A 28-year old market manager is the New Atlantis Deputy Minister of Economy

Levon Altunyan

PIA New Atlsntis

Today the New Atlantis team has a new fresh addition. Principal Vladimir Balanov has appointed with a decree 28-years old Levon Altunyan to be the New Atlantis Deputy Minister of Economy.

Mr. Altunyan is a technologist passionate about internet, mobile communications and market management. He is fascinated by the digital and electro-mechanical industries and particularly from their constantly evolving nature and immensity. Mr. Altunyan was a scholarship holder of the Evangelischen Studienwerks e.V. Villigst, and of the NRW Scholarship Program, supported by the Essener Unternehmensverbandes (EUV), based on academic achievements (top 5% of the graduates) and social competences. His hobbies are jogging, swimming and football.

Born on 26-th of November 1986 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Mr. Altunyan has graduated from Second English Language High School "Thomas Jefferson" with an excellent diploma.

Since 2005 he lives in Germany. There he studied at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty of Engineering. In parallel to his academic studies he worked in different points in time for the departments of General Theoretical Electrical Engineering (ATE), Communication Systems (NTS), Nano Structures and Technology (NST) and the Institute of Applied Materials (IAM). In 2009 he obtained his first academic degree - Bachelor of Science in Computer and Communications Engineering. During this time, Levon did his internship for Infineon and supported the company efforts in the programming space at several functional levels.

Thereafter, Mr. Altunyan continued with his engineering studies and successfully obtained a M.Sc. degree with distinction from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany with focus on Computer Science, Telecommunications Engineering, Nanotechnologies (Solar Cells, Transistors) and Microcontrollers.

Mr. Levon Altunyan started his career as a Market and Application Engineer in 2011 at renowned German family owned company. Here he could apply his knowledge from the fields of electrical, electronic and optical connections, transmission and networking, software creation and advance it with topics such as manufacturing and mechatronics.

Just in one year time he was promoted to a Market Manager. Since, 2012 Mr. Altunyan is responsible for the identification of new markets for the company. Indispensable part of his daily work includes implementation of market strategies, projects with key customers from the emerging markets and the initiation of innovative products. In addition, he is involved in the coordination of international activities, marketing tasks, derivation and implementation of the respective actions.

“New Atlantis is an innovative and interesting project.” Mr. Levon Altunyan said, adding, “I am glad to contribute to it by my expertise. Furthermore, I am highly motivated to be part of this new challenge. I am confident that we will show that with hard work and innovation anything is possible.”

The New Atlantis Principality has introduced an electronic application for citizenship

Principal Vladimir Balanov with the Flag of Principality New Atlantis. © Kiril Uonstantinov

PIA New Atlantis

From now on, the request for citizenship in the country of beautiful minds, the Principality of New Atlantis, will only take a few minutes. This is how much time applicants will need to fill the electronic form that New Atlantis has introduced in order to facilitate the process. Regardless of their location, applicants can act on their willingness to become citizens of the Principality with only a few clicks.

"We have introduced extreme security measures for protecting all personal data," Principal Balanov said. "I assure the applicants that their information will be completely safe in our data base and will only be stored in the secure electronic register of the Principality."

Unlike some countries, the Republic of Bulgaria allows for a dual citizenship. The New Atlantis project has the best intention to incorporate both Bulgarian and foreign citizens, coming from countries where a dual citizenship is not allowed. The Principal Vladimir Balanov gives them the equal opportunity to join the IQ140 social network and to participate in the economic project as shareholders.

The electronic application form for citizenship is posted on the official website of the New Atlantis Principality and can be filled in Bulgarian and in English on the Bulgarian and English version of the website respectively.

Sergey Petrov: New Atlantis is a project designed for enterprising and bold people

"My dream is to create new things, new workplaces, to be useful not just for myself and my close circle, but also to all people,” Sergey Petrov shares.

PIA New Atlantis

Boryana Antimova

Before he took the position as the New Atlantis Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the 28-year old visionary and entrepreneur Sergey Petrov was well-known for being a young innovator and opinion leader with a promising carrier and an impressive personal drive. His life project tackles one of today’s most imminent challenges that we are facing. Namely, how to save the bees from dying on a world scale and prevent a massive ecological catastrophe from occurring.

