Report on the Performance of Evrika Foundation in Year 2014
(Summary)
This report on the performance of Evrika Foundation reveals the achievements over the past year 2014 and reviews all results, following the fulfilment of the objectives and tasks of the organisation as well as the implementation of its programmes.
We managed to keep our traditions and found new fields to express ourselves. Time shows us new directions, where we need to look for changes and take steps to identify new contacts, partnerships and bring ours and other organisations’ skills together to increase the capacity of our Foundation, and thus maintain, and even multiply, current results.
І. Attaining the non-profit objectives of the Foundation
The programmes of the Foundation form the backbone of all activities related to the implementation of our objectives. Therefore, we are going to review and analyse all running programmes in order to lay the foundations for discussing the priorities in the future. Over the past years, these priorities were associated with one main idea – identifying and supporting young talents, that of school students in particular, in order to assist their development, to create new areas of interest, which, in turn, would lead them towards future careers in scientific, technical and technological fields. The demand for next-generation workforce in all industries and science makes the latter a priority in all our activities and programmes.
- Acquiring knowledge in the area of natural sciences, technical and business skills and culture among young generation; supporting training, qualification, and retraining of young people with manifested skills in the area of natural sciences, technical fields, and management.
Ensuring that young people acquire new skills is a public duty and a personal obligation. Therefore, education becomes a national priority, which covers not only schools and universities, but structures of the civil society as well. New requirements have been imposed on the quality of education, on the knowledge and skills of people in training, and the way these skills meet the demands of industrial production in various scientific fields and public procurement. This has urged us to take into account upcoming standards when dealing with our objectives and tasks, which are also defining the content of activities that our Foundation supports and implements.
The Talents Programme, in particular, lies at the basis of a wide range of incentives, necessary for the implementation of the main task, which is related to: acquiring new skills, and creating the idea that our future will be built on incessant learning and professional growth throughout one’s purposeful life and that of all of us together. Economies will become increasingly dependent on the degree to which their employees have been trained, also on their skills to look for and explore innovations, on their abilities to apply new technologies in all aspects of life. In view of this, the principal matter of this programme involves identification and development of incentives for children and young people who have managed to demonstrate capabilities and predilection for novelties in their carriers and professional knowledge and skills. These include granting scholarships to school and university students, encouraging young scientists to participate in international science fora and qualifications, organising summer schools and universities, etc.
Over the reported period, these activities have played a major role in our overall performance. Certain traditions have been established in the competitions for selecting scholarship awardees and the results are overwhelming. The committees follow the principles of objectivity and transparency rigidly. All established rules and criteria are rigorously observed.
The scholarships granted by us in ten troublesome fields, in fact, cover all career clusters which have been identified as priority tasks by our Foundation. 41 students, all with high academic achievements and results in national and international competitions, contests, scientific conferences and many more, were shortlisted for an interview in the closing round of the competitions for the 10 individual and personalised scholarships.
The second group of our Foundation’s scholarship beneficiaries won medals in international contests in mathematics, computer science, physics, biology, and chemistry. We should take pride in our prize-winning scholarship recipients. So far, our secondary school clubs in maths, information technology, physics, chemistry and biology scored high in year 2014. Bulgarian mathematicians won three medals in the 54th International Mathematical Olympiad the students in informatics won one golden, two silver and one bronzе medal and were fifth in the team ranking. The Bulgarian team achieved five medals in the 44th International Olympiad in Physics. Our olympians returned with two bronze medals and a honorary diploma from the 45th International Chemistry Olympiad in Moscow. At the 24th International Biology Olympiad our olympians won bronze medal and a honorary diploma for good performance. All they are already among the scholarship awardees of Evrika Foundation.
During the 2013/2014 academic year, we awarded 41 scholarships, of which 33 to university and 8 to school students.
Within the frameworks of the Talents Programme, for over fourteen years we have been participating in the organisation and financial support of all activities of the Students’ Institute of Mathematics and Informatics.
We created this project fourteen years ago in collaboration with the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the St. Cyril and St. Methodius International Foundation and the Union of Mathematicians in Bulgaria. Created as such, the Students’ Institute has proved to be a long-term programme, which promotes the work of prominent Bulgarian scientists with school students who have demonstrated an aptitude for mathematics and informatics. Every year it gives student conferences, holds both interviews for selecting the participants in the Research Science Institute /RSI/ at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and summer research schools, student workshops and workshops for teachers in mathematics, informatics, and information technologies.
