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Development of markets and market relations always leads to enhanced competition and increased consumer demand, thus making quality one of the key factor in success and survival of any organization. An important prerequisite for improving quality is also having an opportunity for flexible financing of organizations. The study focuses on small and medium-sized wine producers, located in Southern Wine Region in Bulgaria. The main purpose is to identify the challenges these producers are facing, related to ensuring financial funds. We base our conclusions on the data from various official sources including the European Commission and Bulgarian National Agencies as well as our own data. The latter has been collected through questionnaires, spread among local wine producers at the beginning of July 2017. The selected approach confirmed some of the conclusions made in the official sources concerning the challenges faced by SMEs. Regarding the methodology we have concluded that it is better to reduce the number of questions or combine some of them. We also intend to start personal communication with managers of the companies in question. Also, we believe that in-depth interviews will help us understand better the circumstances behind the specific answers provided in the survey.

Optimization of the collaboration “business-science-education” is a prerequisite for the increase of the competitiveness of the enterprises. The article introduces a scientific solution of a practical problem through the creation of a model for informal education of specialists in the wine industry. The presented models are a part of the Virtual Educational Space (VES) as a smart space, context-dependent, based on a script and a controlled infrastructure. The results of the approbation of the model prove its significance for the practical processes and the increase of the competency of the specialists in connection to the implementation of innovation. Particularly to the wine industry, the suggested model for informal education represents a specific innovation, which approbates the known “good practices” in the strategy “Lifelong Learning”.