A team of Bulgarians led by Petrov, who’s an engineer, developed a project aimed at saving the bee colonies through a smart beehive based on state-of-art technology. With this project Sergey won a scholarship at Singularity University, located in NASA’s base in the Silicon Valley and studying exponential technologies and their implementation as working business models. Today, the innovative Sergey is a CTO of Bee Smart Technologies, a company created by him that is developing smart beehives.

An inspiring lector: Sergey’s smart beehive project became an instant hit at the TEDxBG Conference 2014, an event for sharing ideas that would change the world.

Sergey Petrov was born on the 18th of September 1986. He graduated from an English Language School and went on to do a major in Aeronautical Engineering in Sofia’s Technical University. From 2006 to 2007, he managed eDynamo web-site building projects targeting North America. Between 2008 and 2014, he was a Senior Analytical Engineer in one of the biggest anti-spam companies in the world, Axway, whose clients include 9 out of the 10 biggest banks in the United States, the Ministry of Defense and over 1000 corporations.

In 2010, Sergey did an internship in Lufthansa Technik Bulgaria, where he actively studied the maintenance and reconstruction of commercial aircrafts. Between 2010 and 2011, he completed a Space Exponential Technologies course part of the Space Challenges program. In 2013, he became a team leader and mentor of young engineers and entrepreneurs together with whom he developed a small aircraft suited to fly in the stratosphere.
From 2011 to 2013, Sergey completed his MBA in Sofia’s New Bulgarian University. Between 2012 and 2014 he created and managed Special Concepts, a project developing innovative technologies for space. 

In 2015, the young entrepreneur was chosen to be one of the “40 under 40”, an initiative of Sofia’s National Radio Darik, identifying Bulgaria’s new leaders. Sergey was also awarded by the government of Germany and SAP for his contribution in environmental protection and sustainable development. 

Sergey Petrov has been an inspiring lector in prestigious national and international events such as TED, DigitalK, Hello Tommorrow and many others.

The aeronautical engineer Sergey Petrov in an aircraft.

Mr. Petrov, I would like to congratulate you on your Deputy Minister position. How do you feel?

Inspired by the idea to work on something that interesting. 

What was your parents’ reaction when they found out about your nomination?

They were interested and slightly entertained by the idea. As you would expect, it is not so easy to comprehend by their generation. 

And your friends?

Most of them are simply interested in the idea of it, since things like that don’t happen every day. Last night I actually met a guy, who wanted to find out how this project works and how it can be used. When I told him all about its potential, he quickly switched from a position of scepticism to such of an inspiration. 

Did some people tell you that you are crazy to join an initiative like that?

“I don’t think this is actually something serious,” I have heard this more than once.

And do you try to explain why you are doing what you are doing?

No, I stopped explaining myself long ago. The important thing is to see the result in the end, it speaks for itself.

So, you are telling them, “Let’s wait and see, and then we’ll talk again.”

I don’t even make that comment. I rather say to myself, “We are going to do it!”

Principal Balanov handing in the decree, with which he is appointing him to be the New Atlantis Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Why did you accept the position?

Because I am a crazy guy. (He laughs.) Seriously, I have a soft spot for starting new things that are interesting enough to make me seem mad to be doing them. 

Einstein said that if an idea doesn’t seems crazy enough to him, he doesn’t even give it a chance.

Larry Page, one of Google’s founders, says: “ If your idea is not crazy enough to change the world, maybe it’s not worth your time.” 

Do you define this as your motto?

Absolutely. I am convinced that people should be doing things that are meaningful. I am not saying that everyday should be about looking for the meaning of life, nor that we should be constantly psyched almost to the point of losing touch with reality. But the primary incentive of people should be to create. And while creating, to think how they can be useful to others. This is the main reason why I have embraced such an outlook. 

You are one of the youngest Deputy Ministers in the history of Bulgaria. What would you say to the people commenting on this?

I am really not interested whether my youth would be commented on or not. I would rather like to work and account for something meaningful. And if it is possible not to make any age references about it, that would be great since age is really not something that matters.

