CCBRE: Grand Opening

At our official opening distinguished guests from academia, politics, and industry shared their perspectives. Their speeches highlighted our mission, the collaborative effort behind the Centre’s creation, and its potential to drive innovation, sustainability, and international partnerships.

Assoc. Prof. Boryana Ivanova, Rector of the Agricultural University of Plovdiv, praised the opening of our Centre as a milestone achievement during the University’s 80th anniversary, highlighting the collective efforts behind the project ELEMENT and expressing confidence that it will strengthen the university’s role in linking science with practice and advancing innovation in clean technologies.

Mr. Manol Genov, Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, welcomed our initiative to apply artificial intelligence in tackling microplastics—an urgent global challenge—and stressed the importance of connecting science with business to deliver practical solutions. He wished our team success and voiced confidence in the long-term impact of our work.

Prof. Dr. Eliza Stefanova, Chair of the Bulgarian National Agency for Assessment and Accreditation, emphasised the crucial role of universities, research, and young people in driving progress, thanked Prof. Petar Mandaliev and our international partners for their contributions, and stressed that artificial intelligence must be guided by human intelligence. She expressed confidence that at CCBRE we will deliver results of international quality and inspire the creation of similar centres across Bulgaria.

Prof. Dr. Hristina Yancheva, Regional Governor of Plovdiv, recalled the long journey to securing EU funding, noting that the Agricultural University of Plovdiv was one of only two Bulgarian institutions selected in 2023-2024 among 158 European proposals. She underlined CCBRE’s importance for the region’s economic and environmental development and expressed the ambition for the Agricultural university of Plovdiv to join the group of research universities, confident that we will attract more and more talent to the Centre and gain international recognition for the university.

Prof. Dr. Petar Mandaliev, ERA Chair holder and Co-Founder of CCBRE, described the Centre’s mission as “building bridges” between research, industry, and education. He outlined dual goals of developing practical solutions for businesses and offering training programmes for industry needs, while highlighting our already launched projects on microplastics, organic fertilisers, and water purification. He invited all companies and partners from academia and business to collaborate so that science can have a real impact.

Mr. Nico Peter, Head of Sales Biomass at Axpo Group, mentor and selection committee member at CCBRE, praised us as proof that Europe not only does research but also scales clean technologies. He stressed biomass as a key pillar of the energy transition and pointed out the strengths of the Plovdiv region in agriculture, industry, and education. He emphasised the potential for our Centre to become a European catalyst by setting standards, training talent, and delivering scalable cleantech solutions.

Dr. Salomon Billeter, Founder of Sim2sustain and Lecturer at FHNW, also a selection committee member at CCBRE, shared his excitement at collaborating with us on AI-driven projects such as improving biowaste quality for clean biogas. He outlined three conditions for success—focused task forces, meaningful goals with real data, and broad stakeholder involvement, including students—and stressed that these ensure research translates into practice and sustainable innovation.

Assoc. Prof. Angel Dzhambov, Head of Environmental Health at the Medical University of Plovdiv, congratulated us and emphasised our Centre's interdisciplinary relevance for both environmental and health sciences. Sharing about their EU funded project RESONATE, which explores how, for example, gardening and care-farming improve mental health, he expressed his readiness to cooperate with us further and emphasised the strong potential of CCBRE to have a cross-sectoral impact.

Together, their messages reflect a shared vision: that our Centre for Cleantech and Biomass Resource Efficiency will not only advance science but also transform it into real-world solutions for Bulgaria, Europe, and beyond.

During our conversation with Mr. Rolf Ott, Deputy Head of Mission and Counsellor at Embassy of Switzerland in Bulgaria, he told us and our Swiss guests that he and his team in Sofia and around the world would be happy to stay in touch with us and follow the further development of CCBRE.

The event included festive catering, pleasant music and gifts bearing our logo. We would like to thank everyone for their support and participation.