The Slovenian and Croatian development banks and the European Investment Fund (EIF) signed an agreement in Ljubljana on July 26 to set up a regional technology transfer platform worth at least €40mn for investment in technology transfer, the EIF announced.

This is the first ever multinational platform for technology transfer in the European Union.

Slovenia’s SID Banka and Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) joined forces with the EIF, which is part of the European Investment Bank Group, to launch the Central Eastern European Technology Transfer (CEETT).

The platform will invest in venture capital funds and finance innovative technological research projects and the protection of the intellectual property of universities and research institutes in Slovenia and Croatia. It will also fund the commercialisation of scientific achievements and research projects,the EIF said in the statement.

The EIF estimates that the universities and research institutes in Slovenia and Croatia targeted by the platform will generate more than 350 patent applications and 100 spin-off companies in the next five years.

The platform will be the first in Slovenia and Croatia to offer financial assets, including equities, for the commercialisation of scientific research and innovation on the market. It will allow universities and research institutes to reach the same level of use and commercialisation of scientific achievements in business as that seen in the economies of Western Europe.

The CEETT will be established with a €20mn contribution from the EIF and €10mn from both SID Banka and HBOR.