Over the fourteen years of its existence, it has witnessed thousands of students and several hundred teachers of mathematics, informatics, and information technologies. Many of those who had been trained there continue to be present in its premises, playing the role of tutors for younger students.
During the year we continued the work with the clubs that we created four years ago in the framework of the project “Students Clubs in Science and Technics”. The knowledge that we shared proved to be beneficial, and our experience has helped in the creation of useful contacts between the clubs and their participation in European initiatives.
- Stimulating the activities of young people in the fields of science, technics, research, inventions, and innovation.
During the year, we tried to activate the action of the Scientific Research Programme. We continued to look for more incentives to encourage the achievements of young scientists. Additional opportunities can be found in joint activities with the UBS and FSTU through the establishment of more and more significant prizes. Although not too many, young scientists create significant scientific products within doctoral programs, and they are awarded in the “Evrika” competition for achievements in science.
As a new incentive we introduced a new position of the funding program of mandatory fees for printing of scientific papers in prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals. Financing should be conditional on these research papers to be pre-approved and authorized for publication by the editorial boards in these prestigious publications.
We are full with with expectations for the application of the law on pre-school and school education and the laid down in it centers for personal development, which have to create conditions for the support and creativity of school students with outstanding abilities and talents, including those in science and technology. There more systematic work with talented people can start and just there we can find the opportunity to implement the ideas and contemplated forms to work on our program “The Way of Children and Young People to Science” with the BAS and the UBS. We are sure that we can encourage to support the establishment of schools at the National Palace of Children, where scientists will carry out systematic activities with pupils and will lay the foundation of knowledge for conducting experiments and other observations, according to the age and level of training of the students.
We will strive to keep and develop the noble traditions when implementing national contests for school students. Once again, during the past year covered by this report, “The Cosmos – Present and Future of Humankind” Competition has remained the most remarkable one. We held its XVI edition again under the patronage of the first Bulgarian cosmonaut Gen. Georgi Ivanov. This competition to a large extent became emblematic as scale by the opportunities for expression of many children as researchers and experimenters to painters and poets. The competition covered five subject areas and in 2014 it attracted the participation of a total of 1196 school children from the age of 8 to 18. Applicants came from various parts of our country; and their number increases with each and every passing year.
Throughout the year, Evrika Foundation continued performing its role as a national coordinator of the activities organised by the International Movement for Leisure Activities in Science and Technology (MILSET). In implementation of this function we clarified the conditions for the participation of Bulgarian representatives in the activities and projects of the international organization and especially of its European structure, which has many activities in different areas. We helped in our schools and in the clubs for science and technics in the organization of the European Science Day for Youth. This year it was dedicated to crystals. The school clubs for science and technics created by Evrika Foundation participated in it most actively. Though this time without any prize awarded, once again Bulgarian representatives took part in the Eighth International Science Photo Contest titled “When Art Meets Science”. In 2014 in this contest of MILSET – Europe a very large number of participants – 1642 from 67 countries took part. In some of the international events for students again Bulgarian representatives were honored with awards. In 2014 honorary diplomas were awarded to our three participants in the Europe Expo on Science in Zilina, Slovakia, and to the ten students who participated in the International Congress of young researchers in Zaragoza, Spain.
We have very good long-lasting relations with the National Palace of Children and the results we have reached are excellent. Together, we organise competitions in almost all troublesome scientific and technical fields. As per tradition, and depending on methodological requirements, the above are organised in two age groups – scientific and technical competitions for school students in 5th to 8th grades and for the ones in 9th to 12th /Year I to Year IV/ grades; national competitions in scale aircraft, automobile, ship, and rocket modelling; the national competition of best student projects in the area of ecology and the preservation of the environment; the national “Nature – Our Home” Contest for students in grades 5th to 8th. There is increased interest of the children to the contests and competitions on ecology. In 2014 as for the national science and technical competitions for the school students in higher grades, 9th through to 12th, conducted in the.village of Kranevo, after preliminary selection 78 participants were allowed to defend their works in public presentations with projects in the field of software products, electronic appliances, devices and communication tools, chemistry, biology, environmental science, physics and astronomy, and energy efficiency.
We continue our good cooperation with the National Palace of Children, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Bulgarian Federation of Automodel Sports, the Bulgarian Federation of Ship Model Sports and the Bulgarian Federation of Scale Aircraft Modelling, when organising national school competitions in scale aircraft, automobile, ship and rocket modelling. 190 children and school students participated in the national round of the competitions held in May 2014 in the city of Lovech. Young children are also involved in this activity and their passion in it remains forever.
