Public Lectures

With the present series of lectures, the team of the “Jean Monnet” Centre of Excellence aims to support the researchers and students at the University of Plovdiv and the other universities in the city in connection with the challenges of building the new network of research universities in Bulgaria. The lectures are open both to the members of the academic community from University of Plovdiv, as well as to scholars and students from other Plovdiv universities, especially those from Plovdiv Medical University, which is the leading research university in the city. The center and its collaborators have accumulated experience in the field of sociology of innovation and economics of technical change, including management of applied research, technology transfer, academic entrepreneurship and creation of university spin-off companies, as well as the patent protection of scientific results. Part of this experience was also gained within the framework of the two projects “University Center for Transfer of Knowledge and Technology “Paldin” (financed by the Scientific Research Fund at “Paisii Hilendarski” University of Plovdiv, competition “Incubator for Science and Entrepreneurship” (2011-2012) and “Building the capacity for technology transfer in “Paisii Hilendarski” University of Plovdiv (Operational Programme “Developing the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy”, K-21-00- 9/02.10.2013, 2012-2015). The lectures aim to clarify the basics of the relationship between universities and companies from industry and other spheres of the economy and society, the main psychological, organizational-cultural and financial problems in this process, as well as the necessary steps to create an appropriate institutional, legal and organizational atmosphere at the university, stimulating academic entrepreneurship and technology transfer at the institutional level. Although efforts to stimulate academic entrepreneurship at Plovdiv University began as early as 2011, there is still a lot of work to be done. A key prerequisite for building an effective and sustainable entrepreneurial environment is that scientific and applied activity and the transfer of technologies, as its foundation, be placed in a strategic context and a climate of motivation, empowerment and vote of confidence of the immediate executors – from the students and PhD students to the professors. The successful realization of the mission of the research university – measured by the number of patents, start-ups, publications in peer-reviewed journals in Q1 and Q2 and other indicators, implies the creation of conditions facilitating initiative and self- organization “from below” combined with high-quality financial, accounting, patent-legal and other services. And all this must be accompanied by continuous efforts to maintain and increase the quality of fundamental scientific research.