At a solemn ceremony within the Valorization Conference 2023 – “Active Citizenship in Europe,” the best projects completed in 2023 under the “Erasmus+” and “European Solidarity Corps” Programmes were awarded. We are proud to announce that the team of Varna University of Management was honored with a quality label for outstanding results for the FENICE project: ” Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Cultural and Creative Industries through Interdisciplinary Education.”

Mrs. Tsvetalina Genova – Head of the “Projects and Applied Research” Department, and Mrs. Elena Kostadinova – Project Coordinator at VUM, received this prestigious award personally from the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Academician Nikolay Denkov.

Within the conference organized by the Human Resources Development Center, the results of implemented projects under the “Erasmus+” and “European Solidarity Corps” programs were presented. Five panel discussions were conducted, covering topics such as the reflection of European values and the involvement of people in disadvantaged positions in projects. The third panel focused on information technologies (social networks, new book formats, platforms for streaming audio books, gamification in education, etc.) and their use in the programmes – how they are currently utilized and how they can be employed in the future to achieve more impactful and sustainable results. The remaining two discussions addressed European educational programs in perspective and the participation of young people in the democratic processes of Europe.

In order to valorize the positive effects of the Cultural and Creative Industries on the local and regional economies and to identify development prospects, five established academic and research institutions completed the Erasmus+ Project called FENICE: Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Cultural and Creative Industries through Interdisciplinary Education. These are the Varna University of Management from Varna, Bulgaria, Greek Academic Network from Athens, Greece, Universitatea Nationala De Arte from Buchares, Romania, Universidade Portucalense from Porto, Portugal, and Univerzitet U Novom Sadu from Novi Sad, Serbia.

FENICE aimed to enhance the quality and relevance of business and art education for the CCIs by focusing on the non-technological innovations that are created within the creative economy in our countries and regions.

Learn more about the FENICE project here.