In recent years we have noticed increased interest of children to environmental issues. This is the basis of ongoing collaboration with the National Palace of Children to conduct the National Student Competition “Nature – Our Home”. To the municipalities, of which up to now quite popular participation has been, new participants join. Many of them are attracted by the opportunity alone to explore and present the natural attractions of the homeland. In 2014, this national competition attracted 175 students in 5th to 8th grades. We were partners in the organisation of the 23rd Srebarna International Forum on Ecology and Environment. This event encourages young people to involve in research and environmental protection activities and promotes the unique natural heritage of Srebarna Reserve. In the conducted in the period 1990-2014 competitions over 4000 students, young environmentalists and scientific leaders had taken part. Many of them are already professionals, students in biology, ecology and environmental protection, PhD students and environmentalists in the NGO sector. Twenty of the distinguished student projects in ecology and environmental protection were presented at the International Competition “World Youth in Environmental Protection”, which took place in Germany. In the International Environmental Forum “Srebarna 2014” over 520 participants from 16 regions of the country participated, whereas the national competition for Best Student Project in the Field of Ecology and Environment Protection attracted 40 contestants with 17 projects. At “The Earth – Our Home” National Competition 278 paintings, appliqué designs, posters, and 210 poems, short stories, and essays were presented from 16 regions of the country.
For a third consecutive year, we continue our good cooperation with the “Vale” Computer Club based in “Zarya-1858” Community Centre in the town of Haskovo. For yet another year, we were partners in the organisation and conducting of the International Competition for computer drawing and collage “Creativity without Limits”. In the competition 627 children and students from Bulgaria took part with 1 451 drawings and 716 collages. 98 children with 264 works from Macedonia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Spain, Ukraine and Russia also participated. In the nine categories gold, silver, bronze medals and honorary awards were handed out. The closing ceremony of the competition was accompanied by an exhibition of the works. Competition works showed the views of children in Europe. The creative process for the preparation and participation in the competition has prompted participants to open their hearts to the world around them, the wonders of the world and the sense of beauty and harmony, combined with modern information technologies.
For many years and in implementing the commitments of the Agreement for Cooperation with the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria we support the implementation of the Student Science Session on “Physics Around Us”. During the last year 40 students from 22 secondary schools all over the country took part in the the session. An interesting and in-depth discussion on “Global Education Standards, Comparative Measurements and Education in Physics in Bulgaria” with a focus on the priority objective in the European educational space for the orientation of training to the goals that build key competencies, took place.
In 2014 in Bulgaria science was again on the big stage. The Foundation supported and participated as a co-organizer in holding the fifth edition of the National Festival “Science on Stage”, hosted for the fourth consecutive time by Sevlievo Municipality and the Secondary School “Vasil Levski”. The main objective of the program “Science on Stage” is to raise the level of teaching of natural sciences and to direct children to careers in science, engineering and technology disciplines. National festivals are held every two years in 26 European countries and Canada and have a competitive nature. The Fifth National Festival “Science on Stage” was attended by 248 representatives of schools and kindergartens, clubs for science, technics and environment, and non-governmental organizations from the country, working with children from 12 regions, 19 municipalities, 19 towns and 4 villages of Bulgaria. 21 attractive models, tools, experiments, posters, brochures in the field of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and ecology were shown. On stage 17 theatrical experiments, music, songs and sketches were presented.
Last year, with ambition and with strong support by the management of the 164th Secondary School with Spanish language teaching “Miguel de Cervantes” we launched a new initiative to combine the interest of the language schools from Sofia in the natural sciences. On May 10, 2014 the First Inter-school Scientific Conference of the Language Schools was held. It was attended by students from 9th to 11th grade of the Spanish language school, of the National School of Culture – Gorna Banya and of the First English Language School. Winners were 10 students who were awarded to present their designs at the International Congress of Young Researchers in Zaragoza, Spain.
The picture about the implemented activities in the past 2014 is complemented by another initiative to support talented students. Together with the Club for Aerospace Technology “ZODIAC” at the National cultural house “Zora” – Kyustendil we initiated a joint project “Creative Challenges Icarus – 2015”. It is a contest aimed at creating a prototype aircraft by students. The initiative is open to students from 1st to 12th grade from Bulgaria and abroad. The developments will be displayed on the traditional air show “Osogovo” on the occasion of the holiday of aviation and aerospace.
