On December 3, the opening of the Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) took place at the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. The university was visited by a delegation of the State Organization "Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations" headed by Igor Parenchuk, Deputy Director of UNOIPI.

The meeting began with welcoming remarks by Nataliia Savina, Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations, and Viktor Moshynskyi, Rector of the NUWEE. The Memorandum of Cooperation between the UNOIPI and the NUWEE was signed, as well as an institutional agreement on the procedure for the creation and further functioning of the Center for Technology and Innovation Support.

In a presentation on TISC activities, Igor Perenchuk reported that the Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) is an international project to support invention, innovation, and startup projects, initiated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The TISC network is international, and includes 44 TISCs in Ukraine, which are created on the basis of HEIs. He also spoke in general about the main areas of UNOIPI's work in the field of developing the national innovation ecosystem. Anastasia Yarmoliuk, Igor Shevchenko, and Yuliana Zukh-Kipriianova shared their experience of cooperation with existing centers in Ukraine and the results of cooperation in their presentations. They also reported on the main opportunities that NUWEE receives by implementing the Center's activities. Under the signed agreement, UNOIPI carries out the following activities at NUWEE on the basis of the created TISC:

• organizes the provision of TISC with access to patent and non-patent information resources (access to which is provided free of charge by the owner/rights holder);
• organizes, including with the support of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), activities to inform, raise public awareness and promote, in particular information and knowledge in the field of intellectual property and innovation activities, which are distributed within the framework of the services provided by TISC;
• promotes the promotion of TISC activities and services;
• creates a website/website section dedicated to the activities of the TISCs network;
• promotes the development of communication tools between members of the TISCs network;
• participates in the improvement of the qualifications of TISC staff in the field of intellectual property and innovation activities, including on the basis of WIPO distance learning modules.

In turn, TISC, established on the basis of the NUWEE  is responsible for the following areas:

• organizes and participates in information, educational and promotional activities regarding intellectual property and innovation activities;
• increases the professional competence of TISC employees;
• promotes the promotion of information products and services of the national system of legal protection of intellectual property;
• promotes the holding of events in which TISC participates jointly with the institutions of the national system of legal protection of intellectual property, through organizational and informational support;
• promotes communication, exchange of information and experience between members of the TISC network;
• ensures mandatory completion of WIPO distance learning courses by TISC staff, established on the basis of NUWEE.

The Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) was opened on the basis of the Center for Innovation and Grant Activities of the NUWEE (office 355).

The activities of the Center are coordinated by Vita Chaban, and the employees are involved in the implementation of the tasks assigned to the TISC.

Vita CHABAN,
Centre of Innovation and Technology Transfer