LET'S MAKE IT WORK
DEFENCE & HLS CONFERENCE
DECEMBER 18th | BALKAN HOTEL, BULGARIA
After a few years of political instability – Bulgaria has finally formed a new Government.
The mounting tensions in Europe have led to a significant investment in various defense programs by
Bulgaria and the expansion of Nato deployments and European stabilization and peacekeeping activities
have further fuelled defence investment.
Bulgaria is set for a substantial increase in its defence budget over the next 5 years.
The Bulgaria defence budget is worth $1.4 billion in 2023 and is expected to achieve a CAGR of more
than 5% during 2024-2028.
Much of Bulgaria’s fleet requires substantial modernization and updating due to years of low spending
levels. Since readiness levels are now very low and platforms are reaching the end of their life span,
Bulgaria is forced to modernize platforms across all domains. Furthermore, the war in Ukraine has
influenced all of Europe’s defence outlook, and Bulgaria’s position on the Black Sea and in the Balkans is
particularly vulnerable. It is currently following a trend in NATO to revise force structure and review its
capability and procurement efforts.
Israel
Bulgaria
PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE
Prof. Todor Tagarev
Minister of Defence
BULGARIA
General (ret.) Giora Eiland
IMPROVATE Advisory Board Member
ISRAEL
Former President
BULGARIA
IMPROVATE
Irina Nevzlin
Founder & Chair
IMPROVATE
ISRAEL
Ronit Hasin Hochman
Founder & CEO
IMPROVATE
ISRAEL
H.E. ​Yosi Levi Sfari
Ambassador of Israel in Sofia
ISRAEL
Iavor Mateev
Commander | Major General
Joint Special Operations Command
BULGARIA
PhD Vlado Buchkovski
Former Prime Minister
NORTH MACEDONIA
IMPROVATE
Mitko Uzunov
M.ISMI
CSMP
BULGARIA
Hristo Hristov
CEO
Eviden
BULGARIA
Constantin Popov
Ret. Commander
The Bulgarian Air Force
BULGARIA
​Rear Admiral (Ret.) Nikolay I. Nikolov, Ph.D
Chairman, Governing Board
'Hemus-95' Foundation
BULGARIA
Andrey Mihailov
Atlantic Club expert
Atlantic Club of Bulgaria BULGARIA
Nikolay Jordanov
Managing director
Kontrax JSC
BULGARIA
Ivaylo Filipov
CEO
Information Services Jsc
BULGARIA
Miroslav Blagoev Gospodinov
Former adviser, Office of Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security
Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria
BULGARIA
Prof. Dr. Ilin Savov, PhD, ScD
Academy of the Ministry of Interior
BULGARIA
Eng. Dobromir Donchev
CEO
NGO
BULGARIA
Ivaylo JORDANOV
Managing Director
Kontrax JSC
BULGARIA
Alexander Zhekov
Svetlin Iliev
Managing Director
Escom Bulgaria
BULGARIA
Member of the Board of Directors
Directors of the European Cybersecurity Organization
BULGARIA
Tzachi Gabay
Planning and control director
Aeronautics
ISRAEL
Eliran Fadida
Sales and Marketing Director
Steadicopter
ISRAEL
Emil Blumer
General Manager
MAGAL Security System S.R.L.
ISRAEL
Eran Gabay
VP, Head of Euro-Asia Business Unit
MAGAL Security System S.R.L.
ISRAEL
Asher Wallach B.G (Ret.)
Business Development and Marketing, HLS
Elta Systems LTD.
ISRAEL
Ivo Barzov
Key Account Manager, Aviation Business Development
Burgas Airport
BULGARIA
Jacob Kaplan
Dr. Yolian Ivanov
Vice President Sales & Marketing
Accubeat
ISRAEL
Executive Director - Southern Europe
The Collins Group
BULGARIA
Andrey Mihailov
Atlantic Club expert
Atlantic Club of Bulgaria BULGARIA
Col (Ret) Vilis Tzourov
Chairman of the Board
Atlantic Club of Bulgaria BULGARIA
Arial Lerman
CEO
BAUOTECH LTD
ISRAEL
Hadar Halili
VP Sales
Allot
ISRAEL
Dikla Sasson
Marketing & BD Director
Aeronautics
ISRAEL
Chagai Levy, Ph.D
VP of Systems Engineering & Project Management
Accubeat
ISRAEL
Yaniv Tamir
Business Development
BAUOTECH LTD
ISRAEL
H.E Donika Hoxha
Ambassador of the Republic of Albania in Sofia
ALBANIA
H.E. Ms. BrânduÈ™a Ioana Predescu
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the Republic of Bulgaria
ROMANIA
Ilan Nachman
CTO
G-Max Security
ISRAEL
Conference Schedule December 18th,2023
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08:30-09:00 - Gathering and mingling at the Balkan Hotel Sofia Bulgaria Coffee & Snacks.
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09:00 Welcome by Mrs. Ronit Hasin Hochman, Co-founder and CEO at IMPROVATE.
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09:05 Mrs. Irina Nevzlin, founder and chair at IMPROVATE.
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09:10 H.E. ​Yosi Levi Sfari Ambassador of Israel in Sofia.
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09:20 President Rosen Plevniliev, former president of Bulgaria and IMPROVATE Advisory Board.
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09:35 ELTA Presentation by Asher Wallach B.G (ret) -Business Development and Marketing, HLS Directorate
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09:45 Allot Presentation by Hadar Halili - VP.
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09:55 Prof. Todor Tagarev, Minister of Defense, Bulgaria.
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10:10 Aeronautics Presentation by Tzachi Gabay Planning and control director
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10:20 Magal Presentation by Emil Blumer General Manager MAGAL Security System S.R.L.
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10:30 Smart Shooter Presentation by Roy Ben Haim - Director of Business Development
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10:40 General (ret.) Giora Eiland- Bulgaria overview
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11:00 Steadicopter Presentation by Eliran Fadida - Sales and Marketing Director
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11:10 BAUOTECH LTD Presentation by Yaniv Tamir - Director of Business Development
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11:20 G-Max Security Presentation by Ilan Nachman – CTO
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11:30 Coffee Break
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12:00 One on One meetings
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14:30 Lunch at the hotel restaurant
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15:30- 17:30 One on One meetings
ABOUT IMPROVATE
IMPROVATE is a platform that makes technology and innovation accessible to countries around the world. Launched in September 2020, IMPROVATE operates out of London and Tel Aviv and serves as a platform to connect technology and innovation companies to leaders, decision-makers, companies and investors.
IMPROVATE Board members and partners: former world chess champion Garry Kasparov | President Rosen Plevneliev - former President of Bulgaria | Prof. Zeev Rotstein- Medical systems expert, IDF Major Gen. (Ret.) Amos Gilad | Yigal Unna -Director General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate
(2018-2022) | Victor Ponta - Former Prime Minister of Romania | Yves Leterme - Former Prime Minister of Belgium | Prof. Vlado Buckkovski – Former Prime Minister of North Macedonia.
