More than 350 participants in the third edition of “Science for Business”

A platform for cooperation with business, which will present the developments of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, is prepared by the Joint Innovation Centre of BAS. It will include a virtual demonstration centre with products and technologies of BAS, a registry with the Academy’s intellectual property and a virtual business incubator for start-up companies. The platform is part of the activities of BAS under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. This was announced by Marin Pandev, Director of the Joint Innovation Centre of BAS, at the Science for Business Forum held today at Inter Expo Center. The event was organised by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA).

Innovation tips for an effective link between BAS and business for accelerated implementation of innovations in the economy were presented by the Executive Director of BSMEPA Mr. Boyko Takov, PhD. It is envisaged that innovations based on business ideas will be developed in the Academy and will then receive their practical implementation. The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences should act as a development centre for small and medium-sized enterprises, Dr. Takov added.

Deputy Minister of Innovation and Growth Stefan Savov attended the opening of “Science for Business”. I hope this event will become a long-standing tradition because this is the right way to bridge the gap between the lab and the production of a final product, Deputy Minister Savov said. He added that the Ministry of Innovation and Growth encourages the synergy between science and business as much as possible and recalled that for the first time in Bulgaria there was a programme with a budget of over BGN 2 billion for interaction between business and science.

Our goal is to make a step towards the business but I hope that the business will also make a step towards us, said the President of BAS, Prof. Julian Revalski, Full Member of the Academy. He added that small and medium-sized enterprises are the most natural partners of scientific organisations. The “Research, Innovation and Digitalisation for Smart Transformation” programme gives companies the opportunity to get involved in research and development through various forms, said also Prof. Revalski and made a recommendation to expand the support tools of this programme. His suggestion is related to the possibility for scientific organisations and companies to jointly apply with developments. This is a form of support that exists in the EU and has proven its worth, added Prof. Revalski. BAS also has a policy of supporting research that leads to innovation, he said, adding that some of the Academy’s funds are allocated according to this criterion.

Over 350 people participated in the “Science for Business” Forum, which was jointly organized by BAS and BSMEPA for the third consecutive year. Scientists from the Academy’s institutes showed their latest developments, including technologies for battery and hydrogen storage of energy from RES; catalysts for the disposal of waste gases containing volatile organic compounds, developed using 3D printing; tests for recruitment, personnel assessment, leadership, team effectiveness, organisational culture and organisational resilience in crises, and much more.

Development of an innovative probiotic preparation with the potential to increase human immune resistance against viruses and pathogenic bacteria (LB BULGARICUM EAD and the Institute of Engineering Chemistry) and how business met science in the person of scientists from the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry were the successfully implemented projects presented.

In the expo area, the guests of the forum saw Bulgaria’s first hydrogen electric car; new sensor technology for seismically active areas; a device for rehabilitation of fingers after stroke; MAXIBOT and BABYBOT educational robots for children with special needs; innovative drones and many others.

Successful projects between science and business:

How business met science in the person of scientists from the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry

Lyubomir Aleksandrov, Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry

Development of an innovative probiotic preparation with the potential to increase human immune resistance against viruses and pathogenic bacteria

LB BULGARICUM EAD and Institute of Engineering Chemistry

The teams of BAS present scientific and applied technologies/projects:

●  Energy from renewable energy sources. Technologies for storage in batteries and hydrogen

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blagoy Burdin, “Acad. Evgeni Budevski” Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems

High-efficiency hydrogen electrochemical compressor

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Galin Borisov, “Acad. Evgeni Budevski” Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems

Method for preparation of innovative cross-linked membranes for hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hristo Penchev, Institute of Polymers

● New sensor technology applicable in seismically active regions

Acad. Chavdar Roumenin, Institute of Robotics

● Fast method for non-laboratory analysis of the quality of spirits

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Karekin Esmeryan, Institute of Solid State Physics

Beehive made of amorphous quartz ceramics

Prof. Dr. Lyuben Lakov, “Academician Angel Balevski” Institute of Metal Science, Equipment and Technologies with Centre of Hydro and Aerodynamics

Technologies for in vitro production of valuable medical plants

Sen. Asst. Prof. Krasimira Tasheva, PhD, Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics

Catalysts for the disposal of waste gases containing volatile organic compounds, developed by using 3D printing

Sen. Asst. Prof. Ralitsa Velinova, Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry

Waste biosludge treatment for microalgae cultivation

Dr. Venelin Hubenov, Institute of Microbiology

Traditional and new approaches for analysis of entropy and hierarchy (concentration) of information in dynamic economic and social systems

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ilian Petrov, Institute of Information and Communication Technologies

Anti-gamma mutant protein against endogenous human gamma interferon

Prof. Genoveva Nacheva, “Acad. Roumen Tsanev” Institute of Molecular Biology

Tests for recruitment, staff assessment, leadership, team effectiveness, organisational culture and organisational resilience in crises

Sen. Asst. Prof. Tsvetelina Panchelieva, PhD, Institute for Population and Human Studies

Expositions of developments / projects / services and bilateral meetings
The institutes of BAS present:

“Acad. Evgeni Budevski” Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Sytems

– Bulgaria’s first hydrogen electric car

·  Presentation of the Centre of Competence “HITMOBIL – Technologies and systems for clean energy generation, storage and consumption”. Services and Business Opportunities

– High efficiency hydrogen electrochemical compressor

 – Experimental cell for scaling up different electrode configurations to study and commercialize the MX-air system

Institute of Robotics “St. Ap. and Gospeller Matthew”

– New sensor technology for seismically active areas

– Device for rehabilitation of fingers after stroke

– MAXIBOT and BABYBOT educational robots for children with special needs

– Innovative drones

Space Research and Technology Institute

– Drone controlled over 5G network of mobile operators

– Integrated system for remote and ground monitoring of breeding experimental fields

“Acad. А. Balevski” Institute of Metal Science, Equipment and Technologies with Centre of Hydro and Aerodynamics 

– Beehive of amorphous quartz ceramics

“Stephan Angeloff” Institute of Microbiology

– Microbiology in the fight against plastic waste. Probiotics and prebiotics

Institute of Chemical Engineering

– Biochemical Engineering, Innovative Processes and Systems Engineering

Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics

– Microalgae and products from microalgae and in vitro plants

Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry

– Materials for Practice

 Joint Innovation Centre of BAS

Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) – the largest European network supporting SMEs for internationalisation, technology transfer, commercialisation and access to finance

K-TRIO European Researchers’ Night – an initiative to promote science and scientific developments. Building the education-science-business link