The speakers include:

John Beyrle, U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria
Elena Poptodorova, Bulgarian Ambassador to the U.S.
James Rigassio, Commercial Attaché, U.S. Embassy
Nikolay Valov, Commercial Attaché, Bulgarian Embassy
Borislav Boyanov, President, AmCham, Bulgaria
Valentin Georgiev, Executive Director, AmCham, Bulgaria
Walter Reichert, Director of International Trade Development, Hewlett-Packard
 

  Information/Agenda II Registration II Location II AeA Contact  II Partners

Elena Poptodorova, Bulgarian Ambassador to the U.S. and
John Beyrle U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria
Thursday, May 3, 2007
 

The AeA Silicon Valley/Northern California Council with the U.S. and Bulgarian governments along with the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham) highlight opportunities for trade and investment with Bulgaria. In January 2007, Bulgaria became a member of the European Union (EU). Now that Bulgaria is a full member of the EU, U.S. high-tech companies will find new and greater market opportunities in Bulgaria as "more EU means more US."

Lower cost, access to nearby talent, and proficiency in the European languages are just of some the reasons companies such as Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu Siemens, Toshiba, and Dell have opened centers in Bulgaria.

The top high-tech sectors for trade and investment include:

• Safety, Security and Defense
   
• Medical Equipment
   
• ICT
   
• Environmental Technologies
   
• Power Equipment and Energy Efficiency
   
• Aviation Equipment and Services

New opportunities in the Bulgarian ICT sector are based on talented human resources, mature software organizations and the direct access to global markets through European Union accession in January 2007.

Further growth projections for the high-tech industry in Bulgaria are as follows:

• The telecommunications segment is growing faster than the overall IT sector with market liberalization and tenders for 3G mobile network licenses and WiMAX Class A and Class B point-to-multipoint wireless licenses.
   
• B2B solutions dominate in the software segment. Exported software products developed in Bulgaria are free of VAT resulting in more than 50% of software exports are made by developers.
   
• Cable TV providers are still not considered major competitors for the Internet service providers.
   
• Hardware sector growth is in mobile configurations as well as servers.
   
• Bulgaria is the leader in the field of outsourcing among the countries in East Europe according to the research of CIO (Chief Information Officers, published by CXO Media Inc.) and Meta Group Inc. The major activities are in the areas of developing software – computer system software, networking software and web-design, CAD/CAM/CAE software, telecommunications and wireless development software, application software, firmware, hardware – computer and systems assembling, digital and analog printed circuits design, PCB manufacture, analog mixed engineering, microelectronics – design ASIC’s, front-end and back-end microelectronic activities, and automation – systems for industrial automation.
   

An adequate technical training, years of experience in the development of hardware, software, and electronic products, and good language skills are the basis for a large and attractive pool of workforce in the Bulgarian business process technology sector. The key factors are: more than 20% of the population speaks a foreign language, close to 5,000 university and college students enroll in IT degree programs annually, Bulgaria employs about 20,000 ICT professionals and ranks 3rd in world for certified IT professionals per capita as well as 8th in the world in terms of absolute numbers.

 

Date:        Thursday, May 3, 2007

Time:        8:00 am – 8:30 am Registration & Continental Breakfast
                 8:30 am – 10:00 am Presentation & Roundtable Discussion
                10:00 am – 10:30 am Delegation will be available for one-on-one discussions with anyone who wishes to stay after program end.

Cost:         AeA Member: $35.00    Non AeA Member: $45.00

The Techmart – AeA Concourse Conference Room– 4th Floor
5201 Great America Pkwy
Suite 400
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Directions

Colette Gonsalves
Events Coordinator
AeA Silicon Valley/Northern California Council
PH: 408.987.4248
Fax: 408.987.4298
 

This page was last updated on 04/18/07.  
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