Of course, experience is necessary when working on something that promising and I realize that I might lack some 10 years of it. But at the same time, we are talking about something unconventional, something that is happening for the first time in the history of manankind. Therefore, there is no way to have relevant experience to prepare you for such a thing. 

An inspiring lector at DigitalK 2015.

What did Principal Balanov say when you asked him why he chose you for this project?

Well, as far as I am concerned, I told him that I don’t need the position in order to be fully engaged and motivated for the project. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs sounds rather serious and responsible. I explained to him that I would simply like to have the chance to officially represent the Principality. I had no idea he intends to appoint me for such a prestigious post.

He mentioned several times that he believes in the young generation; that people like us can bring novelty to the world. I think he has a clear vision of how to build a country that would consist of young people with great potential and beautiful minds. He also said, that he needs to identify more people that represent novelty and I am happy to be perceived as one of those people.

When interviewed about your appointment by the New Atlantis Informational Agency, he said that he was greatly impressed by your cause, to save the bees from dying and prevent an ecological catastrophe through an smart beehive.

I am glad that he was impressed by my mission. And my biggest challenge is that smart people like him are not aware of the problem, and most people in the world have no idea about the gravity of the situation. So, I am really moved by the fact that someone else accepts the cause that we are fighting for as their own. 

Presenting the Bee Smart Technologies project at Pioneer’s competition for young entrepreneurs, the biggest one in the area of advanced technologies.

Regarding the New Atlantis project, some Bulgarians comment that “we should first take care of fixing our own country before creating a new one.” What would you say to them?

I will say this one more time, people should let their actions speak for them. When we have created something meaningful and when we have an actual result, we will succeed in proving to the sceptics that there is a valid alternative to being short-sided. If you want to change something and improve on it, you have to knock on many doors to find one that opens. To us, New Atlantis is the door on which we are knocking right now. 

Are you, the founders of New Atlantis, falling short on patriotism?

What does it really mean to be a patriot? We live in a world where most of my friends work in foreign companies, communicate with foreigners on a daily basis, watch foreign TV shows. “Patriotism” is a notion that is greatly abused. My heart skips a beat when I am in the Pirin mountain or whenever I hear a pipe from the Rodopi region. This a sheer example of the true patriotism that I carry. 

The fact that New Atlantis was created by Bulgarians, isn’t that a good enough reason to feel proud and patriotic?

Unfortunately, the simple fact that the Bulgarian government didn’t recognize the opportunity Vladimir Balanov presented to them, to join the island to Bulgaria’s overseas territory, is a clear illustration of the Bulgarian mentality. 

A presenter and a host, eagerly motivating children interested in space, at the European Space Expo in Bulgaria, aimed at introducing the European Space Agency.

What kind of people would you like to work with in the principality cabinet? Who would you accept as your partner?

This may sound as a paradox, but I have noticed that the people that share my outlook to the least extent, ultimately become the best partners. So, I would like to work with people that don’t agree immediately; that are trying to find possible pitfalls; that constantly ask questions and look for new solutions, regardless of the complex working dynamic that the latter might result in. And of course, conflicts will be inevitable.

My company, Bee Smart Technologies, makes no exception. I like to argue with people that are trying to prove me wrong, because this shows how invested they are in the idea. Therefore, in every project that I take on, including New Atlantis, I would prefer working with people that don’t blindly trust in everything I or other people say; that never stop bending their own perspective or questioning their own knowledge; that never stop looking for the new and interesting; that are willing to debate. For, I firmly believe that something great can come out of any dispute. 

You are a key force in the crowdfunding campaign for promoting New Atlantis and for creating an electronic registry, as well as an electronic government.

I would rather call this our first step, our first attempt to show our interesting and innovative idea to the world. What is more, I hope we will receive incredible feedback about what people think that we can use and how we can optimize our project.

Hence, I am very excited to create the first campaign for financing a new country. This is surely a precedent in the history of not only crowdfunding, but also in general; I haven’t heard of anyone else buildng a country in this manner. And this makes it even more fascinating to me.

And this is what mostly draws you to the idea?

While doing research on crowdfunding campaigns, the closest thing to our project that I found was “Let’s Save Greece.” (He laughs.) Of course, a slightly entertaining project, for it is aiming to collect 310 billion euro. And in our case, we are looking to collect hundreds of thousands less to inaugurate a brand new country, together. Not to save it, but to create it.

