GATE’s sustainability in the long run depends on its capability to compete for funding and on being recognized as a reliable partner within the European Research Area. My role is to enable this capability by finding and creating opportunities, by animating strategic partnerships and forming effective consortia, by generating project ideas and transforming them into successful collaborative research projects and by developing capacity in GATE’s team to take maximum advantage of the research funding environment.

Irena Pavlova is Manager of the European Programmes and Projects at GATE Institute. She is responsible for the initiation, organisation and implementation of GATE’s research projects under various EU and national programmеs.
She is an Assistant Professor at Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University, specialized in software engineering and semantic interoperability.
Irena has been working in the industry for more than 20 years, managing various EU funded and industrial R&D projects. She has experience in managing and conducting research in more than 20 scientific and innovation projects funded by FP5, FP6, FP7, H2020, Interreg Europe and other programmes. Since 2009, Irena has been working as a European Commission’s external expert in different EU programmes and initiatives such as H2020, FP7, Future Internet PPP, CIP PSP EC programme. She was also involved in the Horizon Europe “The Future of Europe’s Manufacturing” and in H2020 “Services in the Future Internet” expert groups, to define the priorities of the respective EU programmes.

The program focuses on leading trends in artificial intelligence, digital health, biotechnology, microelectronics and cybersecurity. Special attention is paid to the role of innovation ecosystems in the transition to a green, digital and sustainable economy. 

On the first day, the focus was on the European visions for transformation through innovation. José Pérez, Senior Coordinator at EuropaBio, presented the new EU policies to accelerate the biotechnology sector through better technology transfer and building strong hubs for science and business. technologies and the innovation and startup system in Bulgaria.  Within the framework of the conference, GATE Institute presented the VELES Excellence Hub, led by it, aimed at creating an intelligent health data space in Southeast Europe. Irena Pavlova – European Projects and Programs Manager at GATE presented how the project is utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and big data in favor of personalized medicine and improved healthcare in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Romania. 

“VELES is the next logical step in GATE’s quest to build a data-driven economy and create sustainable solutions in key public sectors such as healthcare,” said the Director of the Institute Prof. Silvia Ilieva, who opened the conference on June 19. 

“As a scientific institute, GATE is also a living innovation ecosystem. We provide environments and test sites where startups can test, validate and develop their solutions in real-world conditions – whether it’s smart city government, smart transport or data-driven healthcare,” she added. 

As a special treat to the attendees of the event, GATE opened its labs. The researchers Maria Pantusheva, Evgeni Shirinyan and Boris Kraychev demonstrated the talking digital twin of Sofia, developed by GATE, and Georgi Petkov presented the achievements of the Institute in the field of digital health.  

A special place in the program was given to two key panels. “Building a Stronger EU Innovation Ecosystem“, moderated by GATE, brought together organizations from Northern Europe, Ukraine and the Balkans that shared good practices and challenges for building working innovation ecosystems. With this panel, GATE also marked the successful completion of the ExcellEnt project, which aims to build bridges between entrepreneurial ecosystems in the EU, creating equal opportunities for start-up entrepreneurs in less developed ecosystems and connections for the overall European ecosystem internationally. 

“Funding the Future” offered a glimpse into financing innovation through the participation of leading investment funds such as Eleven Ventures, Bio4Dreams and the Fund of Funds. 

Also on the stage of Spinoff Conference 2025 are the participants of  the HealthTech Investor Summit (HTIS25), an international selection of promising medtech companies presenting high-potential solutions with global impact. Along with them, innovators in the fields of AI, clean technologies, microelectronics and cybersecurity demonstrate how science and technology are shaping the future of the European economy. 

The culmination of the first day of the forum will be the presentation of the “Spinoff of the Year” award, which distinguishes companies that have successfully turned scientific ideas into real business with a positive impact on society. GATE is presenting one winning spinoff in each category with a free 2-hour business plan consultation with the Business Development team of the institute. This tailored session will offer expert feedback on the business strategy, guidance on growth opportunities and funding and insights on scaling and sustainability. 

