Prof. Plamen Oresharski
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor to be here on this regional conference. I would like to thank the organizers and especially to Prof. Markov for the invitation. I will allow myself a few more words in Bulgarian.
Bulgaria had its place in the world of supercomputing applications. Unfortunately, during the transition of the Bulgarian economy from centrally planned to market-oriented economy in the 90s of the last century, we had realized a substantial decrease and delay compared to the leading trends and developments. Only in recent years conditions has been created in order to restore and build a new economy based on knowledge and innovation.
The project to purchase and build a supercomputer of the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications was not undisputed. There were objections that the country has lost its position in this sector, that best Bulgarian specialists working abroad, that the practical applicability of our economy is very questionable. This could be a convenient argument for any finance minister in order to divert an extraordinary expenditure of public resources.
Without a Center for Supercomputing applications, the administration could not make a serious step towards the restoration of high-tech positions in the information sphere.
Guided by this understanding, we finance the purchase of a supercomputer and prepare staff to work with it. I am confident that in this case not only the direct results are important, but also the different multiple effects in other priority areas of knowledge like: nuclear energy, nanotechnology, pharmacy and medicine, bio-and chemo-informatics.
Last but not least
–it serves the purpose of preparing young researchers and qualification of a team of specialists who have professional interests in different areas at the frontier of human knowledge.
Internationally, the establishment of the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications is a prerequisite for intensive cooperation with our European and regional partners, and our participation in pan-European infrastructure for supercomputing applications. I hope that the National Center will contribute in improving the competitiveness of Bulgarian economy by creating new products and technologies or transfer of those created by our leading partners. Initial results are encouraging, although the actual work and achievements are yet to come.
In conclusion, let me welcome all participants in this conference and wish you successful work and good contacts to all of you.
Thank you for your attention.