I have always prefered the idea of creating, rather than restoring something. When working with bees for example, you are supposed to help the strong colonies rather than the weak ones; you are helping those that are willing to create something new, as opposed to those who are headed in the wrong direction. 

Presenting his project for a smart beehive at Singularity University, based in NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.

You mentioned that you are offering something that is radically new. What is it exactly? What makes it so extremely innovative? 

What makes is so innovative is that it will basically represent a materialized version of Facebook. We will have an electronic registry, that will contain all the citizens of this country. We will create the first electronic government. Of course, it is not easy to deal with so many precedents. Currently, Estonia is the only country that is switching to an electronic government, through which as citizens of this country, the people could found companies online anywhere in the world.

We perceive this as our base for development. What the world identifies today as the most innovative form of government will be our starting point. For the first time in world history a country’s official currency will be a cryptocurrency. The citizens of this country will be those that have recognized the opportunity to use this country as a means to accomplish the things that conventional bureaucracy is constantly presenting an obstacle for. 

In other words, to use the country as an opportunity to all be on the winning side?

Let’s be clear about this, this project is not simply aiming at making profit, but rather at creating something new. How often do people face challenges in the way of achieving their dreams? But if they have а platform, a place where they won’t be punished for their mistakes; a place where they can succeed. This is more than an innovative idea. 

What would you say to the people that are hesitating on whether to join the cause? Why should they vote for it?

I would prefer not to appeal to the people to join the cause. What I realized is that Vladimir Balanov’s concept is to “see which people are going to follow us on their own. Let’s not beg the people to work for their own good.” We will be working towards creating something good, an entity. And whoever identifies himself as part of it, is more than welcome to join us. But we won’t be sending out personal invitations to everyone. 

And you won’t, figuratively speaking, speak out loud and sell the idea to everyone like in an a election campaign?

Absolutely not. Whoever understands the project will become a part of it. It is kind of like higher education. If you want to learn, you apply to college, though it is not mandatory. But if you want to grow, this is your decision to make. 

You mentioned that it is important for all citizens of the new country to participate with their own funds in the project. Why is that?

When you dedicate or invest something, even 10 or 50 dollars, you are, in reality, putting a price tag on the idea. When you believe in something strongly enough to support it with your own money, then you are actually validating the idea. We don’t need a list of people, we can extract that from Facebook. We need people that have fully grasped our idea and we need to see how many of them would invest 50 dollars for the idea to turn into reality.

Riding a bicycle is one of Sergey’s
strongest passions.

You have been an an inspiring lector in many national events. Out of all the people young and bright minds, as well as visionaries and entrepreneurs in your community, do you have someone in particular that you would like to join your team?

I am happy to be witnessing the recent formation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Bulgaria. And all entrepreneurs have the tendency to live in a somewhat parallel universe, including me. So, I would love for the people creating real things in Bulgaria to become a part of the New Atlantis community. 

In the country of beautifuls minds, all “Mensa Bulgaria” and “Mensa International” members, as well as all Nobel prize winners, are entitled to a special status and certain privileges. However, there are also those who haven’t taken the “Mensa” test and they might be asking themselves: “Do I have a place in this country? How can I contribute to its development?”

This is not a charity or a rescue project. If you want to take advantage of an opportunity, you first have to identify yourself with it and see how you can benefit from it. And if you decide to succeed through New Atlantis, I think the project offers a great potential to do so. 

As far as the “Mensa” membership is concerned, Vladimir Balanov has given his promise that everyone who later takes the test and gets a score higher than 148 points, will automatically become part of a privileged group.

New Atlantis is a project which all entrepreneurs and brave people are welcome to join. I read a very interesting article that identified 16 types of geneus. One can be a genius sports player or entrepreneur, but what is most important is to try new things. Here, we are trying something new that many different types of people can benefit from. And it they realize this, it would be great. 

"I see a bright future for Bulgaria,” Sergey’s funny caption below his picture in a street in Austria, bearing our country’s name.

Or maybe by participating in the New Atlantis project, some people might rediscover themselves; find new possibilities that they never thought of before?