The second day of the conference will be dedicated to the interaction between science and industry under the motto “Science meets industry“. Models for successful technology transfer, strategic partnerships and building innovation infrastructure in Europe will be sought.  

Georgi Randelov from the GATE Institute will reveal the potential of the GATE Institute for the development of spinoffs. It will examine the differences between the two models for the transfer of scientific innovations to business and the role of research institutes in this process. 

The final discussion “From Knowledge to a Talent-Driven Economy” will focus on human capital and education as a basis for a competitive, innovative and sustainable economy. 

Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in parallel formats such as Tech Transfer Clinic, IP & Investment Corner, demonstrations at Green & Smart Labs and meetings between scientists and industry partners in the Industry Matchmaking Area. 

Dr. Iva Krasteva, Senior researcher at GATE pitched the importance of skills training for organizations joining data spaces during an interactive workshop “From idea to business: Use case creation and data space onboarding”. In the panel: “The Future of Healthcare: Unlocking Value Creation Through Data Sharing” Irena Pavlova, Manager European Programmes and Projects highlighted that trust and a digital health culture are essential enablers for the EU Health Data Space realization. She stressed the need for developing digital skills in healthcare professionals and encouraging patients to enhance their data literacy— and ideally, embrace data altruism—to drive innovation and societal well being. Additionally, Prof. Sylvia Ilieva participated in the regular IDSA hubs meet-up where she connected, exchanged ideas, and gained early insights into what’s ahead with colleagues from Finland, Spain, Brazil and many others.

GATE continues to support the development of trusted, interoperable, and impactful data spaces. The participation at Data Spaces Symposium 2025 provided opportunities to exchange knowledge and engage in discussions on data-driven innovation and cross-industry collaboration.

Regarding the reasonable use of technologies, Irena Pavlova noted that the shortened cycle of new technologies coming to the market does not imply a guarantee of reliability and security. “Europe has adopted AI regulations to try to impose standards on existing and developing systems and technologies, but these regulations will need to adapt dynamically because they will be out of date for the technologies coming to market,” she explained. Prof. Desislava Petrova-Antonova took part in the discussion “What should a modern city look like in 2034?” together with Ivan Goichev, Deputy Mayor in the Department of “Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development”, Sofia City Municipality, Kiril Kirilov, Manager, Kalos Estates, arch. Angel Zahariev, co-founder of “A and A Architects”, Martin Yanev, Managing partner, ACME, moderated by Ivan Velkov, President of FIABCI Bulgaria, Chairman of the Board of BGFMA and Member of the Board of BIA.

Prof. Petrova-Antonova spoke about the methodology and benefits of developing a digital twin of Sofia, with the district of Lozenets as a pilot area.  She also explained that the first 3D model of the city is based on an open standard and is continuously enriched by various dynamic data from sensors located in the capital. Based on the data and simulations, analyses of the urban environment are carried out and this knowledge can be used by institutions and citizens in planning and implementing real actions for the development of a sustainable urban environment and lifestyle.

A data revolution is needed to fully integrate existing and new data sources into quality healthcare and effective decision-making and to promote access to and use of data through increased support from all stakeholders. A holistic vision for a data-driven digital transformation in healthcare requires the active participation of all stakeholders – clinicians, researchers, innovators and policymakers. In the panel, we will engage their representatives to discuss how data and data sharing are transforming healthcare, leading on the one hand to new in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms of diseases and their treatment and provision opportunities, on the other hand, to the creation of innovative and secure digital solutions that underpin sustainable healthcare delivery. All this is possible through supportive policies, regulations and investment mechanisms at national, regional and European level.

The panel will be moderated by Graham Kemp, professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The speakers are Dimitrios G. Katehakis, Head, Center for eHealth Applications and Services, Institute of Computer Science, FORTH & Director, Hellenic Digital Health Cluster; Jordan Kane, Genomic & Precision Medicine, Principal at BioCommercialisation Services; Irena Pavlova and George Petkov from GATE Institute.

