Who is Who in the Bulgarian Smart City Ecosystem

The transition to smart cities requires the coordinated involvement of plenty of stakeholders – typically these are the government and public sector, financial and founding partners, big IT and infrastructure companies, startups and SMEs, NGOs and associations, civil society as well as research and innovation hubs, academics and universities. Looking into the situation in Bulgaria’s smart city ecosystem, we can identify the following stakeholders:

• ADD-Bulgaria –  established back in 2006, the company offers solutions for remote data transfer, analysis of information, and management of connected devices. Its services for smart metering of resources, intelligent street lighting, infrastructure monitoring, and smart cities are used in the management of resources like electricity, water, gas, heat, lighting of buildings, tunnels, and streets. 
• Identrics – an AI startup in Sofia, Bulgaria, founded in 2015 by Deyan Peychev and Iva Marinova which is focused on providing customizable AI solutions that turn unstructured data into patterns, digestible knowledge, and actionable insights. Their Data Science as a Service (DSaaS) offering provides analytics and consulting to companies and organizations which don’t have internal AI resources. 
• Alocor – the company is more than a decade old and offers high-tech solutions for buildings automation, smart houses (management and control of lighting, heating and cooling, household appliance), hotel systems, and water management for drinking, industrial, and wastewater management as well as systems for automation of train traffic. 
• WMStrategy – provides market insight and analysis to companies from all kinds of industries: agriculture, construction and real estate, energy and utilities, medicine and pharmacy, services, transport, and logistics.
• Dazzle Light Europe – a Bulgarian company established in 2016 which specializes in LED lighting technologies and provides a complete portfolio of in-house developed and produced high quality industrial and street LED lighting solutions.
• InfoSystems– offers solutions for transport management including fleet management, unit tracking, real-time passenger information, automatic passenger counting, traffic monitoring, real-time parking solutions. 
• Mozaika – the company provides solutions for information infrastructures, content management systems, water management systems, human-computer interaction, and content mapping. 
• Telelink City – provides customizable ready-to-use systems that don’t require specialized support throughout operation. The company offers solutions for digital citizenship, public transport, smart tourism, smart poles, digital parking, smart traffic lights, air monitoring, and smart waste management.
• MClimate – IoT company that develops connected, low carbon footprint home automation products and services for energy savings, enhanced comfort, and home security
• AirLief – a personal air pollution advisor app that democratizes the data about air quality. 
• Modeshift – SaaS startup that enables SMEs to provide intelligent transportation services and helps them produce a positive impact in all aspects of urban mobility.
• ENOVA h20 – a startup for measuring the levels of organic water pollution by using biosensors for identifying the sources of pollution in real-time.
• SensIT – a smart parking startup that uses IoT technologies to develop a map of free parking spots and help drivers save time. 
• Ampeco – a cloud platform for EV charging and smart load management that offers solutions for charge point and shared mobility operators.
• Develiot – data sensing devices for measuring air quality in urban areas, tracking water meter consumption, and monitoring water resources.
• Playground Energy – a startup that designs and manufactures playground equipment that transforms kinetic energy into electricity and makes toys blink, play music, trigger fountains, and entertain children.
• Fieldontrack  – a SaaS company that uses AI to improve the efficiency of field operations processes. 
• Tiger Technology – a cloud technology proving company that develops data management solutions for companies in IT, Surveillance, Media, and Entertainment.  
• ICT cluster – an umbrella organization of the ICT Industry which includes more than 280 ICT SME from different segments of the ICT Industry and 6 Bulgarian technical universities.
• Sofia Investment Agency – the agency is part of Sofia municipality and helps international and local companies to find business opportunities in Sofia and provide all relevant information and guidance required to establish a business.
• GATE – an institute established as a joint initiative between Sofia University – Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Chalmers Industrial Technology, Sweden with the purpose to develop Big Data applied research, innovation, and collaboration with government, industry, and entrepreneurs. 
• Cluster Sofia Knowledge City – an open association of an unlimited number of enterprises, science and education organizations that focuses on creating an innovative ecosystem based on the experience of leading knowledge and smart cities in the world. 
• Innovate Sofia – the Digitalization, Innovation, and Economic Development department of Sofia Municipality established in 2020 to support Sofia’s development as a smart, digital, innovative, and tech city. 

*Lists are never complete. In case we missed an important player – please drop up a line.