We made concrete steps to intensify our activities among students. In some of the universities we have created lasting contacts on the basis of joint activities that we performed. Successfully we engaged our grantees in initiatives related to science, engineering and technology. Among them we should note the ninth edition of the European Researchers’ Night, the Tenth Anniversary Conference “Space, Ecology, Security” / SES’2014 /, the series of events related to the celebration of 35 years from the first flight of a Bulgarian in the Cosmos and others. Successfully we continue our good cooperation with the Faculty of Physics at the “Paisii Hilendarski” University of Plovdiv and for the second time we were together in the organization of the fourth edition of the National Student Scientific Session in physics and engineering technologies. The competition for the scientific project “Evrika” and the exhibition “Light in the World Around us” are the new moments in this edition of the session. In 2014 we continued the joint work with the “Lyuben Karavelov” Higher School of Civil Engineering in the organization and conduct of the Second National Youth Forum on the theme “Green Building for Our Future”.
An example of good practice in the area of partnership between the educational institutions and the NGOs in the direction of stimulating scientific potential of young people in Bulgaria is our collaboration with the Scientific Technical Union of Construction in Bulgaria in the implementation in 2014 of the Students’ Scientific Session at the International Conference “Design and Construction of Buildings and Facilities” DCB’2014. Within the scientific session in Istanbul students from the UACG, the Varna Free University “Chernorizets Hrabar”, the “Lyuben Karavelov” Higher School of Civil Engineering. and the Thracian University were given the opportunity to present their scientific reports and to get acquainted with famous scientists from home and abroad, and also with representatives of a number of companies in the consruction sector.
At the end of 2014 we initiated another new cooperation with the National Society “Ecological Engineering and Environmental Protection”. Together we started the work on preparing the implementation of the Youth Scientific Session at the Fourth National Conference on “Environmental Engineering and Environmental Protection – EEEP’2015”. The full realization of this project will allow to assess the situation and monitoring of environmental pollution, including methods of the cosmos, the dynamics of biodiversity and the creation of new ecological methods of obtaining energy using waste materials.
We resumed our joint activities with the Union of Inventors in Bulgaria and participated in the organization of the Fifth Exhibition of Inventions, Technology and Innovation. It was attended by over 90 scientists, academics, entrepreneurs, inventors, innovators, selectionists, producers, students and patent specialists.
When reporting our Foundation’s achievements in the organisation and realisation of various initiatives, which allow young people to express their skills and knowledge, we should award the first place to our competitions for the Evrika Award for achievements in science, for most successful young manager, inventor, and farmer. All of them already have their own long history and some of these competitions took place for the twenty-fifth time – such as for the most successful manager, for the twenty-fourth time – the competion for inventor and farmer, and the competition for achievements in science already has a nineteen year record. They have received public recognition and have been acknowledged by many state and public leaders, the media and last but not least by young people and their organizations. To some extent, they are an emblem of the Foundation.
Prize winner in the 2014 Evrika Award for achievements in science was Chief Assist. Prof. Dr. Mariana Georgieva. She is the head of the Laboratory on Radioisotopes and assistant professor in “Molecular Genetics” section at the Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics to the Academy of Sciences. Mariana Georgieva received a joint award of the Evrika Foundation and the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria for the excellent defense to the thesis “Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of the Genomic Integrity in Barley”, for which she was awarded the educational and scientific degree “Doctor”.
Winner of Evrika Award for young inventor of 2014 became Georgi Georgiev. He was awarded for the invention “Spring Clip” registered as a useful model at the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria with 100{00868b326a2ca17d48af7ba8148ff3a4ced0eae2ad27aa90a88c9f79552d79f5} input.
Svetlin Nakov won the Evrika Award in 2014 for young manager. In 2003 he won a national scholarship “John Atanasov” of the Evrika Foundation for achievements in the field of computer science, and the next year was awarded by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria with the prestigious Award “John Atanasov” for his contribution to the development of information technology and information society. In 2013 Svetlin Nakov launched a new project to build software university thus giving profession, job and perspective in the lives of many young people.
Evrika Award for young farmer in 2014 was awarded to Georgi Yordanov. He tills 4,200 dca own and rented land. He cultivated mainly wheat, barley, sunflower, corn and coriander. He cultivates also 880 dca of plantations of walnuts, cherries and peaches.
The competitions and the subsequent publications made available to young people the achievements of their peers and serve to create the image of the successful young man nowadays. We would be happy if their example can influence the professional choice and motivation of future young professionals in occupations that are necessary today, but will be needed in the future as well.
