About 150 participants, mentors, facilitators and organizers joint their creativity in a search of innovative solutions in the first for Bulgaria innovation camp. Initiated by Gabrovo Municipality, Gabrovo Innovation Camp 2016 was organized between 1- 3 October 2016 in Gabrovo with the support of the Bulgarian presidency and the European Committee of the Regions.
Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policies
Tomislav Donchev was born on August 6, 1973 in Gabrovo.
He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and a Master's in Business Administration from St. Cyril and St. Methodius Univesity of Veliko Tarnovo.
From 1995 to 2007 he worked as a volunteer, management member of various NGOs in the field of education and science, a collaborator of a sociological research agency, a teacher, an editor at Radio Gabrovo, an executive director of the High-Technology Business Incubator-Gabrovo, and a director at the Open Society Institute.
In 2007 he was elected mayor of Gabrovo. His main priority was to attract external funding for quality projects and Gabrovo Municipality became one of the most successful beneficiaries of EU-funded projects in Bulgaria.
In March 2010 he became Minister for Management of EU Funds.
From May 2013 to May 2014 was MP from GERB in the 42nd National Assembly.
From May to November 2014 he was a Member of the European Parliament from the EPP Group.
On November 7th, 2014 he was elected Deputy Prime Minister for European Funds and Economic Policies.
Director of Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Nadia Shabani has a master’s degree in law, obtained at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and a specialization in international law and international organizations.
From 2001 to 2009 and after 2012 Nadia Shabani is a Director at the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL). She works on issues such as establishment of NGOs, public-private partnerships, supported-decision making, social contracting and social entrepreneurship. She provides assistance to public officials on central and local level, lawyers, professional groups, parental organizations and social service providers for developing policies, strategic documents, drafting legislation changes and impact assessments in the social area. Mrs. Shabani is author of several analyses, publications and articles on the equality of people with disabilities, how to build successful partnerships and civil society developments.
In 2009, Nadia Shabani became the Chairperson of the National Agency for Child Protection in Bulgaria, responsible for the enforcement of children’s rights and coordination of all government policies in the area. She was coordinated the measures and programs in the plan for the deinstitutionalization of the children in Bulgaria.
In 2014 she was honoured by the President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev for exceptional contribution to the affirmation of children’s rights.
Societal Innovation process architect at I2SI
Hank Kune lives in the Netherlands, where his work focuses on facilitating government organizations in projects about systemic innovation, organizational renewal, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and developing innovation-enabling environments, with a special emphasis on hands-on solution seeking for complex social, societal and administrative issues. He has worked extensively with government organizations in the Netherlands, large companies in Japan, and diverse innovation initiatives in Europe and Asia. He is the founder and director of Educore (1991), and an active member of the New Club of Paris, a global network organization working as agenda developer for knowledge societies. He is Founding Partner of the Future Center Alliance (2010), and his work on dedicated innovation spaces has been influential in establishing and running Future Centers in several countries. Hank is one of the pioneers of the Aalto Camp for Societal Innovation (ACSI), and has been its principle moderator since 2010. He has written extensively on innovation ecosystems, prototyping, innovation-enabling workspaces and critical success factors for public sector innovation. In 2015 he co-founded International Initiatives for Societal Innovation (I2SI), an open network-based resource platform to bring people, ideas and information together for practitioners working to create a smarter, more sustainable society.
Societal Innovation process facilitator at I2SI
Magnus Jörgel (Sweden) has a background as Lieutenant Colonel in the Swedish Armed Forces, and holds a Master of Arts degree (War Studies) from King´s College, London. He joined the Swedish National Defence College in 2001, where his research focused on Africa and its conflicts, including 30 field trips to different conflict areas in Africa. He has held the position as Senior Advisor for the Liberian Government (2008- 2010). His work involves diverse aspects of security policy, Security Sector Reform (SSR) and civil-military cooperation, combining theory and practice, testing strategic theory in a complex reality. Since 2010, Magnus is employed at Region Skåne as a Senior Strategist, where he has been involved in different activities for the region’s long-term strategy and development, including strengthening the regional innovation system to develop, spread and use innovations within different industries, clusters and skills areas. Magnus is also involved in practical work on intellectual capital and societal innovation, and a member of the New Club of Paris. He has been a facilitator /co-designer at the Aalto Camps for Societal Innovation (ACSI) since 2012. In 2015 he became an International Certified Future Strategist, co-initiated the network platform International Initiatives for Societal Innovation (I2SI).
