Bulgarian IT companies and research and development organizations attracted a total of EUR 4 M in EU funding for IT projects in 2010, Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport and ITC announced.

While the sum is not impressive in absolute terms, it is double the EU money won by the Bulgarian IT sector in 2009, the ministry data shows.

Thus, Bulgarian scientific institutes and private IT companies got a total of EUR 3.2 M for projects under the Seventh Framework Program, with additional EUR 651 530 under the EU program for "Support of ITC Policies."

According to the Ministry of Transport, IT and Communications, Bulgaria's scientific contribution is most significant in the field of common EU projects focused on digital culture, which deal with the develop of smart computer programs for text recognition in various European languages, including Slavic languages.

The second major topic that Bulgarian ICT entities worked on with EU funding in 2010 was improving the competitiveness of the EU economy and the quality of life by developing and apply intelligent technologies. EU funded research and development IT activities on healthcare and IT security also saw Bulgarian contributions in 2010.

The Bulgarian Transport and ICT Ministry, which is the national coordinator of EU funding for IT programs, points out that it organizes free information campaigns for every single public tender, and that its experts help the applicants for EU money at every step of the procedures.