WITTE Automotive Bulgaria unveiled the extension of its factory in Ruse

ACB News

The event was honored by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria   On May 11, 2019, the official opening ceremony for the expansion of the WITTE Automotive Bulgaria plant was held. The event was attended by Mayor of Ruse Municipality Mr. Plamen Stoilov, Deputy Mayor of Economy, Investments and Property Mrs. Daniela Shilkova, Deputy Mayor of Territory Development eng. Dimitar Nakov, Deputy Mayor of Public Utilities Mrs. Natalia Krasteva, the Regional Governor of Ruse District Mr. Valentin Kolev, the President of Rousse Municipal Council and Rector of „Angel Kanchev“ University prof. Hristo Beloev, Members of Parliament, arch. Lyubomir Stanislavov – CEO of Automotive Cluster Bulgaria, owners of WITTE Automotive GmbH, representatives of various institutions and companies, employees and guests. At the start of the official program, the iconic folk dance theater “Naiden Kirov” was performing. Welcoming speeches were delivered by the mayor of Ruse Municipality, the Regional Governor of Ruse District, the CEO of Automotive Club Bulgaria, Mr. Rainer Gölz – shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of WITTE Automotive GmbH, and Dr. Hristo Hristov – Manager of WITTE Automotive Bulgaria. “WITTE Automotive Bulgaria has become a benchmark for the WITTE Group plants” – commented Mr. Gölz and added „My great “Thank you” today goes to all the employees of WITTE Automotive Bulgaria – for their dedication and excellent work.“ „We have built WITTE Automotive Bulgaria not only as an excellent supplier in the automotive sector but also as a symbol of a social company in the city of Ruse, which helps the economic development and stability of the region. The excellent results for quality, efficiency and customer satisfaction place WITTE Automotive Bulgaria as one of the best plants for the German WITTE Group“ commented Dr. Hristov. At the event, even after cutting the tape and despite its busy schedule, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Boyko Borisov also attended. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Tomislav Donchev and Minister of Finance Mr. Vladislav Goranov. „This is a modern and huge factory. That is how I understand the industrialization of the country. A big bow to our workers, because investments are made where stability and intelligent, disciplined people can be found“ said the Prime minister. Mr. Borisov inspected both the newly built and the already existing building. With the opening of the new production, WITTE AUTOMOTIVE Bulgaria is undoubtedly established as one of the largest and most perspective employers in Ruse. The main focus of the event was the celebration of the 10th anniversary of WITTE Automotive Bulgaria, as well as the 120th anniversary of the establishment of WITTE Automotive GmbH.

ScaleFocus Joins Automotive Cluster Bulgaria

ACB News

Automotive Cluster Bulgaria has the pleasure to announce its new member – ScaleFocus. This step came as a result of ScaleFocus’ eagerness to enter into the automotive market even more. ACB is looking forward to bringing IT and Automotive industries to the next level with this new alliance. “I have been working in the automotive industry for a while. Establishing a partnership between ScaleFocus and Automotive Cluster Bulgaria is an inevitable step towards gathering forces and bringing automotive companies to the next level via top notch technology.” said Vladimir Kamenov, Delivery Manager, ScaleFocus. “Bringing ScaleFocus as a member of our cluster is a pleasure. Their strive for growth and constant development is an inspiration. I am sure we will achieve great synergies with this new partnership.” said Ivan Mihaylov, Chairman of Automotive Cluster Bulgaria. ScaleFocus is a member of many honorable organizations such as the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce. ScaleFocus recently joined the Holland Fintech cluster. It has well-developed partnerships with some of the leading tech vendors in the world – Alibaba Cloud, IBM, TIBCO, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and VMware.  

Automotive Cluster Bulgaria and Confindustria Bulgaria organize Design Day

ACB News

Automotive Cluster Bulgaria and Confindustria Bulgaria organize together the celebration of the Design day for the third time in Bulgaria. The event will be held on March 19, 2019, in Sofia Tech Park, Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd. №111B, innovation forum “John Atanasov”. Special guest will be the engineer Paolo Pininfarina. The head of the legendary design studio will tell about the traditions and innovations in design. Design Day brings together architects, designers, scientists, artists and businesses to make a bridge between countries, cultures and admirors of the design art. Our sponsorship packages and more information are available here: The full sponsor package can be find here!

B2B event in the framework of Green Ict deVElopment project: 22. February 2019, Tirana, Albania

ACB News

We are glad to invite you to the second B2B event within the frame work of Green Ict deVElopment (GIVE) project. Cluster organizations and SMEs from Albania, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Latvia, Rumania and Serbia representing smart green technologies, automotive and ICT sector will gather to present solutions, products, services, discuss joint projects, partnerships, initiatives and exchange of experience. It will be a unique opportunity for everyone coming from each of these 3 sectors to network and launch a joint product and / or service for the third markets. Please save the date and join us!