I honestly hope so. This is not a conventional country. We are not working to create a social policy or anything of that sort. This is indeed an interesting and unprecedented opportunity. And it is happening in a very interesting time which allows for all the innovations that we are zeroing in on such as a cryptocurrency and an electronic government. The project is progressive enough to incorporate a wide spectrum of people that could identify themselves as part of it.

Maybe those that don’t know what a cryptocurrency is, would start to ask more questions? They shouldn’t be embarrassed to ask about things that they don't know, right?

To tell you the truth, I too don’t know anything about cryptocurrencies, but I would definitely use one. You don’t need to understand something in order to use it, right? The important thing is to trust the people that do understand it and those that you believe in.

Vladimir Balanov, a Principal by Accident

Vladimir Balanov

Club Z magazine, jule 2015

Boryana Antimova

The incredible story of a Bulgarian who on his own founded “the country of smart people” on an island in the Pacific Ocean.

“Do you have any idea how much this island costs? Take a guess… Billions? No, no, more, much more than this,”Blanov laughs. The estimation of the geologists that checked it out is that the island itself i is worth 5 trillion dollars in terms of resources and materials. And I wanted to offer all of this as a gift to Bulgaria, but the people in charge did not recognize the opportunity.”

“If at first, the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it,” said Einstein. This motto fully applies for the lawyer and economist Vladimir Balanov, who as of May 22nd, 2015 is officially a Principal. This is when the New Atlantis Principality is officially registered; the country that Bulgarian founds on the island of YNJI in the Pacific Ocean. An island that he conqueres in accordance with all maritime law regulations such as an expedition to seize the territory, flag-planting, footage, legalization by a notary, creation and legalization of a constitution, setting the foundation of a new country...

A republic?! Yeah, right, and vote rigging!

“Honestly, I have never suspected or dreamed to become a Principal, I did it unwillingly and at a pretty serious age,”Balanov shares laughingly with “Club Z.” “My proposals to join the island to the overseas territory of Bulgaria and that of the European Union were all in vain. Nobody wants it. So, however conceited this mind sound, you are already talking to the Principal of New Atlantis. I too feel kind of uncomfortable with it. My wife makes fun of me, “What were you thinking, becoming a Principal at the age of 57. ” I told her, well, I need this in order to realize an economic project of mine.

A republic?! Yeah, right, and to have someone come and bring me romas that are twice the number of my citizens, to take out the beer and sausages, dethrone me and take over the island?! Do I look that stupid?! Look at what happened in our country for the past quarter of a century, every four years new people come into power and everyone steels to take care of his own well-being. And for the last year, the government is taking out insane loans to finance the future elections… This is our version of democracy.”

An image from a NASA satellite showing the location
of the pumice island of YNJI.

The preface: being the first to take action

“I didn’t buy the island,” Balanov starts telling the story. “ I discovered it online in May last year.”

The entrepreneur finds out that resulting from the biggest eruption in the last thousand years, that of the Monowai Volcano, a big floating pumice island was formed about a 1000 km east of New Zealand’s coast with a territory of 27 thousand square kilometers, equal to that of Israel or Belgium.

“The island shows up in international waters, gets detected by NASA and they start taking pictures of it since its birth. It keeps growing and expanding because of the eruption underneath. Geologists, navy and air forces from New Zealand and Australia visit the island. Journalists are taking pictures and writing about it, the geologists are digging, taking samples, examining them… And in all this excitement they all miss one “tiny” detail, that nobody has claimed the island. I checked it out myself, it really doesn’t belong to anyone…”

What matters the most for the experienced entrepreneur are not the 27 000 square kilometers of land or pumice that nobody seems to be interested in, but the adjacent waters. Within a radius of 12 miles, territorial waters have formed. Within an even bigger radius of 200 miles these waters are considered an economic zone. Everything discovered in this territory from fish to oil and gas resources is a property of the country. These riches are scattered in an area of 780 thousand square meters, 1.5 times the size of the Black Sea, or that of France and England together.

Formed by the eruption in 2012 and now territory of the
New Atlantis Principality, this is what the island of YNJI looks like.

