Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2003 - 2006 IPF Fellow
Affiliation: Head of Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy and History, University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria and also a member of the Technology Studies Group, at the Department of 'Science, Education and Innovation', Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
e-mail: tchalakov@policy.hu
secondary e-mail: tchalakov@sociology.bas.bg
website: http://www.policy.hu/tchalakov/
Fellow projects
2005 - 2006: Small and medium-sized enterprises in Bulgaria: Policy gaps
The objectives of the project are to strengthen the potential of innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) development by targeting key problems of their development in knowledge-based policy research including institutional capacity and patterns of business partnership with a focus on the Central South region of Bulgaria; enable innovative business clustering by integrating existing academic and research infrastructure of Plovdiv University, Agricultural University, Medical University, etc. with growing pharmaceutical, biomedical, food processing and cosmetics industries; seek cooperation with relevant Bulgarian think thanks such as the Social-Democratic Institute, Institute of Market Economy, and Center for Liberal Strategies; and write research and policy study with policy recommendations for Bulgarian policy makers and think tanks.
Working groups: Southeast Europe: Conflict Prevention, Economic Development and Microfinance Policy
Relevant countries: Bulgaria
2003 - 2004: Eastern European economic transition policy revisited: The Neoschumpeterian model
The project objectives are to explore patterns of economic behavior exhibited by innovative private small and medium firms in three sectors of the Bulgarian economy - information technology, pharmaceuticals and the food industry; collect macroeconomic as well as "time dimensional" data about the way firms are coping with various types of uncertainties during the economic transition by studying approximately 30 SMEs in each sector; develop policy strategies regarding state capacity and the leading economic sector; and write a research and policy paper for the Bulgarian Government's Agency for SME and Bulgarian Industrial Associations with special attention paid to Bulgarian Association for Information Technologies BAIT and the Bulgarian Association of Pharmaceutical Companies.
Working groups: Economic Development and Microfinance Policy
Relevant countries: Bulgaria