- Supporting the dissemination of knowledge and information in the field of natural sciences, technics, and economics
Although we indicated the change of the current scientific and technical editions to promote knowledge, we have not dropped out our commitment for inclusion of children and young people to science and technology through other forms of dissemination of knowledge. An untraditional form is our cooperation with the National Polytechnic Museum. We support their educational programs for children. We continue to organise most of our events on the territory of the Museum. Thanks to the understanding and support of the management of the Museum, the Museum welcomes and keeps the prize-winning projects from our competitions in its collection. The Technitarche newspaper, which we have been releasing jointly with the Museum for more than twenty years now, serves brilliantly the purpose of knowledge dissemination among children. This is the only Bulgarian museum publication that promotes the history and achievements of science, engineering and technology among young people. Children and adolescents, for whom the world of science, technology and knowledge continuously reveals the secrets of the world around us and show them the latest achievements of the human intellect are its most eager and enthusiastic readers. During the last year we made the first steps of the implementation of our joint program “The Way of Children and Young People to Science” with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria. We organized lectures of the Bulgarian scientists to school students that were met with interest.
In turn we actively use for the information campaigns the website of the Foundation and of those organizations to which we have access by virtue of membership or partnership on a contractual basis. We continue our long-term good cooperation with the Nauka Magazine, edition of the UBS. The section “Tribune for Young People” became a place for the first scientific publications of the young scientists and students. We created a good partnership with the edition the Ministry of Education – the newspaper and publisher “Az buki“. With their help we reach every school and university. They regularly present our grantees, laureates of Evrika Award and are our media partner in organizing and conducting the National competition “The Cosmos – Present and Future of Humanity”. Our activity is supported by the publications of the two largest universities – the newspaper “New technical vanguard”, an edition of the Technical University in Sofia and the electronic newspaper of the University of Sofia, they both serve as peculiar bridges to students and young scientists.
- Participating in international educational, natural science, and technical programmes and projects, and in international youth science and technics collaborations
In the field of science and technology the young people have their organization with abbreviation MILSET that decrypted means Movement for Leisure Activities in Science and Technology. We are a full member since its establishment. This is a large-scale network of organizations and institutions that have dedicated their activities to children and young people. Every year, dozens of European and international events are organized and their number becomes significantly larger when the events of all countries and member-organizations, open for participants from other countries, are also added. Through this organization representation takes place in the work of international organizations and programs such as UNESCO, ECOSOC and the specialized committees and bodies of the EU. This is a direct path to join efforts for the formation of youth policies including such support for youth unity of action and common causes that can be ensured financially from the existing funds. For years we have been determined by the management of the organization for a national organizer and this enables us to get all the information about upcoming events. We have direct contacts with youth organizations from different countries.
Among the events of last year the largest one was the Tenth European Day of Science for Young People, which took place on March 13, 2014. It was dedicated to the “crystals”. During the same day, in many clubs and schools in different European countries, thematic activities, various events and competitions, meeting the age characteristics and interests of students, were carried out. The second largest manifestation of MILSET in which we participate is the Eighth Contest for Scientific Photo “When Art Meets Science”, which by its nature is a synthesis of science and art. During all the years of its existence MILSET organizes international exhibitions each year, alternating global and European scientific exhibitions for students. Last year it was the turn of the European event, which took place in the town of Zilina, Slovakia. Thanks to the synergies with the MES and their extreme financial support we were able to send three winners of the National Competition “Young Talents” to the Europe Expo on Science. Once again we have shown that when our efforts are unified we can succeed better.
There are also untapped opportunities to organize international exchanges not only through MILSET, but also in projects of international programs. Last year we have initiated a good partnership with the Academic Center for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe / BAYHOST /. We put our hope for a good partnership with the Prague-based VIA Foundation, which provides funding program for projects that are focused on building the capacity of its own communities and is aimed at the development, training and exchange of experience for the preparation of promising community leaders from the regions of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. We received an interesting proposal by the European Centre of the Talents in Budapest, Hungary, Evrika Foundation to become their Bulgarian partner in the establishment of a European support office for talented children with the main objective of integration of initiatives for support of talent in the Member – States of the European Union in a network and creation of accessible environment for professionals working in the field of education.
