The 11th international conference on entrepreneurship, organized by the Bulgarian Association for Management Development and Entrepreneurship (BAMDE), with the efforts of its members, first among them UNWE, represented by the Institute of Entrepreneurship and the Chair of Entrepreneurship, and in partnership with the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship was held at the Flamingo Grand Hotel and Spa in the Albena resort from 11 to 14 September 2023.

The eleventh edition of the conference was held after a three-year hiatus, a period in which the forum lost not only its founder – Prof. Kiril Todorov, a pioneer in the research of small business and entrepreneurship in Bulgaria, recipient of numerous international recognitions, but also notables in entrepreneurship science and education, who participated as keynote speakers and contributed to the development of the conference – Prof. David Smallbone, Prof. Robert Hisrich and Prof. David Storey. Their loss to the scientific community, of course, brought a certain amount of sadness to the mood of the regular participants in the forum, but it was also a motivating impulse to preserve what had been achieved and for its further development.

Keynote speakers in this year's edition were Prof. Nikolay Dentchev, founder and head of the Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at the Free University of Brussels, and Prof. Andrew Burke, Dean of the Trinity Business School at the University of Dublin.

Researchers, teachers, doctoral students and entrepreneurs from a total of fifteen countries took part in the conference.

Greetings to the participants of the conference were made by Prof. Mitko Dimitrov, Chairman of the Board of BAMDE and representative of the Institute for Economic Research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Ken O'Neill, member of the international Advisory Committee of the conference and Doctor Honoris Causa of the UNWE, Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of UNWE, Prof. Mariyana Bozhinova, Rector of the D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov, and Professor Radan Miryanov, Deputy Rector of the University of Economics – Varna.

Within the framework of the conference, 27 papers were presented and a round table was organized on the topic "The role of universities in the creation and development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem", led by Dr. Paolo Zaramella and Dr. Bruce Whitefield.

The papers were presented in thematic sections, the main ones focusing on issues of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, female and youth entrepreneurship, digital technologies and entrepreneurial education.

Part of the program was a visit to the University of Economics – Varna (UEV), where Prof. Miryanov introduced the conference participants to the Varna Deep Tech Innovation Port project, and Dr. Petar Petrov – to the activities of the UEV Accelerator.

The conference participants were also enthused by the social program, which included both the traditional welcome cocktail in the evening preceding the conference, as well as Folklore and Gala dinners. Particularly strong were the impressions of the gala dinner with a culinary show organized at the Culinary Arts Institute at Varna University of Management under the leadership of Chef Hugues Boutin, and a musical show organized by the opera bass-baritone Vladimir Marinov.

At the end of the third day of the conference, a summary of the papers presented was made by the Sessions’ Chairpersons – Prof. Kostadin Kolarov (who also presented the summaries made by Prof. Dmytro Zherlitsyn), Prof. Olga Tabachnikova, Prof. Tadeusz Poplawski and Prof. Desislava Yordanova, with whom the nominations for the Kiril Todorov Best Paper Award were also consulted. The comparable high scores of the best papers led to the decision to award the authors of four best papers.

The conference ended with the high evaluation shared by the participants for the organization of its conduct and expressed gratitude for this to Prof. Kostadin Kolarov and Dr. Maria Vasilska, as well as with a discussion of ideas and a plan for the next edition of the forum.

Conference opening.
Greeting from Prof. Mitko Dimitrov to the participants

Greetings from Prof. Ken O'Neill

Greetings from Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of UNWE,

Prof. Mariyana Bozhinova, Rector of D.A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov,

and Prof. Radan Miryanov, Vice-Rector of the University of Economics – Varna

Prof. Nikolay Dentchev, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and UNWE, presents a keynote paper

Prof. Dr. M H Bala Subrahmanya, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Prof. Andrew Burke, Trinity Business School, University of Dublin, presents a keynote paper

Discussion after presentation of paper. In the foreground – Prof. Pradeep Kumar Ray, Distinguished Professor and Founder of the Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE), University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, and Prof. Bala Subrahmanya

Prof. Dmytro Zherlitsyn and Prof. Irina Kuzmina-Merlino

Round table moderators – Dr. Bruce Whitefield and Dr. Paolo Zaramella

Prof. Andrew Burke and Prof. Desislava Yordanova

Conference participants visiting the University of Economics – Varna

Presentation of the Varna Deep Tech Innovation Port project and the UEV Accelerator

Handing out certificates for best papers and participation in the conference