site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian-Scandinavian Forum Looks at Cooperation between Universities, Private Sector

A joint Bulgarian-Scandinavian seminar on Cooperation between the Universities of the Future and the Private Sector was held in Sofia on Thursday. The forum was opened by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in the presence of Education and Science Minister Nikolai Denkov.

The forum was organized by the embassies of Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden, together with the Education and Science Ministry, the Innovation and Growth Ministry and the Representation of the European Commission in Sofia.

Petkov said that no economy can grow if there is no connection between universities and businesses. In his words, without inventions and good education, there can be no innovation, and innovation can be applied to life through business.

The link between innovation and business can be achieved by having businesses go to universities with real problems, and then scientists themselves can make their own inventions, solving these real problems, the Prime Minister said. That is why businesses must be part of the academic community from the very beginning, as well as the academic community must continue to work with businesses in a continuous relationship, striving to solve real problems.

Petkov expressed hope that the Government will soon be exactly this platform that will bring the two interests together for Bulgaria's progress.

Education and Science Minister Nikolai Denkov said Bulgarian universities would be financed even more actively to cooperate with business and to contribute to economic innovation through their research. Considerable funding for research and innovation is envisaged in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Programme for Research, Innovations and Digitalisation for Intelligent Transformations, the National Science Fund, national research programmes and the Roadmap for Research Infrastructure of the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2020-2027. 

Denkov said that unlike 10-15 years ago, now there is financing for research. The financing for higher education has increased by nearly 13 per cent in 2022 and has grown by over 50% in the last five years.

European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel said in a video address that close co-operation between higher education institutions and industry is crucial and "it is important to ensure that higher education graduates are ready for work, which cannot be done without knowing what skills the private sector needs."

The European Commissioner shared initiatives she is working on related to education. One of them is European support from 2023 for the development of incubators within higher education institutions, in close cooperation with the business sector. This will help student entrepreneurs to develop their ideas in enterprises.

Teppo Heiskanen, Director for Advancement and Corporate Engagement at Aalto University, said the system in Finland requires lecturers to seek external financing. While base salaries are paid from the university's budget, lecturers need to show initiative and find companies to finance their research.

The participants in the discussion concurred that business should seek cooperation with academia on innovative projects important to it, and that lecturers and scientists should also be proactive in seeking contacts.