The National Innovation Fund plays an active role in shaping Bulgaria’s innovation landscape, extending beyond its function as a source of funding.

The Fund’s strategic approach is focused on developing effective mechanisms that connect innovative ideas, research capacity, entrepreneurship and market opportunities within a coherent and measurable process.

The National Innovation Fund’s Concept for Strategic Priorities provides the overarching framework for the future direction of innovation support. It defines the NIF’s role in addressing market failures, fostering technological development and ensuring predictable, transparent and effective funding. The Concept serves as a strategic management tool for setting priorities and guiding the development of future programmes, calls for proposals and support mechanisms for innovative enterprises, research partnerships and Bulgaria’s broader innovation ecosystem.

Projects supported by the NIF are considered within a broader innovation pathway, in which each intervention has a clearly defined purpose — to reduce risk, accelerate the development of innovative solutions or facilitate their market uptake. Through this strategic approach, the Fund seeks to ensure that public funding for innovation is accessible, predictable and effectively deployed to support sustainable, long-term impact.