Иновациите Като Приоритет На Неправителствения Сектор В България. Потенциал И Възможности[Innovations as a priority of the NGO sector in Bulgaria. Potential and opportunities]

Contemporary among the priority goals and objectives of the countries in the world is to build a sustainable economic model based on the idea of "smart growth." Essentially "smart growth" is directly dependent on the development in research and innovations of micro and macroeconomic level. Development of civil society and the constant process of searching for new methods and approaches for solving problems of social character are fundamental factors for achieving innovation progress. Supporting and promoting social, spiritual, scientific, economic and political development activities are priority objectives of non-profit organizations. Among the main tasks of NGOs are activities for creating and implementing innovative projects and innovative solutions, promote social innovations and public sector innovations. In Bulgaria NGOs are not well known by the society. People do not recognize the nonprofit sector as a main factor for stimulating innovations. That’s why main goal of the paper is to analyze the role of the NGOs as innovators and supporters innovation activities. It is done by analyzing the contemporary state of the sector and the amount of funds invested in innovation activities by the third sector.