I'm Tamara Besednjak Valič and I'm a Senior Research Fellow at Rudolfovo. I am the head of the Commission for the Election to Titles and I am also a member of the Scientific Council. During my career, I have worked as a visiting researcher with the University of Reno, USA (2012), the University of Bologna, Italy (2012) and LINK campus University, Italy (2022).

Over the years, I have been involved in more than 10 international projects, in different roles (project author, project leader, project work leader, etc.). These projects have addressed the topics of regional development, the role of innovation in this, technology transfer and academia-industry collaboration, both substantively and practically. For almost a decade, I have been working with Dolenjska academic institutions as a project manager and associate professor, demonstrating a strong commitment to the development of the Dolenjska region. I am the recipient of the Nahtigal Award for Research Achievement for 2024.

In my publications, alone or with co-authors, I focus on collaboration between academia and industry. We explore key innovation policies, legal frameworks and R&D funding that affect knowledge and technology transfer. We emphasise the importance of a stable legal environment, intellectual property protection and skilled human resources, with less competitive countries hampered by brain drain. We are further developing possible scenarios for the development of cooperation between academia and industry that fit with the evolution of the innovation ecosystem. My latest focus is on the bioeconomy.

At Rudolfovo, I am also involved in the Open Science Working Group, where we are implementing business processes that are consistent with the principles of open science as outlined by UNESCO, the European Commission and the Law on Scientific Research and Innovation (ZZrID). Thus, by the end of the transition period, we will have implemented the required organisational changes and ensured that our employees are properly educated at Rudolfovo.

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