Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, as the leading partner in the Clean&Circle Center of Competence, and Sofiyska Voda AD, part of Veolia, took part in a meeting between SCIENCE and BUSINESS to share working best practices in technology transfer to industry.

The Supersonic Forum is Sofia Tech Park’s annual event for innovation, technology, and science. The second edition of Supersonic, under the theme TECH & KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER, took place on November 10 in the “John Atanasoff” Innovation Forum of the science and technology park. The event was dedicated to scientific and technological transfer – processes of critical importance for the development and commercialization of applied science in Bulgaria.

The goal of these forums is to build capacity in this field in the long term, as well as to improve the synergy between science and business with the aim of creating more Bulgarian innovative products and services that are competitive on global markets.

The conference was attended by 10 leading international experts, more than 20 representatives of venture capital investment companies, and over 50 leading Bulgarian scientists. During the business panel, the activities of more than 20 Bulgarian companies and their cooperation with research institutions were presented, while the exhibition “Made in Bulgaria 2.0” featured over 20 innovative products and services developed in Bulgaria.

Among the participants in the forum were Prof. DSc Yana Topalova and Vladimir Galabov, Senior Communications Manager at Sofiyska Voda AD, part of Veolia. They shared their experience with joint developments and their implementation in the production of an alternative energy source – biogas. The gas generated from surplus sludge covers 115% of the energy needs of the “Kubratovo” wastewater treatment plant. A deep technology developed at the Clean&Circle Center of Competence for automated control based on molecular fluorescence techniques was also presented, which will soon be patented and applied.

A proven model of joint educational technologies was also presented, which has been operating for more than 10 years and has delivered results – trained professionals developing high technologies in the fields of wastewater treatment, sludge-to-product conversion, and the ecological transformation of corporate activities in the spirit of achieving real and sustainable results in the circular economy.