In a nutshell, the conclusions from the workshop are as follows:

Knowledge transfer is an emerging issue in Western Balkan countries. Of the countries involved in this workshop, Serbia stands out as most developed in terms of research, KT and KT policies. In all Western Balkan countries, KT policies need to be assessed against a particular background as they are young democracies which are still developing their institutions and which have a relatively low priority for research, innovation and KT.

Albania has 47 universities, national strategies targeting KT and IP management, and national R&D programmes. Patent applications in Albania have increased starkly since 2001. However, KT offices and activities still need to be developed.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is suffering from detrimental political and economic circumstances after the civil war. While there was considerable research and KT before the war, both are hardly existing in the country today, and for political decision makers it has low priority.

The FYR of Macedonia lost large parts of its industrial base in the past 20 years, and academic research and innovation activities also declined. KT is largely taking place informally. However, there are political activities to improve innovation and KT.

In Montenegro, while IP legislation has been put in place, the topic of IP is insufficiently present in the universities. This is due to a lack of interest and lack of funds. However, there are some individual KT activities undertaken by professors. The industrial property office is a major driver of developing KT in Montenegro.

Serbia has a considerable KT infrastructure of PROs, technology parks, start-up support centres, and two KTOs. There are some examples of successful KT, and a legal and policy framework for IP and KT that is becoming more and more comprehensive.  

The Knowledge Transfer Study 2010-2012 is a project on behalf of the European Commission, Directorate-General Research and Innovation. The event in Tirana was part of a series of workshops covering 38 European countries.

Further information is available here: Tirana, 13 June 2012: Knowledge Transfer from Universities and Public Research Institutes: Approaches for Developing Intellectual Property Management

Summaries and presentations of all workshops are available at the study’s website here: http://knowledge-transfer-study.eu/norm/workshops/

Source: Stefan Lilischkis, empirica