It gets even more absurd

„I wanted to give all this to our country, to those smart-asses, the high-level clerks that didn’t even read a single page of my proposal. What is worse, a while ago they sent some clerks with a document from the Council of Ministers for signing a commission contract, guaranteeing themselves a bright future. Some deal. And of course, I chased them away,”Balanov says with indignation.

On July 1, 2014 he writes a letter to the Council of Ministers. No reply. As late as the 29th of September the same year when the article about the island became public, he received the following reply from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Mr. Balanov, the island is yours to take care of, it is a private property and you can administer it in whatever way you want. We cannot take it, since it does not have any inhabitants and it is not urbanized.” “So what do they expect? That I would build a 3, 5 or 7-star hotel on it? Obviously, it is not suited for planting tomatoes, what matters is the economic zone around it,” Balanov comments.

Not a word, nor a sound from the EU

After the Bulgarian government makes it clear that it doesn’t want the island, Balanov redirected his proposal to the EU. He addresses a general letter to Martin Schultz, Chairman of the European Parliament, Jean-Claude Juncker, Chairman of the EC, his First Deputy, Frans Timmermans, Kristalina Georgieva and Herman von Rompuy, then Chairman of the European Council.

„This happened in December 2014 and so far, not a word, nor a sound,” the entrepreneur comments. In his official speech, published on New Atlantis’ Facebook page, Balanov writes: ”I assume that the Bulgarian government and the European Commission have not replied yet since the joining of a new territory to a certain country means changing its constitution, and in the case of Bulgaria, this requires the summoning of the Great National Assembly.”

Ready with the flag, the logo and the stamp
of the New Atlantis Principality. 

Colonizing, like in an action movie

In April this year Balanov comes across the news that the Check Vit Jedlicka has founded the country of Liberlandia on 7 square kilometers of no-man’s land located on the Danube river between Serbia and Croatia, a land left unclaimed by accident after the fall of Yugoslavia. “This was what gave me the final push to act on it,” Balanov shares.

It turns out that Balanov hasn’t never visited his own island. “It’s 16 thousand kilometers away, I didn’t want to waste time on changing planes and ships. Pretending to be an action hero and visiting uninhabited islands is not my forte.,” the entrepreneur comments. In 2013 he organized his own expedition to the island and his people flag-planted а pennant of his company, called “Bulgaria.”

“Young boys, 20-30 years old, ex-navy seals went there. The flag-planting was documented and legalized by a notary, etc., hence the island was conquered. Then some friends of mine told me, “You’re crazy to wait for ours or the European governors! You don’t need to beg them for assistance and humiliate yourself?!” On January 12, 2014 Balanov defends his property rights in accordance with the international law jurisdiction and is officially proclaimed the island’s owner.

Finding the right guy

For all legal procedures Balanov is consulted by no other than Prof. Alexander Yankov, the top-ranked Bulgarian lawyer and renowned expert on International Law of the Sea. In 2012 Prof. Alexander Yankov became the head the International Law Association, the oldest professional organization for lawyers in the world, founded in 1873. This was announced at the 75th conference of the organization that was held in Sofia thanks to Prof. Yankov. The conference gathered the world’s most renowned experts on international law.

Vladimir Balanov and Prof. Yankov

22 may 2015. The constitution is allready legal.

The validation, one step at a time

Balanov is consulted by another great Bulgarian expert, Prof. Ivan Vladimirov who was the legal advisor for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Ministers during the Todor Jivkov administration. He was also the man in charge of all international treaties that Bulgaria made during the socialist period.

The entrepreneur follows the experienced lawyers’ advices step by step. Together they write a 12-page letter of intent addressed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria and respectively to the EU. In it they explain that this territory can be recognized by any European country, that according to the  International Law of the Sea it has adjacent territorial waters of 12 miles and an economic zone of 200 miles, and that everything located within the waters or their recesses, such as oil, gas, fish, etc., becomes a property of the country.

Making a country

After taking over the island, Prof. Ivan Vladimirov helps Balanov in the preparation of the new country’s constitution and all surrounding details. On May 22 they go to a notary and the Principality of New Atlantis is born. The new country is a political and economical union of a group of citizens who have their own government and are exercising a sovereignty upon a territory and its adjacent territorial waters and airspace.

