Transferring knowledge to the business sector is the strategic mission of the University of Ljubljana

The Knowledge Transfer Office of the University of Ljubljana acts as a bridge between the fields of research and business. We support researchers and students with ideas and potential innovations, while also acting as an access point for companies on the lookout for technology, knowledge, or project partnerships.

Our main objective is to encourage and support various forms of knowledge transfer to the business sector and thus society. As part of the University of Ljubljana, the Knowledge Transfer Office is active in the following areas:

Cooperation with industry

We are the UL’s one stop shop – entry point for companies and organisations that wish to cooperate with the University of Ljubljana. We aim to advance the commercialisation of knowledge and R&D cooperation, and we link companies with experts from our member faculties (23 faculties and three academies), locating the relevant knowledge and research infrastructure.

Intellectual property protection

All forms of knowledge transfer are tied to intellectual property. The Office conducts the acquisition of service inventions and provides legal protection for inventions and other forms of the University’s knowledge. The University’s knowledge is thus protected from unauthorised use by third parties, which ensures our competitive advantage on the market.

Intellectual property commercialisation

The Office also strives to bring each new invention to life. For each product or technology, we locate suitable business partners who will successfully market the invention and create added value.

Fostering entrepreneurship and establishing spin-out companies

Establishing spin-out and start-up companies is an important form of transferring knowledge to the business sector. We encourage researchers to take this step when their product or service represents complete novelty, or when they are driven to embark on an entrepreneurial path.

Our employee and student services

  • We help identify potential innovations;
  • we advise on patentability;
  • we conduct the acquisition of service inventions;
  • we advise on an intellectual property protection strategy;
  • we manage patent applications and the acquisition of other industrial property rights;
  • we assist in promotion and identification of industrial partners;
  • we manage negotiations of the conclusion of licence or assignment contracts;
  • we help establish spin-out companies in collaboration with the Ljubljana University Incubator (LUI);
  • we provide legal assistance in drafting R&D contracts;
  • we carry out training on the legal protection and marketing of intellectual property;
  • we raise employee awareness regarding the importance of intellectual property at the University of Ljubljana;
  • we advise on copyright matters.

Our services for the industry

  • We locate suitable expertise or technology;
  • we promote development challenges of companies among researchers;
  • we locate suitable research infrastructure.

The Consortium for technology transfer from public research organisations to the economy sector – KTT (2017-2022)

The University of Ljubljana was selected via public tender by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport to promote knowledge transfer through the activities of a technology transfer office, which is partly funded by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. This operation is being carried out as part of the Operational Programme for the Implementation of the European Cohesion Policy in the Period 2014-2020 Priority Axis 1 “Strengthening research, technological development and innovation”.

The objective of the project is to promote connections and cooperation between public research organisations (PRO) and the business sector, and to strengthen the competencies of technology transfer offices (TTO), researchers, and companies. The project aims to strengthen the commercialisation of existing scientific solutions, and to stimulate demand and development competencies. In this way, transfer of scientific discoveries from PRO to companies is stimulated with the goal of further development and commercialisation, which contributes to the public benefit and represents commercial use strengthening social wellbeing and generating new value. The goal is to make new technologies available to the broad public and commercial entities – to present knowledge and technology transfer activities and the activities of the Consortium and its partners, to unite stakeholders involved in the knowledge and technology transfer process, and to provide a pooled overview of what Slovenian PRO offer to companies.

In the framework of the project, the technology transfer offices of the University of Ljubljana, the Jožef Štefan Institute, the University of Maribor, the University of Primorska, the National Institute of Biology, the National Institute of Chemistry, the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, and the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo Mesto have formed the Consortium to provide high-quality, efficient, and professional support to researchers and companies in Slovenia.

The investment is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.

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Guide to knowledge transfer at the University of Ljubljana.

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