Институционално патентно заявителство от академичните институции в България 1990-2025
Institutional Patent Application from Academic Institutions in Bulgaria 1990 – 2025

Author(s): Nadya Denkova
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Economy, Education, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, National Economy, Business Economy / Management, Higher Education , Law on Economics
Published by: Университет за национално и световно стопанство (УНСС)
Keywords: patents; patent applications; academic institutions; technology transfer
Summary/Abstract: The paper presents an analysis of institutional patent applications from Bulgarian academic institutions—universities and institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences—for the period 1990–2025. Out of 15,066 patent applications filed in Bulgaria during the period under review, academic institutions have filed only 871 applications, which is less than 10% of all applications. Of the 871 applications filed, academic institutions have 160 active patents (18.48%), with the main reason for the low number of active patents being non-payment of annual fees rather than rejection by the Patent Office. The academic institutions with the highest number of applicants are the institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, specifically the Institute of Robotics (148 applications, 48 patents) and the Institute of Solid State Physics (50 applications, 28 patents). Among the universities, the Technical University of Sofia has the largest number of valid patents and patent applications (22 patents out of 114 applications). The trends outlined are based on various political and economic factors, such as changes in the structures of academic institutions in the 1990s, limited funding for research in Bulgaria, institutional focus on publications rather than patent activity, etc.

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