ICT and become internationally recognised for its excellence, thus reducing brain-drain and attracting talented researchers, ensuring balanced R&I development, as well as facilitating uptake of digital economy and society, regional competitiveness and growth.

The vision of the CoE UNITe is to become a leading Bulgarian organisation in Informatics & ICT research, with advanced distributed research infrastructure covering all Bulgarian regions, attractive for excellent researchers and young talents, well integrated in the European Research Area, and widely recognised for high quality scientific results, and impact on national and regional economy and society.

Parners

• Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (SU)
• Technical University of Sofia (TU)
• Burgas State University “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov” Burgas (BU)
• Ruse University “Angel Kanchev” (RU)
• Shumen University “Konstantin Preslavsky” (ShU)
• Association Centre of Excellence (CoE) UNITe

The CoE UNITe consists of 5 university partners and has special characteristics:

• Uniqueness: The UNITe partners have created the first CoE in Bulgaria in ICT with a (geographically) distributed research infrastructure covering all BG regions.
• Complexity: The scientific activities of UNITe cover all areas of ICT priority of ISSS and are aligned with regional specialization and digital transformation goals.
• Relevance: UNITe strives for research excellence in the development of tools and services facilitating data-driven & secure digital economy and society.
• Impact: UNITe R&I activities with a large number of stakeholders  contribute to bridging the digital divide, better integration into ERA and Digital single market.
• Sustainability: Guaranteed by the partners – leading universities at the centre of the knowledge triangle, involved in knowledge generation and use for building future labour force.

The Association CoE UNITe will facilitate joint R&I activities, and attracting external funding.