The focus on the specific territories such as rural areas as systems is imperative in order to achieve each of the strategic goals of development at national and European level. The objective of current paper is a subject to the project “7I/14 Regional policy against depopulation of Bulgarian villages” which aims to bring to light opportunities and fields of interventions to reduce depopulation of Bulgarian villages and to formulate recommendations and measures at national and regional level. Present study limits its tasks to: systematization and classification of the factors for development of the rural areas, investigation the role of institutional actors and pointing out the factors that constraint the successful development and some pathways of resolving the bottlenecks. Since the objective data show significant disparities between developed and underdeveloped rural regions and specificity of development factors, a subjective empirical study (survey) among 144 respondents from two regions – underdeveloped and developed, has been conducted. The object of this paper is the discussion on just two of all 13 questions in the questionnaire: 1) the role of the institutions and organizations for the future development of rural areas and 2) the factors limiting development of rural areas. In formulating specific measures for activating the factors and engines of rural development two types of mechanisms need to be applied: 1) maintenance and expansion of the socio-economic functions of the areas and settlements with vitality and economic capacity; 2) social care for people of the depopulated villages and areas which perspective is to drop out from the administrative map of the country. The results show that the development of rural areas and settlements in Bulgaria can be catalyzed using supporting measures which become agents of transition process through deployment of the institutional regime capacity and practice specific approaches towards the different type of regions, areas and settlements.

The regional context of smart specialization continues to be in the focus of academic discussions as the innovative potential of regions in Bulgaria is being determined. The aim of the present work is to identify innovative practices in one of the leading thematic areas – “Healthy living industry and biotechnologies” during the period of 2014-2019 in a selected region. The object of research is the region of Yambol listed in the National Strategy for Smart Specialization in the Republic of Bulgaria as a promising region in the thematic area “Healthy living industry and biotechnologies”. We have applied methods of regional economic analysis based on objective statistical data. Regional analysis has been complemented with a survey to reflect the subjective viewpoint of stakeholder representatives. The survey and the analysis of the collected information prove the presence of potential in the region of Yambol for expanding organic production in the food industry and generating “green energy” in the energetics sector.

One of the greatest problems faced by rural areas in Bulgaria today is depopulation. The main research question posed in this paper is whether such depopulated regions can benefit from the social and economic integration of ethnic and immigrant communities. A survey on public opinion was conducted in two regions: one developed (Stara Zagora District), and one lagging (Vidin District). It focused on the willingness of local communities to "welcome" newcomers, to cohabit with them and their awareness of the possibility of enriching local cultures with their specific cultural traditions and experience. Results show varying tendencies, depending on the regional socioeconomic level of development and degree of integration of the group. The survey directs the attention to significant social distances emerging in various regional communities between local populations, ethnic and/or immigrant communities. Conclusions reached show that ethnic and immigrant communities can be an important social and economic resource for Bulgarian villages. Nevertheless, this requires work predominantly on the structural level for providing opportunities and eliminating disadvantages, involving the introduction of improved integration and discrimination policies, legal framework and market opportunities, in order to foster better interethnic communication and trust, as an intrinsic quality of social capital, for overcoming existing barriers.

The importance of bioeconomy for society and its development in the 21st century creates responsibility to monitor how national and regional economies in Europe respond to the cause called bioeconomy. The report aims to trace the change in the sectoral structure of the economy in the NUTS 2 regions in Bulgaria, paying particular attention to those who are primary consumers and producers of biological resources. For the objective and the tasks of the present study methodology for structural analysis based on aggregated nomenclature А10 from the Classification of Economic Activities (NACE.BG 2008) is applied, as well as other economic and statistical methods of analysis - growth rate and accretion, localization quotient and concentration. The indicators used are the number of employees per sector and share in the GVA of each region for four selected economic activities. The results of the study refer to the change in their localization benefits by regions for the period 2007-2016. The conclusions point to the need for a targeted support approach for identifying and developing sectoral and technological niches of bioeconomy that are promising for the respective region as well the need to develop regional statistical information for the bioeconomic sector.

The aim of the present study is to establish the extent to which natural resources are used and how traditional livelihood practices are exercised at a regional level. The object of this study is a region with developed mass tourism - Bansko Municipality. The subject addresses traditional livelihood practices and opportunities for expanding alternative forms of tourism. The revival of traditional livelihood models, which directly corresponds to current trends in bioeconomy, can make alternative forms of tourism an important part of the local development strategies in the forthcoming programming period after 2020, including regions established as mass tourism ones. The study has been conducted by applying the survey method in the municipality of Bansko in the period of February-March 2020 coinciding with the onset of the epidemic situation related to COVID-19 in Bulgaria. Taking into account the results from the survey, it is possible to draw conclusions about the extent to which certain conditions for the development of alternative forms of tourism have been created when facing new challenges.