1. Date and location
Date: October 27 and 28, 2016
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Hotel “Expo”, Sofia
2. Theme
Fostering innovation and business opportunities: this Conference will focus on innovation as a key tool for rural development, with a particular attention on developing framework condition for innovation and new business models adapted to the rural context, and support for skills development in rural communities. The accent is about opportunities for sustainable rural growth, looked at through integrated approaches, cutting across sectors and taking a territorial perspective. The Conference has the ambition to modernize policies and governance, and foster new business developments. This whole event should boost innovation, advising and demonstration approaches in a spirit of co-creation and exchange of knowledge.
3. Objectives
This event will gather academics, scholars, practitioners, stake holders and policy makers in the agriculture innovation and business opportunitiesto dissect the latest and most pressing issues characterising rural renaissance.
4. Topics
The Conference focuses on the following main topics:
1) New challenges of CAP 2014-2020
- Structural changes in the agrarian sector
- Efficiency, productivity growth and Competitiveness
- Social instability and social incusions
- Diversification in rural areas
2) Value chains and new business models in agriculture
- Cooperation and integration between agriculture and food industry, food chain
- Food chain, food safety and food quality
- Risk management and entrepreneurship
- Agricultural investments
3) Innovation and entrepreneurship skill development
- Knowledge and innovation
- Unemployment and job creation
- Income growth and poverty reduction
4) Eco governance and eco business in agriculture
- Conservation and efficient use of natural resources
- Contribution and adaptation pf agriculture to climate change
- Competition between agriculture and energy markets, land investors and non-agriculture land users
- Sustainable intensification of agriculture climate change
Chair of the Local Organization Committee
Prof. Dr. Dimitre Nikolov (Institute of Agricultural Economics, Sofia, Bulgaria)
Local Organization committee:
Prof. Dr. Neli Bencheva (Agricultural University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimo Atanasov (Agricultural University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
Prof. Dr. Diana Kopeva (University of national and world economy ,Bulgaria)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Plamena Yovchevska (Institute of Agricultural Economics, Sofia, Bulgaria)
Important dates
Abstract submission: June 30, 2016
Notification of acceptance: July 15, 2016
Close early registration: August 15, 2016
Final registration: September 15, 2016
Full paper submission: September 15, 2016
Conference: October 27-28, 2016