The National Library “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” as part of a large scale partnership with educational and scientific organisations from Bulgaria started the implementation of the project BG16RFPR002-1.014-0011 Sustainable Development of the Center of Excellence “Heritage BG,” funded under the grant aid procedure BG16RFPR002-1.014 “Sustainable Development of Centers of Excellence and Centers of Competence, Including Specific Infrastructures or Their Associations from the National Roadmap for Scientific Infrastructure”. The project contributes to the thematic area “New Technologies in Creative and Recreation Industries” within the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation.

The lead organisation of the project is Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” with the following partners: University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Technical University of Sofia, National Sports Academy “Vasil Levski”, Veliko Tarnovo University “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”, National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography – BAS, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum – BAS, Institute of Art Studies – BAS, Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Tracology “Prof. Alexander Fol” – BAS, Institute for Literature – BAS, Cyril and Methodius Research Centre – BAS, National Library “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”, Regional Museum of History – Sofia.

The mission of the CoE Heritage BG is to contribute to the discovery of Bulgaria’s heritage, its socialisation and transformation into a resource for prosperity. The CoE transforms the cultural and natural heritage of Bulgaria into an economic resource for the development of the regions through the potential of science, the use of new technologies, the unification of the opportunities of business, non-governmental organizations and local communities. CoE Heritage BG contributes to the training of a skilled workforce capable of developing the tourism industry. CoE Heritage BG contributes to connecting the economy and communities with natural and cultural heritage through new digital products and services based on new knowledge.

The main project objective till 2029 is to achieve sustainable development of the CoE “Heritage BG” and the formation of the ecosystem @Heritage BG through:

1. Effective exploitation of the research infrastructure for scientific developments and R&D.
2. Good management of research teams and increasing the quality of human resources for R&D.
3. Effective international cooperation and mobility of researchers.
4. Integration of the @Heritage BG into the innovation ecosystem of the country through

– transfer of improved or new knowledge to interested organisations (business, education, NGOs) to serve for internal innovation in these organisations,

– transfer of new digital products and services to interested organisations (business, education, NGOs) to achieve innovation,

– open or authorized access to digital objects contributing to digital transformation of the interested organisations,

– sharing metadata for heritage samples with institutions and organisations in the country and the EU,

– sharing data (for example on socio-economic benefits of heritage) with institutions and other interested organisations.

5. Use of clean / green technologies in the operation of the infrastructure, the development of products and services.
6. Implementation of joint projects with businesses, NGOs, municipalities.
7. Promotion of heritage by public events and active joint activity with local communities.

Building the @Heritage BG ecosystem is a complex, multi-layered and long-time process that combines the application of the latest digital technologies and traditional heritage management approaches. The actors in this process are different – from institutions at the national and local level to businesses and NGOs. Essentially, the strategic goal of CoE is to achieve an effective digital transformation in institutions of memory and to provoke the application of new approaches in heritage management in order to achieve economic and social benefits from it.

The work packages of the project “Sustainable Development of the Heritage BG Center of Excellence (CoE)” are the following:

• Disclosure of the Bulgarian cultural heritage and its socialization through new technologies
• The natural heritage as a resource for socio-economic development
• Model for socio-economic benefits of cultural and natural heritage at the regional level (along the Mesta River valley)
• Economic and social benefits of heritage through transfer of knowledge, technology and products

More information about the project and the activities is available on the official website of the project https://www.nasledstvo.bg/ and https://portal.nasledstvo.bg/.