On 27.10.2022, H.E. Christina Kuoksa-Ksantopoulou – Ambassador of the Republic of Finland in Bulgaria, H.E. Siri Beate Berré – Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway in Bulgaria, H.E. Jes Brogård Nielsen – Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark in Bulgaria, and Ms. Maria Lakova from the Consulate of the Kingdom of Sweden in Sofia visited the Technical University – Sofia.
The meeting took place in the building of the "National Center for Mechatronics and Clean Technologies", campus "Student City". The guests were welcomed by the Rector of the Technical University – Sofia, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ivan Králov. Attending the meeting were the Vice-Rectors Prof. Dr. Eng. Georgi Venkov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Lidia Gálbova and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Rosen Radonov, Prof. Dr. Eng. Georgi Todorov – Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Technologies and Chairman of the General Assembly of TU – Sofia, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ivan Yachev – Director of the Directorate "International Exchange and Integration", Prof. Dr. Eng. Georgi Angelov – Director of the Directorate "Information and Public Relations", deans and faculty members. Prof. Králov acquainted the guests with the history, activities, and current goals and tasks of the Technical University – Sofia, emphasizing that it is the oldest and leading technical university in Bulgaria and the region, established in 1945. "Over this period, more than 160,000 engineers have been trained, and currently, 11,500 students are studying, of whom 750 are foreign, as well as over 300 doctoral students. This year, we opened four new specialties – "Intelligent Systems and Artificial Intelligence" – in Bulgarian and English, "Cybersecurity" and "Data Analysis". TU – Sofia has concluded over 150 cooperation agreements with foreign universities and institutes. Our university is part of the European Technological University, which unites eight universities from different parts of Europe, thereby creating opportunities for our students to receive world-class education and obtain a unified European diploma. The university has 3 foreign-language faculties – English, German, and French, 2 branches in Plovdiv and Sliven, 2 colleges, and 2 secondary schools in its structure" – stated Prof. Králov. With particular pride, the Rector of TU – Sofia highlighted the fact that the university is part of three newly established Centers of Excellence – CoE "National Center for Mechatronics and Clean Technologies", CoE "Universities for Science, Informatics and Technologies in e-Society (UNIThe)" and CoE "Heritage BG". In addition, TU – Sofia participates in two Competence Centers – CC "Intelligent Mechatronic, Eco- and Energy-Efficient Systems and Technologies" (Plovdiv) and Competence Center “MIRACle – Mechatronics, Innovation, Robotics, Automation, Clean Technologies”“. The research and development activities are funded both by national sources and by European programs and by the business sector. "In the National Center for Mechatronics and Clean Technologies, a modern research infrastructure has been built, and both experienced and young researchers are working here. We are in close contact with the business sector, which assigns us applied research and development tasks. We strive to turn them into market products with high added value and carry out technology transfer to the industry. Our students also work and train here," said Prof. Králov. The guests thanked for the warm welcome and the interesting information, raising a number of questions related to education, research and development activities, the connection with the private sector, and expressed their willingness to act as intermediaries for establishing and developing cooperation between universities and research organizations from their countries and the Technical University – Sofia. After that, they toured the laboratories in the Center and were highly impressed by the modern equipment and the ambitious goals set by the Technical University – Sofia in today's high-tech world.
