UNIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND WORLD ECONOMY

Their core work

UNWE is Bulgaria's largest economics and business university, based in Sofia, with a focus on social sciences, economics, and business administration. In EU research, they contribute expertise in socio-economic analysis — studying how new technologies like electric vehicles reshape urban transport systems, how European farming can become more resilient, and how universities can better engage with societal challenges. Their work bridges economic modelling with real-world policy questions around sustainability, digital transformation, and innovation ecosystems.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UNWE's early H2020 work (2017–2019) focused on applied socio-economic research in specific sectors — electromobility in urban transport and resilience in agricultural systems. Their more recent projects (2020–2024) show a pivot toward broader institutional themes: digital skills development through HPC training, and building engaged university ecosystems around innovation, entrepreneurship, and digitalisation. The trajectory moves from domain-specific economic analysis toward a wider role as a socially engaged university connecting economics, business, and societal challenges.

UNWE is positioning itself as an engaged, interdisciplinary university hub linking economics and business education with digital skills and societal impact — expect future proposals around social innovation, digital transformation, and SDG-oriented research.

How they like to work

UNWE mostly joins projects as a participant or third party rather than leading them, though they did coordinate one project (eMobilita). With 135 unique partners across 33 countries from just 4 projects, their consortia tend to be large and internationally diverse. This suggests they are comfortable operating within broad European networks and contributing specialised socio-economic perspectives rather than driving technical agendas.

Despite a modest project count, UNWE has built a remarkably broad network of 135 partners spanning 33 countries, largely through participation in large-scale EU consortia. Their reach is pan-European with no strong geographic concentration beyond their Bulgarian base.

What sets them apart

UNWE is one of the few Bulgarian universities bringing strong economics and business expertise into EU research consortia — most Bulgarian H2020 participants are technical universities or research institutes. For consortium builders, they offer a credible social sciences and economic analysis partner from an EU-13 country, which strengthens proposals needing geographic diversity and socio-economic work packages. Their combination of agricultural economics, transport economics, and innovation ecosystem expertise is unusual for a single institution in Southeast Europe.

Highlights from their portfolio

• eMobilita
  UNWE's only coordinated project and their largest single grant (EUR 243K), studying the socio-economic dimensions of electromobility — an unusual topic for an economics university.
• SURE-Farm
  A major EU farming resilience project where UNWE contributed agricultural economics and demographic analysis across European farming systems.
• ENGAGE EU R-I
  Signals UNWE's strategic direction toward becoming an engaged European university linking social sciences with innovation and sustainable development.