The bonding and bridging relations of the agri-food organisations in the area of digitalization in the Pazardzhik district of Bulgaria

• Main Authors: Penov, Ivan, Georgiev, Georgi
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bonding; Digital technology; Digitization; Food; Food processing industry; NGOs; Nongovernmental organizations; Social capital
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0185976

Pazardzhik region of Bulgaria has a long tradition in agriculture and food processing, and it is one of the main food-producing regions in the country. The digitization process has been among the main strategic goals at the EU and national levels during the last years. The article aims to evaluate the readiness of the organizations working in the agro-food sector from this region to implement digital technologies. Digitalization success depends on potential partnerships among different types of actors. In this case, the crucial actors are Academic organizations, Agri-Food companies; IT companies, Non-governmental organizations; Public / State institutions. The concepts of bonding and bridging social capital are used to study the relations among and between the above groups of actors. The study results show the organizations working in the same field are not well internally connected, except for academic and public organizations, indicating that the social capital that can bring the consistency and strength of the group is not sufficient. Moreover, the different groups of organizations are also not well connected with each other, except for the networks in which the public organizations are included. The IT sector is weakly connected not only to agri-food but also to academic organizations and NGOs. Therefore, the opportunity for exchanging new and different information is limited. These findings imply that the introduction of digital technologies in the agri-food sector in the area will be slow, at least for now.