Automotive Forum & Expo Sofia 2018

ACB News

Here you can download all the presentations from the International Automotive Conference, part of the Automotive Forum & Expo Sofia 2018. Ther event was held on October 18-19 in co-organization with Inter Expo Center and the support of Automechanika: DAY 1: 01. Development of the Bulgarian Automotive Industry – arch. Lyubomir Stanislavov, CEO Automotive Cluster Bulgaria 02. How to become a VW Group supplier – Mr. Barna Nagy, VW & Audi Purchasing regional office Eastern Europe 03. MBUX – Mercedes-Benz User Experience system – Mr. Ivan Mihaylov – CEO Visteon Bulgaria 04. How to become a BMW Group supplier and new BMW factory in Debrecen, Hungary – Mr. Esref Mermer, BMW International Purchasing, Southeast Europe 05. BMW New mobility strategy – Electric Mobility of the Future – Mr. Ivo Koevski, BMW MCar 06. Ford Group supplier structure and presentation of Ford Factory in Craiova – Mr. Viorel Nuta, Ford of Europe Purchasing 07. Bulgarian Success Story – Mr. Eric de Candido, Head of EU operations at Integrated Micro Electronics 08. Aluminium battery cases for Electric vehicles – Mr. Johan van Putten, COO ETEM 09. The role of the traditional telecom providers in the digital transformation of the automotive industry – Mrs. Eva Georgieva, Project Manager Vivacom   DAY 2: 10. Platooning by rail – Intermodal Transportation into the Future – Better, Faster, Smarter – MBA. Jordi Jove Farrando, LKW Walter 11.Automotive Technologies from the Future and Bosch Future Plans – Dipl. -Ing. MBA Hanno Miorini – Bosch – small size 12 Automotive Transformation and Infrastructure solutions for ADAS from Dell EMC – Mr. Victor Nasr – Dell EMC Bulgaria 13. Project Affordable Electric Car Made in BG – ACB – Prof. Harald Leschke – ex Head Mercedes-Benz Advance Design Studio 14. Optimizing global manufacturing operations throught production process simulations and Product Lifecycle Management – Mr. Philippe Minez – Dassault Systemes 15. The Intelligent Factory of the Future enabled by Festo products – Dr. Andreas Hoelscher – Head of Festo Corporate Product Development 16. Joint Project Mobileye and ACB – paving the road to Level 4-5 Autonomy in Bulgaria – Mr. Raz Peleg, Mobileye 17. The Square – Automotive R and D Center in Sofia Tech Park_arch. Lyubomir Stanislavov – CEO Auto Park Bulgaria  

The first GIVE project webinar on Digital marketing was held

ACB News

On August 30 the first webinar organized by Green ICT Development (GIVE) project was held. It was focused on digital marketing instruments and opportunities to promote companies and their products abroad. The webinar gave the participants interesting knowledge and skills how to be successful in the internet communication with customers and partners. The content, presented by the facilitators Nikoleta Miteva and Kaloyan Gadzhev was practical and in line with current trends. The Green ICT Development (GIVE) project aims to increase the global competitiveness of SMEs by boosting the emerging industries development and SMEs performance on global markets. With this project we help SMEs to find the right partners,  to create common knowledge base for internationalization and marketing and to produce globally competitive products and services. Three more trainings will be carried out in order to provide practical assistance within the project. They will be focused on basic skills and knowledge about the internationalization. Automotive Cluster Bulgaria is glad to welcome you at the next GIVE webinar on Communication skills scheduled for September 27, at 11.00 EEST. Register for the second webinar here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4804425302340845570.

Data Protection Notice for Respondents regarding GIVE project B2B event

ACB News

Data Protection Notice for Respondents The present Data Protection Notice for Participants describes how Green ICT Development – GIVE, a project funded by the European Commission under the COSME program, collects, processes and shares your personal information gathered for purposes of project implementation. The Sign Up form is provided and disseminated by the GIVE Consortium partners, coordinated by Foundation Cluster Information and Communication Technologies (ICT Cluster Bulgaria) as leader of the Consortium. The present privacy policy is provided pursuant to Article 13 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (hereinafter, “GDPR”). Who is the data controller? The controller of data is Foundation Cluster Information and Communication Technologies (ICT Cluster Bulgaria) and members of the Green Ict deVElopment – GIVE Project consortium What personal data do we collect and process? During the Sign Up form dissemination process you may provide personal data such as email and organization you are a part of. How long will we keep your personal data? Your personal data are kept as long as follow-up actions to the project are needed. In particular: – For a period of 3 years after the closing of project activities. – Until the end of a possible audit if one started before the end of the period mentioned above. Recipients of data Partners and Affiliates – We may share your data with any partner to the Consortium, as well as with its affiliates – companies that control, are controlled by, or are under common control with any of the Consortium’s Members. These entities may receive your information only to the extent necessary for the proper execution of the project implementation and activities, or for the administration of the project. Users’ personal data will neither be communicated to a third party outside the consortium, nor anyhow processed for marketing or profiling related purposes. Parties when required by Law There may be instances when we disclose your information to other parties in the following circumstances: – To comply or respond to the ruling law or legal process – To protect the legal rights of the Green ICT Development GIVE Project Consortium, partners and later affiliates. – On a request for cooperation by a government entity, whether or not legally required – Administration of the project and share the results thereof with the European Commission or any other public authority to which the Consortium and its members has to report. Other parties in Aggregated Form – We may use the gathered and shared data with third parties in a non-personal or aggregated form. Your rights on your personal data – The right of access (Article 17) and the right to rectify your personal data (Article 16). – The right to object (Article 22) and restrict the processing of your personal data (Article 18) and ask that it be deleted (Article 17). Based on your written request we will make a decision. – The right to data portability (Article 20) Exercising you rights – You may contact us via email at events@automotive.bg in order to assert your rights as described within the EU GDPR.