In order for a country to be created, it needs to have a free territory (in this case, the island of YJNI), a group of citizens to execute the foundation of this country (which was done by constitution signing on May 22, 2015) and a government (which is already a fact.) In accordance with the international regulations it is also necessary to have recognition by another country and to establish mutual diplomatic relations.

“We are currently negotiating with governments in South America and the EU to recognize the country. And by the time your issue comes out, we should have already convinced them,” Balanov laughs.

The kingdom of beautiful minds

Balanov has named his Principality after the Ancient Atlantis, the most developed civilization the world has known. Following a natural catastrophe, the people from this “smart country” scatter all over the world. “My idea is for the new country’s judiciary constitution to attract the beautiful minds of today and to give them a chance to work together, while living wherever they want, but yet united in the virtual space. I offer them an economic potential that is forming around the island which they can govern as long as it is under my rules. Whoever gets caught stealing or embezzling, will be immediately removed,” the sovereign explains.

The first three citizens of the constitutional monarchy are the Principal, his wife Galina and their son Yordan. The Chairman of “Mensa Bulgaria” Hristo Radkov has also joined them. “He called me and said that he is ready to assist me in any way he can. Through “Mensa Bulgaria” I have sent invitations to all Bulgarian members of the organization, as to all “Mensa International” members and all Nobel prize winners. They have a high priority,” Balanov stresses on.

The constitution stipulates that everyone in the world that has presented a certificate for successfully taking the “Mensa” test can become a citizen of New Atlantis by right after submitting a written request. As for the right of a dual citizenship, Bulgarians don’t have a problem, although some other countries might experience difficulties with that.

Vladimir Balanov and the Chairman of Mensa - Bulgaria Hristo Radkov.

A cabinet full of potential

Hristo Radkov has accepted the position of Deputy Prime Minister of the new Principality. “I haven’t elected a Prime Minister yet, it will probably be my son Yordan, the heir to the throne. It makes sense. For now, I will only be teaching the prince and when the time of his succession comes, he can appoint whoever he wants. It will remain my duty for now,” the new monarch says.

Because of the specifics of the new country it will only have a few ministries; only those that will be in the best interest of the citizens, Internal and Foreign Affairs, Economics, Finance. “We won’t have a Ministry of Military Affairs, for we are a peaceful country,” Balanov explains.

The Principality already has a Minister of Maritime Affairs, Ioakeim Kalamaris, an ambitious Greek erudite, with a PhD in law and an expert on Maritime Transport, as well as a council representing Uruguay in Europe.

Science is the way to go

The Principality’s Academy of Science that will be created in lieu of a Ministry of Education will have special privileges. Besides two or three chairpersons, it will consist of the smartest people in the world. Prof. Alexander Yankov has already accepted and has been appointed as its Chairman. “I agree,” is Prof. Yankov’s reply to Balanov’s invitation of June 22. In it he wrote: “The Principality’s Academy will be the heart of the country and the driving force for realizing the island’s economic potential. Other scientists will also be invited to become members and present their ideas.”

Daniela Simidchieva, the smartest woman in the world, having an IQ of 192 points, has been invited to become the Academy’s a Co-Chairwoman. “Mrs. Simidchieva has a very positive attitude, the conversations that I have with her fill me with hope and optimism,” Balanov says.

Meanwhile requests to join coming from Bulgarians and foreigners from all over the world are piling in his Facebook profile and e-mail. “Together with my secretary, we are having a hard time reading and replying to all of them,”Balanov laughs. 

Vladimir Balanov and Daniela Simidchieva - the smartest woman in the world.

A monarch with a democratic vision

Principal Balanov’s vision for New Atlantis is a very bold one. He has developed four models for development. According to the first one, everyone who becomes a citizen of the country is obliged to register in its social network, which is already online at: www.IQ140.eu.

Immediately after joining every members automatically receives around 500 principal dollars, electronic money similar to bitcoin issued by the Central Bank of the Principality. Every “Mensa International” member or Nobel Prize winner is entitled to 3 times as much, around 1500 principal dollars.

The idea is for this network to grow and develop as the country does and to eventually reach a number close to that of Facebook users. Balanov and his team are determined to create the second biggest virtual country in the world.