We have not only preserved but we have also expanded our long-standing cooperation with the Institute of Youth Science and Research of Aragon, Zaragoza, Spain. In 2014 we managed to send the largest ever group of Bulgarian participants to the traditional international congress. Our representatives are always among the best and the submitted projects have been marked as very successful among all participants. We hope to be able to further develop in the future this cooperation after a very successful presentation of the Bulgarian delegation in 2014 by performing as a stage in the selection of projects of an Interschool Scientific Conference of the foreign language schools in Sofia. We owe this success to the commitment of the management of 164 High School for Spanish language teaching “Miguel de Cervantes” – a host of this event which has taken up a large part of its preparation and coordination.
- Some activities related to our non-profit objectives and the place and role of our organisation in the development of cooperation with other organisations and institutions in our country
Over the last few years, Evrika Foundation has proved that it is an organization that relies on genuine partnership and synergy with other NGOs, governmental bodies, business and media. The important thing for us is to follow our goals and to defend causes for support and development of young people with outstanding abilities. This we have done throughout all the years of our existence, we do it now and we are convinced that it makes us stronger and more successful. This is part of our policy and a significant portion of our resources goes to the realization of joint projects with those of our allies. With many of them we have long-term contracts for cooperation and joint activities and programs.
In the last year again, most actively we have worked with other non-governmental organizations with which we have common goals and objectives and we make no less to support youth initiatives and events. Among those, at the forefront we place the beneficial joint activities with the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria, the Union of Mathematicians in Bulgaria, the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria, the National Network for Children, the St. Cyril and St. Methodius International Foundation and others. Without these reliable partners we could hardly manage to organize so successfully the competitions, school sessions and summer schools. The Students’ Institute of Mathematics and Informatics is the greatest evidence that significant results can be achieved when combining resources and efforts of various organizations and institutions. We continue to maintain good contacts with other NGOs as well. According to the possibilities and interests of our organization we are engaged in the activity of the Bulgarian Donors’ Forum, whose members we are.
We preserve the best joint initiatives with other professional associations and formations. As beneficial to both organizations we can determine our participation in the activities of the National Network. Through this organization we exchange best practices with many of its members and the successful operation of the network.
We continue to maintain good relations with the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria. We rely upon them as partners in the detection of outstanding young managers to affiliate to the race in our annual national competition. With their help we also receive useful information about activities and regulations of the various funding programs subject to our interest.
The second group, with which our foundation implements useful interaction, includes state institutions and organizations. First among these is the Ministry of Education and Science and its structures. Our closest and most lasting relations have been with the National Palace of Children. Our partnership is long and very fruitful. We fully think and act in terms of the organization of extracurricular activities and events for the expression of children’s abilities in science and technology. Thanks to this, numerous scientific and technical competitions continue to be organized.
Other state institution we cooperate and implement joint activities is the National Patent Office. With their help we organize the national contest for young inventors.
For the first time in recent years, we can report positive results from our contacts with representatives of the business and in particular to achieve results in terms of financial support for our causes. We signed a five-year contract with “Huawei Technologies Bulgaria” Ltd. to provide ten scholarships annually to students studying in Bulgarian universities for qualificatons in telecommunication equipment and technology, computer science and informatics. We received an additional donation of “Programista” Ltd. to finance specialized national schools and universities for science and technics. All this leads us to work more actively to seek new financing proceeds to carry out our noble cause to support talented young people.
For the fourth group, that of the media we informed in previous sections. However, once again we want to emphasize their role in the successful achievement of our goals and objectives. We managed to attract the attention mainly of the specialized publications. With greatest attention the Bulgarian National Radio continues to reflect our activities in both programs and for that we express our heartfelt gratitude.
Essential is the support we receive from the specialized publications such as Az Buki newspaper, Nauka magazine and others. The newspaper continues to reflect in a very professional way the initiatives and our projects with their results.
In recent years our presence in the information databases on the Internet becomes increasingly important thanks to the information agencies. Therefore, we believe that we need to expand our practice to send information about our activities through them. It is good to foster to it the co-organizers of our activities, so that the good works to be more often revealed to the public. So we would manage to attract the attention of potential donors to different causes and projects.
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The present report contains mainly facts and achievements for year 2014, regarding the implementation of our Foundation’s major objectives and tasks in identifying, developing and stimulating young people and children who demonstrate outstanding abilities in science and technics. We consider that we report one successful year in which we have achieved significant progress and have increased the size of the property. We have managed to demonstrate stability and to keep the good name and reputation of the Foundation, which most clearly and ncisely sounds in the evaluation of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria: “Evrika Foundation is a key element of the system to build young talents in science and technology”.