At UNWE, the “National Intellectual Property Map of the Republic of Bulgaria” Was Presented

On 30 April 2025, at 11:30 a.m., in Aula Maxima of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), the first-of-its-kind “National Intellectual Property Map of the Republic of Bulgaria” was presented.

The event was attended by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, representatives of the diplomatic corps and academic circles, regional governors, mayors, and others.

The map has been published on the university’s official website. It was developed by UNWE and the Institute of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer “Prof. Dr. Borislav Borisov”, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nikolay Krushkov, with the participation of 31 researchers from UNWE. The project was carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, the National Statistical Institute, the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, and the National Association of Chairpersons of Municipal Councils in the Republic of Bulgaria, based on a six-party agreement.

The research examines intellectual property in the Republic of Bulgaria through 23 indicators, down to the municipal level, covering all 265 municipalities. Thanks to the broad cooperation between state institutions, local authorities, and UNWE, official data has been compiled, processed, and analyzed regarding economic development, industrial property, and literary and artistic ownership in the country. Also presented were the first IP indexes ever published for Bulgaria.

The video presentation of the large-scale research project featured AI-generated virtual avatars as presenters.

In his address to the audience, President Rumen Radev stated that science, inventions, innovation, and technology transferare the driving forces of progress and allow the state to move along an upward trajectory. He recalled that four years ago, together with the Patent Office, a 40-year-old tradition was revived: the inscription of distinguished Bulgarian inventors and innovators into the “Golden Book of the Patent Office.”
He added that two years ago, he invited the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), António Campinos, to the ceremony in the Coat of Arms Hall, and in 2024, he accepted Campinos’s invitation to attend the 50th anniversary of the signing of the European Patent Convention, where he was the only president present at the conference held at EPO headquarters in Munich.

“All patent applications, inventions, and trademarks are an expression of a nation’s ambition for the place it seeks to occupy on the geopolitical map of innovation,” the President stated during the presentation of the National Intellectual Property Map of the Republic of Bulgaria.

He expressed satisfaction with the results, noting that they provide opportunities for strategic vision and operational solutions.

“We stand in the field of ‘timid innovators’—we do not invest enough,” he added. According to him, Bulgaria invests three times less in R&D than the EU average.

“We should be grateful to the private sector for striving to fill the gap and investing in place of the state,” Radev said.

He emphasized that the state should play a much stronger role, and universities should pursue greater innovation.

In his address to the attendees, the Rector of UNWE, Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, recalled the words of Goethe, “Light. More light!”—paraphrasing: “More academic light!” He also quoted Prof. Deming: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

At the presentation of the National Map, the President of the Patent Office, Eng. Olya Dimitrova, as the head of one of the partner institutions in the project, emphasized that this is the first time that joint data is available on industrial property, along with information on activities related to copyright and related rights.

She commented on both the positive and negative trends in the field of industrial property, and following the spirit of the research team’s recommendations, made two proposals:

1. To develop a long-term National Intellectual Property Strategy, and
2. To add a module to the Map covering geographical indications for craft and industrial products, in order to include all traditional crafts and ensure their timely registration at EU level.

According to Mehti Melikov, Director of the Copyright and Related Rights Directorate at the Ministry of Culture, the potential of the National IP Map is enormous.

He added that it serves as a shield, identity, and a marker of a country’s level of economic development, and holds strong potential for policy development.   

Summary of the National Intellectual Property Map of the Republic of Bulgaria