How to increase the traffic of a social network

IQ140 will be the property of all its participants, the citizens of New Atlantis. As opposed to other social networks where the shareholders are financial institution while most members have no shares or economic gain, the profit from IQ140 will turn into shares for the citizens. This way everyone will have a greater motivation to be socially active. 

The Principal is looking for programmers to develop and maintain the network, as well as for hackers and bitcoin specialists. They will only be hired after a personal recommendation from someone that the Principal trusts. The requirements for the job, apart from specific skills, will also include honesty, integrity and loyalty to the Principal and the community.

Vladimir Balanov (in the midle) together with the
creators of the New Atlantis Principality’s logo,
Georgi Chapkanov and Todor Vardzhiev.

A monarchy with well defined property rights

Balanov has developed a plan for creating a joint-stock company where every citizen has the right to purchase shares. The amount collected with those shares will be country’s starting capital and the foundation for the development of the social network and the economic zone.

The social network will be owned by this company. The country will authorize it to govern and exploit the natural resources in the economic zone, the territorial waters of New Atlantis. The yearly revenue for each citizen will be determined by the effectiveness of the super-managers that the Principal will choose together with the citizens.

 A plan for stabilizing the EU

As a Bulgarian and a EU citizen, the Principal has developed an ambitious plan to solve its economic challenges. He offers 4 trillion dollars secured by New Atlantis to reboot the stagnant EU market.

“The island’s economic potential together with its territorial waters amounts to about 100 trillion dollars. We can create a joint-stock company with the island, the EU and its 28 member states as participants, or in other words, a total of 30 shareholders,” Balanov says. His idea is for every shareholder to receive 3,3 % form the company or shares worth around 1 trillion. The European Central Bank can also join as the 31st shareholder by buying shares for 4 trillions.

Balanov offers to divide this money three ways, 1 trillion for the shareholders and the rest into two funds. The first one will pertain to infrastructural projects from the “Juncker” plan; the second one will be to print out 3000 euro vouchers for every EU citizen that would be used for buying European products to boost the economy.

Balanov proposes to sell the remaining one per cent to the European Central Bank for 180 billion euro, so that it can finance 3 research centers, one in his hometown of Svishtov, one in Thessaloniki where his son graduated and is perceived by Balanov as an excellent center for higher education, and one in Germany, the Principal’s favourite country. The idea is for those centers to attract the world’s best scientists.

… and for changing the world

Principal Balanov is currently determined to recruit enough beautiful minds, and honest and worthy citizens. The requirements are to have at least a high school degree, no convictions and to not be fugitives from justice in their home countries.

“The world is facing a Third World War, even Pope Francis announced it in an official ceremony,” Balanov comments.“Eventually the military reach the battlefields to erase all the bad credit. Don’t forget that If the battle field is transferred to the virtual space, it’s the smart people that create all missiles and manage all the banking software. Do you realize that if a war does begin, these bright minds can redirect any launched missile and clear our every idiot’s bank account? This is why I am looking for well intentioned super-specialists, so that we can create something together for the greater good… Yes, I have been told that I am crazy. But as you probably know, the crazy ones are the ones making the world go round.”

23 years of free market

Vladimir Balanov does agree that if he didn’t have such an impressive entrepreneurial experience, many people would be sceptical towards his endeavor.

He was born on August 22, 1957 in Svishtov. He has an economics and legal education. He has been an entrepreneur since 1991. “I have been part of the free market for 23 years. My office consists of two desks. This is how I am used to, I keep the papers of certain companies on the first one and those of others on the second one,” the entrepreneur shares.

He is one of the first people to have worked in the insurance holding “Bulgaria”. It consists of a bank, an insurance and a life insurance company, and a pension and a privatization fund carrying the same name. The privatization fund is subsequently registered as the Industrial Holding “Bulgaria” where Balanov is a Chairman of the Supervisory Board and a general manager of several companies.

“I then relocated to a private family company. Now, I have several companies dealing with trade. Nothing that really stands out. Of course, I am supporting my family,” Balanov adds modestly. He owns several companies in the country, among which the ex export trade company for pharmaceuticals, “Maimex”.