Not Just Numbers — Real Changes in People’s Lives and Business
Eighteen months after the launch of the ADi4SMEs project, the EDIH for North Central Bulgaria is reporting results behind which lie stories of transformation — of citizens, organisations, and an entire regional economy.

Digitalisation is not an end in itself. It is a tool with which small and medium enterprises become more competitive, public administrations serve citizens better, and the next generation of entrepreneurs gets a real chance for growth. Here is what EDIH ADi4SMEs has achieved so far — told not in terms of “completed activities”, but in real impact on people and organisations.

• more than 130 000 citizens from Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo are now using the AI assistants of their municipalities
• 131 employees from organisations providing thousands of jobs in the region completed training in digitalisation and AI
• 180 000 citizens can monitor air quality in real time at key locations through environmental digital twin
• worth €2.5 million service agreements signed with small and medium enterprises and public organisations from the region

 

AI for Citizens: Chatbots That Replace Queues
In Bulgaria, public service still means waiting, phone searching, and confusing websites. EDIH ADi4SMEs set out to change this with a concrete product: AI assistants for public administrations.
The result: 2 fully operational assistants — for Gabrovo Municipality and Veliko Tarnovo Regional Administration — are now answering citizens’ questions around the clock. More than 130,000 people live in these two larger administrative centres — all of them now have a digital assistant from their local authority.
A further 3 assistants are in development — for the municipalities of Lyaskovets, Gorna Oryakhovitsa, and Tryavna — and a further 8 such products are planned. This would make EDIH ADi4SMEs the coordinator of the largest network of AI assistants in public administration in Northern Bulgaria.

When a citizen no longer has to wait on the phone or come to
the counter to find out what documents they need — that is real digital transformation.
ADi4SMEs Team, Regional Innovation Centre “Ambitious Gabrovo”

Clean Data for Dirty Air: The Digital Twin Network
Air quality is a problem everyone talks about, but few know exactly when and where it is poor. EDIH addressed this with a network of IoT sensors, cloud data processing, and a real-time dashboard accessible from any smartphone.
Eight locations are already operational — in schools and gymnasiums in Svishtov, Veliko Tarnovo, and Gorna Oryakhovitsa. Twelve new points are being installed. Contracts cover Veliko Tarnovo Regional Administration (fully complete), Gabrovo Municipality, and Tryavna Municipality. When the plan is fully implemented, hundreds of thousands of citizens from the North Central Region will have access to data previously available only to specialised laboratories.

The Trained Manager Is a Multiplier of Change
A single digitalisation training does not transform an economy. But when the participants are decision-makers in companies with dozens or hundreds of employees, the effect multiplies. That is why EDIH ADi4SMEs focuses its training primarily on senior and middle management of SMEs.
Eleven training sessions delivered. One hundred and thirty-one participants trained. Topics are concrete and applicable: introduction to artificial intelligence, AI ethics, practical automation tools, and cybersecurity for small businesses. The results do not end in the training room — they continue in the offices, workshops, and boardrooms of the companies where these people work.

Six Living Labs: Innovation Increasingly Accessible to Companies
Before ADi4SMEs, access to robotics, 3D printing, or materials testing equipment was a privilege reserved for large companies or universities. EDIH opened six laboratories where any company in the region can test technologies before investing in them.
The AI in Manufacturing laboratory, digital twins, 3D printing, environmental monitoring, and the computer laboratory are already in operation. The laboratory for climate impact on materials is being equipped. What makes this unique: the equipment is not “frozen” in cabinets — it works alongside real client tasks, making it a living infrastructure rather than a showpiece.

European Recognition: STEP Seal and Seal of Excellence

STEP Seal (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) and Seal of Excellence from the European Commission are two of the most prestigious quality distinctions in the European innovation ecosystem. The ADi4SMEs project proposal — “Accelerated Digitalisation of Small and Medium Enterprises in the North Central Region” — was evaluated as high quality in a highly competitive process by an international panel of independent experts. These distinctions place EDIH ADi4SMEs among the leading digital innovation hubs in Europe.

The Next Generation: Entrepreneurs with Ideas and Mentors
Thirty students from Razgrad gathered at the “Idea for the Future” hackathon in March 2026. The task: to solve a real problem using digital technologies. Most of them had never before seen what developing a technology product looks like from the inside. Over those two days — they succeeded.
In parallel, an entrepreneurship programme is underway with 60 applicants, of whom 45 completed the training stage and 40 are in an active mentoring phase. The mentors are practising entrepreneurs and specialists from the region — not lecturers from a textbook, but people who have built a real business.

European Cooperation Network
EDIH ADi4SMEs does not operate in isolation — it is part of the European digital network, working in closer collaboration with six European hubs specialised in complementary areas.

DENMARK
AddSmart — Industry 4.0 for manufacturing SMEs

BULGARIA
DIH Trakia — cybersecurity for business

ROMANIA
DIH4Society — AI and cybersecurity for Cluj

ROMANIA
EDIH-DIZ — digitalisation of manufacturing, healthcare, and the public sector

LITHUANIA
EDIH Vilnius — supercomputing and AI

UKRAINE
WIN2EDIH — AI, IoT, and automation for Ukrainian SMEs

These partnerships are not just on paper. They mean that when our client needs specialised expertise in cybersecurity, supercomputing, or access to Scandinavian markets — EDIH ADi4SMEs has a direct line to people who can help.

What Comes Next
The ADi4SMEs project is in its first half. By the end of 2027, the following are planned: full deployment of the AI assistant network, completion of all digital twins, new cohorts of the entrepreneurship programme, and expansion of scope following the administrative restructuring of the region in 2026/2027, which will include new municipalities in the North Central Region.
If you manage an SME or public organisation in the region and want to find out how digitalisation can benefit you specifically — the door of EDIH is open.

This news item has been created with the financial support of the Research, Innovation and Digitalization for Smart Transformation Program 2021-2027, co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund under project BG16RFPR002-1.002-0001 -C01 “Accelerated digitalization for SMEs in the Central Region through the creation and development of EDIH.” The Regional Innovation Center “Ambitious Gabrovo” bears full responsibility for the content of the document and under no circumstances can it be assumed that this document reflects the official position of the European Union and the managing authority.