ARC Fund — Bulgaria's Innovation Policy and Technology-Transfer Institute

The Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund) is a private, non-profit innovation-policy and research institute founded in Sofia in 1991, in the early years of Bulgaria's post-1989 transition. Over more than three decades it has positioned itself as the country's leading organisation for knowledge and technology-transfer brokerage, applied research, and innovation-policy advocacy.

ARC Fund was an early developer of Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) in Bulgaria and produces the annual Innovation.bg report, which assesses the innovation potential of the Bulgarian economy and makes public-policy recommendations; the European Commission has recognised Innovation.bg as a good national practice for promoting innovation. ARC Fund also runs an annual National Innovation Forum — the 21st edition took place in December 2025 — and an 'Excellence in Innovation' label recognising Bulgarian enterprises, with around 18 companies and finalists recognised in the 2025 'Innovative Enterprise of the Year' competition.

The organisation participates in a portfolio of EU-funded technology-transfer and innovation projects, including RTIT>> (accelerating research-to-innovation transfer in the Danube region), SustainX (sustainable digital innovation investment), SYNCLUSIVE (labour-market inclusion) and INSPIRE (participatory governance), positioning it within EU cross-border knowledge-transfer networks beyond Bulgaria's borders.

Why it matters: ARC Fund illustrates a different model of knowledge transfer from a physical science park — a long-running, independent policy-and-brokerage institute that has shaped national innovation strategy and technology-transfer practice in Bulgaria for over 30 years and been formally recognised by the European Commission for one of its flagship outputs; however, available public sources describe its activities and recognitions rather than providing a quantified, independent evaluation of technology-transfer outcomes (patents, licences, spin-offs) directly attributable to ARC Fund.

Read the full analysis: https://arcfund.net/en/