In carrying out its activities and pursuant to Article 44 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Innovation Fund, adopted by Council of Ministers Decree No. 132 of 22 July 2025 and promulgated in the State Gazette, Issue No. 60 of 25 July 2025, the National Innovation Fund invites applications for the Procedure for the Selection of External Experts. Date of publication: 29 June 2026 Extended application deadline: 29 September 2026 Submission of applications: info@nif.government.bg Each applicant may apply for inclusion as an external expert in more than one thematic area, provided that they possess the required qualifications for the respective area(s). Further information is available in the Public Announcements section.

Each candidate may apply to be included as an expert in more than one subject area, depending on their qualifications.

I. The subject areas are:
1. Computer Science and ICT;
2. Mechatronics and Microelectronics;
3. Healthy living industries, bioeconomy, and biotechnology;
4. New technologies in creative and recreational industries;
5. Clean technologies, circular economy, and low-carbon economy;
6. Finance and business development.

 II. Candidates from the list will be selected and invited to participate in:
1.The evaluation of project proposals submitted during NIF competition sessions, which will be conducted through the Information System for Management and Monitoring of EU Funds in Bulgaria 2020 (ISUN 2020).

2.Technical monitoring of administrative contracts concluded by the NIF.

3. Evaluators are divided into the following categories:
· technical evaluators
· business evaluators 
Candidates must meet the following requirements:

III. Minimum mandatory requirements:
1. Be natural persons;
2. Not have been convicted of a crime committed in the course of official duties with a final judgment, or of fraud, corruption, participation in a criminal organization, or any other illegal activity that harms the financial interests of the country and the Community;
3. Not be members of the NIF’s Governing Board;
4. They must not hold a position in the NIF administration;
5. They must hold at least a master’s degree;
6. They must have at least 10 years of professional experience in the selected subject area(s);

7. Technical evaluators are required to demonstrate their experience through publications, an H-index, or references, as well as through participation in or leadership of projects in the relevant field.
8.    Financial evaluators are required to have experience in financial auditing of projects and/or in marketing-based market valuation and strategic business development.

III.a. Additional Criteria

When selecting evaluators, practical experience in the development and commercialization of innovations is also taken into account, including:
·  participation in product development and implementation;
· experience in business development;
·  achieved market results.
These qualifications must be demonstrated through concrete results (revenue, customers, implementation).
IV. All documents related to this call for applications will be published on the NIF website at https://nif.government.bg/  

V. Documents required for participation in the competition:

1.  Application Form – Appendix 1;

2.  Resume;

3. Documents verifying the information in the Application Form:

- a document certifying the completed educational degree;

- documents verifying the experience under item 6 of the minimum mandatory requirements, described sequentially in Appendix 2;

- documents certifying the experience under points 7 or 8, as described in Appendix 3;

- a declaration stating that none of the circumstances listed in points 2, 3, and 4 of the minimum mandatory requirements apply – Appendix 4

Explanations regarding the application documents:

1.The standard-form documents can be downloaded from the NIF website at: https://nif.government.bg/  

2.  Documents that do not follow the prescribed format must be submitted by applicants as scanned copies. 

VI. Application Procedure

1. The complete set of all required documents must be sent by email to: Info@nif.government.bg

2.  The deadline for submitting documents is 5:30 p.m. on July 29, 2026.   

VII. Competition Procedure

The selection of external evaluators will be carried out by a committee specially appointed for this purpose by the NIF Executive Board.

The evaluation stages of the competition are as follows:

1. Verification of the administrative compliance of the submitted documents with the requirements specified in the Call and the Terms of Reference. Only candidates who meet the administrative compliance requirements will be eligible for evaluation against the criteria specified in the Call;

2. Verification/evaluation of compliance with or fulfillment of the criteria specified in this Call for Proposals. Only candidates approved according to the criteria specified in the evaluation sheet attached to the Call for Proposals will be included as members in the National Innovation Fund’s “List of Evaluators”;  

3. Preparation of a list of approved and rejected candidates.

4. For each project proposal, at least one evaluator with proven experience in business development and commercialization will be assigned.

5. The experts’ evaluation includes:

· professional experience

· expertise

· practical experience in applying innovations

VIII. Processing of Personal Data

By submitting the documentation under this call, the applicant is deemed to consent to the NIF processing the personal data provided in connection with the call for participation in the procedure, in accordance with the GDPR (EU) 2016/679 and applicable Bulgarian legislation, as the data controller, for the purposes of managing communications and tasks under this Call, as well as for any other reasons required by law. Personal data will be retained for a period of 10 years.