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- Friday, 12 December 2025
At the end of November, during the Open Day “Discover Clean&Circle”, the Competence Center officially presented its Technology Entrepreneurship Accelerator (TEA) for the first time. At the event, accompanied by demonstrations, presentations, and photo materials, guests had the opportunity to get an up-close look at the new structure that connects scientific developments with their future industrial applications.
The accelerator was officially presented by Yordan Zdravkov from CleanTech Bulgaria, who emphasized its role as a strategic instrument for the entire Clean&Circle ecosystem. “TEA is the platform that provides research teams not only with knowledge, but also with an environment, partnerships, and a real pathway to the market. Our goal is for innovations not to remain in laboratories, but to find application where they can create the greatest added value,” Zdravkov shared during the presentation.
What happens in the accelerator
The wide range of functions of the accelerator also explains its location in the largest shared space in the new Clean&Circle building. It was created to support teams at all stages of the development of their technological solutions – from the initial idea to preparation for technology transfer and meetings with investors. The programs in TEA are structured according to the level of technological readiness. The “Start” program (TRL 3) helps teams formulate their value proposition, identify initial market hypotheses, and plan intellectual property protection. The “Growth” program (TRL 3–5) develops more advanced projects through market validation, competitive analysis, and business modeling, while the “Scale-up” program (TRL 5–7) prepares technologies to move toward pilot testing and investor presentations, after which they are directed to the Clean&Circle unit responsible for technology transfer and commercialization.
3D printers in action
TEA works in close collaboration with the Prototyping Laboratory, where modern 3D printers, modeling software, and high-tech infrastructure turn ideas into physical prototypes. There, teams can rapidly experiment, test functionalities, and optimize the design of their developments, significantly accelerating progress toward higher levels of technological readiness.
The two units function in synergy: working models are created in the laboratory, while in the accelerator the business logic is developed, market applicability is validated, and the pathway of technologies to the market is planned. This integration enables researchers not only to demonstrate the real value of their prototypes, but also to strategically position them in line with the needs of industry, investors, and future users.
