Clusters and Cluster Initiatives in Bulgaria: Development and Challenges

The role of clusters for economic develop­ment, competitiveness and innovations is re­peatedly confirmed in a set of academic and practical studies and the various cluster initia­tives are becoming an increasingly popular ap­proach for their origination, consolidation and development. The main goal of the article is to represent the development of clusters in Bulgaria by out­lining the specificity of the implemented cluster initiatives, prerequisites and challenges towards their future development. The research is in response to the practical necessity to create a comprehensive idea about the place and the role of clusters in the devel­opment of contemporary Bulgarian economy: implemented national politics for cluster devel­opment, its basic characteristics and applied tools in the context of EU politics; the environ­ment in which the clusters originate and develop on one hand and their degree of development and structure on the other hand, as well as the possibility to improve the business environment and national competitiveness through the imple­mented cluster initiatives. The results of the conducted research of of the UNWE's “Development of cluster initiatives in Bulgaria: condition, prerequisites and chal­lenges” university project show that the clusters in Bulgaria, investigated in the above aspects, are not a prerequisite for the improvement of national competitiveness. The main reasons are revealed in the unsatisfactory condition of the implemented cluster policy, as well as the environment in which they originate and oper­ate, the state of development of the clusters and their structure, the small number of ac­tive clusters in the presence of an excessively large and growing number of emerging ones, the low degree and limited scope of imple­mented cluster initiatives. The main challenges in the future development of cluster initiatives in Bulgaria are along this lines.