In terms of technology transfer, Slovakia lags far behind not only Western states, but increasingly its closest neighbours, such as the Czech Republic and Hungary. (source: Courtesy of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University)
Infertility affects more than 48 million couples worldwide every year, and while in vitro fertilisation (IVF) assisted reproduction is still one of the most effective methods of treatment, its success rate is not high and varies depending on a number of factors.
But new technology, developed by a team including Slovak researchers, is helping to fundamentally increase the success rate.
The technology, developed by Pavol Jozef Šafárik University (UPJŠ) in Košice, Comenius University in Bratislava, and Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic, caught the eye of Czech financial holding FABA Capital, which negotiated a €441,000 contract for transfer of the rights to it.
Honey Laboratory
The laboratory developed an accredited method for determining the antibacterial properties of honey. Slovakia has become the first EU member state to offer an accredited method for determining the antibacterial activity of honey as a commercial service for beekeepers and consumers.
“The aim of our project was, on the one hand, to commercialise the results of research by providing laboratory testing of honey, but also to give the beekeeping community the opportunity to valorise their main bee product – honey – and at the same time give consumers the opportunity to obtain honey that has proven antibacterial potential,” Juraj Majtán of the Honey Laboratory.
This, however, was one of just a handful of intellectual property transfers from the Slovak academic sector in recent decades, highlighting what experts say is the country’s poor technology transfer system.
“Given the number of academic institutions and the number of scientific researchers, Slovak academic institutions should, every year, generate dozens of cases of successfully commercialised technologies in the form of transfer of rights or licensing of rights to use intellectual property,” Miroslav Kubiš, head of the Technology Transfer Department at the Education Ministry’s Centre for Scientific and Technical Information in Bratislava (CVTI SR), told The Slovak Spectator.
Experts blame vaguely worded legislation, and a lack of financial support and incentives for academic institutions for the low rate of technology transfers.
Natália Molnárová, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Manager at the Know-How Centre of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU), described technology transfers as a process of cooperation between stakeholders which should result in the successful commercialisation of an innovative technology.
But she added that “this is a developing story and Slovakia is just at the beginning of that story”.
The country, she notes, lags far behind not only Western states, but increasingly its closest neighbours, such as the Czech Republic and Hungary.
This is a problem because, as she explains, functioning technology transfers are the driving force behind a country’s innovation economy and have a positive impact on improving quality of life.
“In general, it enables competitiveness to be strengthened, regions to develop and societies to prosper,” said Molnárová.
