All of the DA-SPACE project partners from the Danube region took part in the Fourth project meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. The meeting took place on October 16÷17 at the Library and Information Center (LIC) at the Technical University of Sofia. The partners discussed the status of the project, its achievements and further steps and goals.

The start of the meeting was given by a welcoming speech by the project manager for DA-Space Bulgaria – prof. Lubomir Dimitrov.

He welcomed all the partners to Sofia and wished a successful meeting.

During the meeting the partners discussed the following topics:

• WP2 – Communication;
• Assessment Tools and Improvement for 2-nd Cycle;
• WP6 - Strategy & Sustainability;
• Sustainability actions for each OI lab;
• Transferability Workshops;
• WP4/WP5: Summary of changes in process;
• WP4/WP5: Outputs;
• Current Lab status for all OI labs (seekers, solvers, e.g.)

The first day of the meeting ended with a trip around the facilities in Sofia Tech Park and a Consortium dinner.

The partners learned about the challenges from the seekers (universities, companies or governmental institutions) in detail while collecting feedback and improvement tips for the first cycle of open innovation labs.

The topics for the second day were:

• WP 1 – Project Management Financial Overview
• Recap of Day 1
• Decision taken & next steps
• SCOM-Meeting
• Short tour around Sofia

During the first coffee break a small surprise was organized for one of the team members from Croatia.

After the lunch a small part of the guests were taken for a short trip of the center of Sofia, which included visits to the Sofia University, The Parliament, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Bulgarian Academy of Science, The Russian Church, The Presidency, Central Department Store and the Square of Tolerance.

Overall the meeting was successful and its organization received a high grade by all partners.

The next Project Meeting is scheduled for May 13-17 2019 in the city of Ulm, Germany.

See you there!

The Technical University of Sofia is the largest educational and scientific complex in Bulgaria in the field of technical and applied science with an institutional accreditation grade of 9.5 (on the scale of 10) for the period 2012 – 2018. As the first and largest polytechnic center, which supported the establishment of most of the higher technical colleges in the country, it sets the educational standards and national priorities for the development of engineering education and science.