Предприемачески истории от един елитен технологичен университет в България
Entrepreneurial Histories from an Elite Technological University in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: The article outlines the stories of several academic entrepreneurs in a large provincial university. They relate the story of their lives as scientists, telling about the organization of applied activity in the university, and what has motivated them in their work over the past twenty years. The first and last story are similar but end differently for the researchers, who, in the 1980s, did research in the forefront of science and whose work could then compare with the best world achievements in their fields. The stories in between are about the everyday activities of scientists who, in the years of socialism, had to earn their salaries through contracts with industry, and for whom academic entrepreneurship is part of their identity as scientists. These scholars reveal the various paths by which they have defended and asserted this identity. The stories support the findings of the other articles in this thematic issue, but also reveal some new aspects of academic entrepreneurship in Bulgaria, and especially the everyday life of the scientist working in applied fields. Combined with future studies, these histories could contribute to a fuller understanding of this everyday activity and to the elaboration of adequate policies in this field.

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