Špela Stres

Dr. Špela Stres, CLP, LL.M., MBA is a Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) from the Jožef Stefan Institute, where she was a Founder and a Head of the Center for Technology Transfer and Innovation, with her main focus on enhancing innovation management capacity in SMEs and research organizations in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Licensing, Marketing, Technology Assessments, and Spin-out creation.

Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Ljubljana, a Master's Degree in Law in Intellectual Property from the University of Turin and the World Intellectual Property Office (Geneva), an Executive MBA from Cotrugli Business School (Lichtenstein), and a Patent Attorney Exam.

Chair of the ''EIC Marketplace'' Working group for the EISMEA. President of the I.FAST Steering Board and SI-TT Association of Technology Transfer Professionals in Slovenia. Member of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Board, the HL Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR) for the DG R&I, EARTO working groups (Impact, Legal, Task Force), PATLIB network at European Patent Office (EPO), Statistical Council for Research and Development Statistics and Technology (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia), LES Benelux, ASTP, EPS-TIG, HiPEAC, SATENA Academic Society and EARMA. National Delegate of the ERA Subgroup for Valorization and to the CERN KT Forum (and on Medical Applications).

Other current and past participation includes the European Research Council (program evaluator), High-Level 10-Member Group Technology Facilitation Mechanism at the United Nations, International Organization for Standardization (committee member), CERN Technology Transfer Network (board member), Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (external reviewer of Strategic Research and Development projects), Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (national knowledge transfer consortium coordinator), Enterprise Europe Network (national coordinator), European Committee for Standardization (working group member) META Group (exploitation strategy expert), Go:Global Slovenia programme (invited mentor).

With her expertise and experience, she contributes to the overall development of technology transfer in Slovenia and at the international level while cooperating with faculties as a guest lecturer on the fields of IPR, commercialization of inventions, and collaborations between industry and academia.

For her accomplishments, she received Recognition of Merit, Prometheus of Science, and HiPEAC 2018 Technology Transfer Award. She is fluent in Slovenian, English, Italian, Croatian, and German.