Bulgarian Robotics & AI Nexus - Where Human Ingenuity meets Artificial Intelligence

Objective

BRAIN++ will establish Bulgaria's first comprehensive AI Factory, creating a national hub for foundation model development, adaptation, and deployment while strengthening European digital sovereignty through indigenous AI capabilities. This coordinated initiative addresses critical gaps in Bulgaria's AI ecosystem by delivering five interconnected pillars: advanced computing infrastructure, specialized foundation models, robust AI governance frameworks, comprehensive talent development, and cross-sector implementation support. BRAIN++ will develop four specialized foundation models addressing Bulgaria's unique needs and strategic advantages. BgGPT will pioneer new techniques for low-resource language model development, creating the first comprehensive language model optimized for Bulgarian with 175 billion parameters, enabling natural language applications from government services to cultural heritage preservation. RoboticsBG will establish modular foundation models for industrial robotics with particular emphasis on manufacturing and logistics use cases, accelerating automation adoption among Bulgarian SMEs. FORSE (Foundation for Observation, Recognition, and Sensing Environments) will develop specialized vision-language models incorporating Earth observation data from Bulgaria's aerospace initiatives, enabling applications from precision agriculture to environmental monitoring. MEDBG will focus on biomedical applications, developing foundation models attuned to Bulgaria's specific healthcare challenges and population characteristics. The project incorporates robust AI governance through COMPL-AI, a comprehensive compliance framework ensuring all developed models adhere to the EU AI Act requirements. This framework includes automated testing protocols for bias detection, transparency mechanisms, and security assessments specifically attuned to the Bulgarian context, establishing a model for responsible AI development within emerging European innovation ecosystems.