Objectives

The 17th edition of the conference is organized by partners from two national consortia of knowledge and technology transfer offices, representing 13 public research organizations. The Jožef Stefan Institute is serving as the leading responsible partner for the organization of the conference.

Our aim is to promote knowledge exchange between academia and industry, in order to strengthen the cooperation and transfer of innovations from research labs into industrial exploitation. Our goal is also further strengthening the knowledge base and experiences of technology transfer professionals at public research organisations. In the past events, we hosted more than 2500 participants, including investors, inventors, researchers, commercialization experts, start-up funders, industrial development experts etc. We have successfully organized several competitions to award the technology with the best business proposition, which led to successful start-ups and licensing contracts. Biannually we organise Research2Business (R2B) pre-scheduled meetings in order to give the participants additional opportunity to meet and discuss possible cooperation. Researchers presenting their work being financed by Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) is another channel for enterprises to get familiar with recent discoveries and development opportunities.

Conference Prize for the Best Innovation in 2024

The main objective of the special prize for innovation is to encourage commercialization of inventive/innovative technologies developed at public research organizations and to promote cooperation between research organizations and enterprises.

One of the main objectives is also promoting the entrepreneurship possibilities and good practices in the public research organizations.

Researchers are preparing business models for their technologies and will present them in front of an international expert panel in a pitch competition. However, they will need support in the form of commercial assistance and financial resources to bridge the gap to the market and establish a start-up company or license out their technology. How shall they do it?

Pitch competitions in the last years resulted in spin-out company creation or licensing case development in at least one case per competition each year. For more info about the prize click here.

WIPO National Award for Enterprises
The aim is to stimulate Slovenian enterprises to intensify their cooperation with public research organisations. We wish to expose as a good practice those enterprises that are constantly and methodologically using the IP system in their business activities. For more info about the award click here.

WIPO National Award for Inventors
The goal of the Medal is to award inventive and innovative activity of Slovenian public researcher and to recognize their contribution to national wealth and development. For more info about the award click here.  

Key Stakeholders
The conference will involve different key stakeholders in the process such as public research organizations as knowledge providers, technology parks as infrastructure providers, agencies, consultants, capital (VC, agencies, angels), SMEs, international enterprises, private innovators, etc.

Target Audience and Benefits
The target audience of the conference are technology transfer experts, researchers, students and post-graduate students with entrepreneurial ambitions, representatives of industry, established and future entrepreneurs, innovators and also representatives from governmental institutions and policy-making organizations.