Delegations from the Ministry of Innovation and Growth and Plovdiv Municipality visited CPSBB as a part of the innovation policy of the Bulgarian government

 

Delegations from the Bulgarian Ministry of Innovation and Growth, headed by the Minister, Mrs. Milena Stoycheva, and Plovdiv Municipality, presented by the Deputy Mayor, Mr. Stefan Stoyanov, visited CPSBB and met with the Management of the Center – Prof. Dr. Tsanko Gechev (Director) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vesela Kazashka (Head of Administration). The visit was part of the state policy for innovations which aims at bridging the gap between research, technological development and industrial policy for innovation development, based on fundamental and applied science.

Prof. Dr. Tsanko Gechev presented the PlantaSYST project and its crucial significance for the Bulgarian science, as it is one of the 11 successful European projects and the only one Bulgarian project in the field of plant biology, approved for funding by the European commission within the Teaming action of the “Horizon 2020” programme.

The Director of CPSBB presented also the fundamental and applied research, conducted at CPSBB. The departments of the Center, the current and future research projects, the metabolomic and bioinformatic services, as well as the technology transfer activities and funding policy of the independent research institute were main focuses of the presentation.

Mrs. Milena Stoycheva was impressed by the initiative of the Management, as well as the research activities and technological equipment of CPSBB. She expressed interest in different possibilities for commercialization of the research at the Center, as well as readiness to present the Center abroad as a successful Bulgarian scientific project with a potential for business development and business partnerships with industry.

The Minister visited the greenhouses of the Center where Prof. Gechev presented her some of the current scientific projects conducted by the researchers at CPSBB, related to the development of molecular priming with natural products, as well as improvement of the yield and stress tolerance to abiotic stress of economically important crops – tomatoes, peppers, and maize (the projects CropPrime, NatGenCrop, and BOOSTER).