For more information and registration https://forum.gate-ai.eu/

The Data Spaces Symposium and Deep-Dive Day provided a unique platform to explore, assess, and map out the future of data spaces through: Exclusive networking and engagement opportunities; Thought-provoking agenda featuring forward-thinking experts; and Three days all about data spaces from thought leadership to hands-on support

The programme of the event included many insightful panel discussions, focused on the value of data spaces, interactive four-perspective sessions and several tracks dedicated to success stories.

Some of the key takeaways were shared by Boris Otto, Lars Nagel and Matthijs Punter, including the focus on the user of Data Spaces, the business model for participants and how they can ensure operational sustainability, as well as bringing the data spaces communities together.

The largest event on data spaces was hosted by the Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing and Cloud (TNO), International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), the Basic Data Infrastructure network and the Data Spaces Support Centre, boosted by the Data Spaces Business Alliance, organized together with EUHubs4Data – European Federation of Data Driven Innovation Hubs and MyData Global.

Beside GATE, the project consortium includes Greek, French, Irish, Turkish and Ukrainian partners.  The project partners will identify the state of play of the entrepreneurial ecosystems through conducting interviews with several entrepreneurs, incubators, universities, and policy makers. GATE institute will analyse existing theoretical models for successful entrepreneurship and integrate them with field practice. This will allow for better alignment of the practices of education institutes with the ones of the innovation practitioners, thus assisting the learning process, derived from successes and failures of founders. Feedback received by innovation practitioners will be used to feed into the academic curriculum by identifying appropriate courses provided to students.

Irena Pavlova, Manager European Programmes and Projects and Denitsa Stoilova, Business Development Expert attended the kick-off meeting on behalf of GATE Institute.

The workshop presented ways to generate value in data spaces for the various participant roles and discussed the specific benefits and barriers to realizing value for each of the workshop participants and their respective organizations. Future steps and topics for new meetings were also mapped out.

On November 9, 2022, upon an initiative of GATE, the first Urban Data Space in Bulgaria was officially launched, where different organizations can share and access data for developing new business products and improving services in the city.

Among the first more than 15 members of the Bulgarian Urban Data Space are various organizations such as the National Statistical Institute, Sofia Development Association and Sofiaplan, business representatives such as Overgas, CNSys, Kontrax, Rila Solutions, Telelink Business Services and Senstate, and the non-governmental organizations For the Earth, One Tree, Airbg.info and Data for Good. This initiative aims to promote innovation by using the opportunities offered by the development of the data-based economy.

On the second day of the European Big Data Value Forum, Irena Pavlova, Manager of the European Programmes and Projects at GATE, participated in the “Fueling Industrial AI with Data Pipelines” session, co-organised by the DataCloud, enRichMyData and Graph-Massivizer projects. Its aim was to create a forum for research and industry to discuss challenges and opportunities in the emerging field of Big Data pipelines operating under the Computing Continuum paradigm, with applicability to Industrial AI applications. The session highlighted a set of different digital technologies and methods, which offer new solutions for the always more complex field of operation of heterogeneous and big data pipeline systems with applicability to industrial AI applications. Main trends in the ongoing data-driven AI, the Cloud/Edge/Fog Computing Continuum were also discussed during the session. Other European experts such Dimitru Roman and Nikolay Nikolov from SINTEF also joined the session.

The European Big Data Value Forum 2022 is organised by the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), where GATE is also a member, IT4Innovations (VSB – Technical University of Ostrava), 2Plan4all and Charles University in Prague in collaboration with the European Commission (DG CNECT).

The event provided a great environment for sharing experiences in dealing with challenges and lessons learned, as well as for discussing the impact of CoEs on the national innovation ecosystems and the recovery and resilience endeavours.

Prof. Ilieva took part in the insightful panel focused on sustainability, where interesting views were shared on Governance, Business model development, Communication and Extroversion as key elements to ensure stable future prospects of the CoEs.