On March 26, 2025, at the Bulgarian Defence Institute “Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov”, was held a working meeting on the topic: Space for Security and Defence between representatives of Bulgarian science and state administration and the European Space Agency – Major General Pascal Legai – Senior Security Adviser to ESA DG Director General’s Services and Dr. Christopher Topping – Head of the ESA Civil Security from Space (CSS) programme. The event was jointly organized by the Bulgarian Defence Institute, the Armaments Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Center for National Security and Defence Research (CNSDR) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The meeting was officially opened with a welcome address on behalf of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as welcome addresses by the Director of the Bulgarian Defence Institute – Col. Borislav Genov and the Director of CNSDR-BAS – Mr. Kamen Iliev. The event was held in two thematic sessions, focusing on the application of space technologies for crisis management, natural disasters and accidents and ensuring the resilience of critical infrastructure – “Civil Security from Space” moderated by Corr.-Member Stefan Hadjitodorov and “Space for Disaster Management and Resilient Critical Infrastructure”. Within the first session, Major General Pascal Legai and Dr. Christopher Topping presented the main priorities and highlights of the Civil Security from Space Programme and the Rapid and Rapid and Resilient Crisis Response Accelerator (R3).
The second session was dedicated to the capacity of Bulgarian organisations to participate in ESA initiatives. The Director of CNSDR-BAS – Mr. Kamen Iliev, made a brief analysis of the readiness of Bulgarian science and industry to participate in ESA programmes and initiatives, based on the results of a study conducted within the framework of the project “Feasibility Space Study of Bulgaria” (2019-2022) under the ESA Plan for European Cooperating States (PECS).
Katya Dimitrova, Project Coordinator at Risk-Space-Transfer Technology Transfer Office (RST-TTO) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), presented thematic applications of space-based services for rapid disaster response. Other key international speakers who participated in the event were Monika Krzyżanowska, Business Development Director at CloudFerro, and Athanasios Sfetsos – Project coordinator of the recently launched Med-IREN project under the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon Europe”. The main aim of the project is to provide actionable demonstration on how to climate proof the critical infrastructures by introducing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). Within the framework of the project RST-TTO, BAS partners with the Municipality of Burgas – a demonstration region for Bulgaria.
The event was attended by an exceptionally high level of interest. Over 80 participants took part – experts from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of the Bulgaria, Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ministry of Innovation and Growth of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ministry of Economy and Industry of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ministry of e-Government of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as their agencies related to crisis management, natural disasters and accidents, representatives of the regional and municipal administrations of Plovdiv and Burgas, representatives of the Institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences participating in the National Scientific Program “Security and Defense”.