The Cluster Sofia Knowledge City (CSKC) took part in the EU-Taiwan Cluster Matchmaking Event in 6-8 March 2019 in Lyon (France). CSKC and CASTRA were the only Bulgarian participants in this important meeting, organised by the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP). CSKC was represented by the member of the Advisory Board of the cluster Dimitar Filipov, whose company is active member of the cluster organisation.

The EU-Taiwan Cluster Matchmaking Event 2019 was organised in the context of the of the GLOBAL INDUSTRIE fair. The overall objective of the event was to foster collaboration between European and Taiwanese clusters for the benefit of their SME members. The event was organised by the ECCP in cooperation with Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (BoFT) - Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Enterprises (EEN Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - France) and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, EEN).

The International conference Knowledge & Smart Cities successfully completed. It was held on 26.11.2018 in John Atanasoff Hall in the Sofia Tech Park.

It was the second conference on this topic that Cluster Sofia Knowledge City has held over the past two years. Unlike the conference a year ago, this one was focused on the practical aspects of creating a market for smart cities and communities, integrated planning and regulatory policies. This was made possible by organizing the discussion forum in four work groups in the afternoon session. The forum was led by the Action cluster Integrated Planning, Policy and Regulation at EIP-SCC.

Today the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City is awarded with the Cluster Management Excellence Label BRONZE – Striving for Cluster ExcellenceCluster Management Excellence Label BRONZE – Striving for Cluster Excellence No BGR011201812C181103. At the end of 2018 the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City participated in a Cluster Management Benchmarking Exercise performed by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA). The European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI, www.clusterexcellence.eu) , a project co-financed by the DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission 2009-2012) developed quality indicators that resulted in an internationally recognised quality label for cluster management.

Cluster Sofia Knowledge City took part in the Smart City Expo World Congress of in Barcelona 13-15 November 2018. The event produced the following interesting and important six NEWS: