BFU to Partner in the First Sliven Future Forum

Burgas Free University (BSU) has been invited and will present itself as a partner in the first edition of the SLIVEN FUTURE FORUM 2026 under the motto "Investments and Future for the Sliven Region." The Rector of BSU, Prof. Dr. Milen Baltov, will initially participate in the panel "How can Sliven retain, attract, and bring back the people needed for its development by 2030?", alongside the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Nadya Klisurska and the Rector of the Technical University – Sofia, Prof. Dr. Georgi Venkov.

Prof. Baltov – now also in his capacity as a representative in the program committee of the European Innovation Council – will also participate in the panel "Innovations, Capital, and New Business Models," which will be opened by Ivan, the Minister of Innovation and Digital Transformation. For his part, Mr. Ivaylo Slavov, a member of the BSU Board of Trustees, in his capacity as an entrepreneur and investor in what was until recently the largest software company with Bulgarian capital, will be the main speaker in the panel "How does an investor choose a region?"

The large-scale event will take place on October 10 and 11, 2026, at the Imperia Fratelli Hotel in the city of Sliven. It aims to map out a shared economic vision for the four municipalities in the region – Sliven, Nova Zagora, and Tvarditsa. It will be officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Investments, and Industry, Aleksandar Pulev.

Alongside the three initiators of the forum – Member of Parliament and tourism entrepreneur Vesela Momcheva-Towne, labor market expert-researcher Dr. Diana Sivinova, and serial entrepreneur Georgi Nikolaev – Attorney Minko Stefanov, the coordinator of the BSU Alumni Association, is actively at the core of the forum. Atty. Stefanov is also the first chairman of the BSU Student Council. At the solemn conference celebrating the 35th anniversary of BSU's founding on September 18, he personally shared his story of the beginning through the eyes of the student registered with number 11 from the university's first graduating class.