Senior Expert, Regional Council of Lapland, Finland
Kristiina Jokelainen has experience in the Higher Education sector and over 20 years of experience in economic, research and innovation development projects and multi-sector cooperation activities in Finland, Eastern European, Central Asian and EU Countries.
Kristiina Jokelainen has been participated in the implementation of over a hundred national and international development projects, acquired expertise in the following areas: the development of strategic management, monitoring and the evaluation of development processes, integrating multidisciplinary approaches in practice, seeking new arenas and interfaces for the innovation development.
Since 2012 Kristiina Jokelainen has been involved in the creation and the implementation of Lapland’s Smart Specialisation strategy and in particular leading the regional clusters development as part of the ‘Arctic Smartness’ Smart specialisation strategy implementation, applying her experiences and knowledge to support Lapland to become a strong and the most innovative sparsely populated region in the EU.
Founder at Innovation Starter & Innovation Explorer Bulgaria
Leona Aslanova has a master’s degree in theory of literature, obtained at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, certification in business innovation from TAG Business School and mini MBA from PWC's Academy.
Leona Aslanova works as innovation expert in leading corporate innovation programs, innovation projects and training programs; lecturer on innovation, facilitator and trainer in Bulgaria.
Leona Aslanova plans and facilitates innovation projects and is a lecturer in New Bulgarian University and Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.
Chairman of the Managing Board GEM
Iskren Krusteff is a high impact entrepreneur and investor, focused on sustainable business models and educational transformation towards partnerships and innovation. He introduced the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in Bulgaria and serves as Chairman of the Board. Prior to building the GEM Bulgaria team, he managed businesses, programmes and projects consisting of cross-functional teams and budgets up to £50m in the public and private sectors in the EU, including the Financial Services Authority in the UK.
Mentor at Start it Smart – Bulgarian entrepreneurship club founded in 2009 with mission to inspire and support young people to start their own companies. Also mentor at Endeavor Bulgaria – Endeavor the largest high-impact movement around the world. Since February 2016 Iskren is member of the Global Advisory Panel of the UAEU Science and Innovation Park (SIP) in Abu Dhabi.
Iskren is frequent speaker at forums and conferences on entrepreneurship and member of judging panels on national and international competitions for entrepreneurs.
Senior Innovation Consultant at Innovation Starter Box
Ani Velikanova has a degree from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria.
From 1998 to December 2015 Ani Velikanova worked as: customer relationships expert, marketing communications, manager marketing communications, PR expert, head of marketing and PR, head of advertising sales, marketing and sales director, internet sales manager.
Since December 2015 till now Ani Velikanova has been working as a Senior Innovation Consultant at Innovation Starter Box. Her work involves: consulting the innovation processes and structures implementation in corporate and start-up environments; employees’ skills development, regarding innovation tools and techniques; representing full process cycle – from the initial analysis and recommendation to the complete implementation for results’ achievement.
PR, Marketing and Sales Manager at JA Bulgaria
Svetoslava is part of the JA Bulgaria team from the beginning of 2014, after 10 years of experience in corporate communications and image building. She joined the organization as Marketing and Sales Manager, communicating with partners and coordinator of projects and initiatives with the sponsors. After a couple of months, Svetoslava undertook the Public Relations of JA as well. She has a Bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication and a Master's degree from the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky”. She feels very motivated to participate in corporate and business trainings. Among her favorite visited are those on Social Entrepreneurship, Creative Thinking, Guerilla Marketing, Intunity Coaches, Coneeect and others. The six years of personal experience as an entrepreneur in the advertising and publishing business is just one more reason to feel at the very right place at JA Bulgaria where entrepreneurship is a mindset.
Business Development Senior Expert at JA Bulgaria
Svetoslav is a Bachelor of Arts in History from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Ancient History and Culture from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and a Ph.D. in Modern History. He was is assistant professor at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 2014-2015. Member of Network of Excellence “Cliohres.net”, Centre for Excellence “Dialogue Europe”, Centre for Excellence “Colleguim Historicum“, Center for Eurasian studies “Via Eurasia”. Svetoslav is currently developing a crash course on history of Bulgarian entrepreneurship that will be delivered as a special extracurricular activity at the JA Bulgaria Startup Hambar. He is also in charge of keeping in touch with schools throughout the country, supporting the work of teachers, attracting new schools and forging partnerships with the local government structures.
