The UNWE Institute and Department of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Deepen Their Cooperation with the German Innovation Ecosystem

A delegation from the Institute and Department of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at the UNWE has successfully concluded a week-long training programme at Campus Founders, a leading innovation and startup hub center in Heilbronn, Germany. The participation in the programme is part of the Institute's commitment to strengthening the innovation ecosystem in Bulgaria through the effective creation and management of intellectual property and aims to encourage the academic and professional development of the UNWE research team, with a focus on the development of startups, technology transfer, and innovation management.

The Campus Founders programme, which involved leading German experts and practitioners in the field of innovation, as well as representatives from Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Fraunhofer Joint Innovation Hub, TUM Venture Labs, and TUM ForTe, covered the following key areas:

• In-depth understanding of university-based startups and their classification models.
• Overview of the Heilbronn startup ecosystem and its stakeholders.
• German best practices in research transfer and IP strategy.
• Diverse funding models for science-based and university-originated startups.
• Ecosystem-building strategies directly applicable to the Bulgarian context.

The team of the UNWE Institute and Department of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer presented two of its own scientific products:

• University-Industry Technology Transfer Platform: An online portal that matches research innovations of UNWE to industry stakeholders across 18 sectors, enabling proactive technology transfer.
• Interactive National Intellectual Property Map of Bulgaria: A dynamic data visualization tool mapping national innovation activity to the municipal level, supporting R&D planning at the institutional and governmental level.

Both platforms were provided to Campus Founders and Fraunhofer Joint Innovation Hub for free academic and business use as a technology transfer object. This gesture is part of UNWE's efforts to promote the European cooperation in the field of knowledge transfer, as well as the open innovation within the EU.

The work programme concluded with a summary of the lessons learned and an emphasis on specific next steps for advancing the Bulgarian innovation ecosystem, and a willingness to deepen the cooperation with proposals for future joint activities was expressed.

The team of the UNWE Institute and the Department of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer expressed their gratitude to Mr. Oliver Hanisch (Executive Director of Campus Founders), Timo Visestamkul and to the entire Campus Founders training team for the excellent organization and fruitful week, as well as to all participating organizations, emphasizing that this cooperation is a model for knowledge exchange and institutional partnership, with expected long-term benefits for both the Bulgarian and European innovation environments.