The Carol Knowledge Foundation and Sofia Tech Park have named the winners of the “Entrepreneurs in Science” competition. The two organizations are partners in a program to train researchers in areas such as business skills and technology transfer. The jury, which included lecturers from the program, praised the projects of Eng. Nedislav Veselinov and Dr. Ilian Popov. They share the grand prize of 30,000 BGN .
Sofia Tech Park gave the opportunity to all participants in the program to use a free workplace in the Coworking Space of the Science and Technology Park, which will be opened at the beginning of 2020. Those awarded in the first three places will be able to use a workplace, where to develop their projects for 6 months, as well as the opportunity to meet with teams from the Park’s Laboratory Complex. All other participants in the program will receive a free workspace for 3 months, as well as a coaching session for their projects.
Innovation Starter will provide participants with Bronze tickets for the Innovation Explorer conference, which will be held on 20.02.2020.
The awards will be formally awarded on January 23rd, 2020. A PhD scholarship from the Carol Knowledge Foundation will then be given as well.
Eng. Nedislav Veselinov is a PhD student at the Faculty of Physics at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. During the competition he presented a project for the Experimental Design Bureau “Photonica”, which created the first Bulgarian aviation simulator – PHOTONICA.
The simulator works well and it is being used for fun and training. It is located in the Russian Cultural and Information Center. The project, which will be funded with the prize money, is the Planetarium in Sofia.
Dr. Ilian Popov is a Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems “Acad. Evgeni Budevski” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His project is a Magnesium-Air Environmental Battery for industrial applications. During the competition, he showed a working prototype of a battery that uses salt water to produce electricity, air and cheap, bio-safe metal – Magnesium. The prototype is being developed for industrial purposes – application in electric sea / river transport.
The Carol Knowledge Foundation competition featured 14 scientists and researchers with their own business projects based on their scientific developments, which were presented with a business pitch. The jury was in the role of the investors who decide which project to support. The two winners stood out not only with their projects but also with excellent and interesting presentations. “If you think that scientists are making boring and incomprehensible presentations, the participants in Entrepreneurs in Science will surprise you pleasantly”, commented Milena Petkova, executive director of the Carol Knowledge Foundation. The jury was impressed by the demonstration of the project by engineer Nedislav Veselinov, who was presented through a drone management system.
Dr. Ilian Popov also involved the jury in his business idea by showing a working prototype of the Magnesium-Air environmental battery and demonstrating how safe it is and what its benefits are. Magnesium is 1000 times more abundant in the Earth’s crust and oceans than lithium, and is harmless to the human body.
A temporary VR geolaboratory was also installed in the hall, which is part of the project of eng. Tanya Slavova. She has doctoral scholarship from the Carol Knowledge Foundation as a doctoral student at UACEG and is now a lecturer at MSU – Sofia. Participants in the competition and members of the jury strolled virtually in the Sofia subway. The project allows students to study and explore objects without leaving the classrooms.
Each of the projects presented in the competition was evaluated by the jury as significant and with potential for practical application.
Check out project and participants here.