A nutraceutical startup or a SME with a promising plant extract doesn’t need its own chromatography lab, cell-culture facility, microbiology lab and formulation team to find out whether the extract actually works. It needs access to those capabilities for as long as the question takes to answer, and a clear plan for what comes next. That’s the practical alternative to building an R&D department from scratch – and it’s the model BIORESOURCES Centre of Competence in Sofia was built to offer businesses developing bio-based products from medicinal and aromatic plants.
Developing a bio-based product – a nutraceutical ingredient, a cosmetic active, a functional food component – touches several scientific disciplines at once: plant science and agronomy, extraction and analytical chemistry, microbiology or cell biology, and formulation science. Very few companies have all of that in-house, and fewer still need it permanently.
Building it from scratch means hiring specialists whose disciplines rarely overlap day to day, buying instrumentation that depreciates whether or not it’s running, and carrying that cost through the months when a project stalls, changes direction, or turns out to need a different test than the one your equipment was bought for.
For a startup, that level of investment is usually impossible before the first funding round – and the first funding round usually depends on having evidence the startup doesn’t yet have. For an established company testing a new ingredient category, it’s a slow, capital-intensive way to explore something that might not pan out.
BIORESOURCES exists to make the alternative straightforward: instead of building the laboratory, you access it – and the scientists who run it – for exactly the work your project needs.
That means specialist laboratories and scientific teams across plant biotechnology, molecular genetics, phytochemistry, analytical chemistry, cell-based biological testing, polymer science, and formulation, brought together from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Agricultural Academy, and Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” – without you having to negotiate separately with each institution or work out which lab does what.
You pay for the work your project needs, when it needs it, rather than for capacity you might use eventually.
There’s no single entry point businesses are expected to arrive at. A project can start with:
Whichever of these describes your project, it maps onto the same underlying pathway – from raw material through extraction, analysis, biological testing, and formulation to a laboratory prototype (see From Bioresource to Innovative Product for the full pathway). You don’t start over at stage one just because you arrived with an idea instead of a sample, and you don’t pay for stages you’ve already completed elsewhere.
It’s tempting to start a conversation with a lab by asking for a specific test – “can you run an analysis on this extract” – but the more useful starting point is usually one step earlier: what does this project actually need to know right now, and what evidence is missing to know it?
A test run without that framing can produce a technically correct result that doesn’t actually answer the business question behind it. Before any lab work begins, BIORESOURCES experts work through what’s already known, what’s assumed, and where the real uncertainty sits – plant identity and consistency, compound presence, biological activity, formulation stability, or something else entirely. That scoping conversation is what turns a vague ask into a development plan with a defined, useful output.
Not every business needs, or can justify, a multi-stage engagement. BIORESOURCES supports both ends of that spectrum:
Many projects start as the former and grow into the latter once the first result justifies the next step. Neither path requires committing to the whole pathway upfront.
Scale-up, regulatory submission, and market launch are the stages where mistakes are hardest and most expensive to reverse – a formulation that fails stability testing after tooling has been ordered, or a claim that can’t be substantiated after marketing materials are printed.
The work BIORESOURCES supports is designed to surface those problems earlier, while they’re still cheap to fix confirming raw-material consistency before locking in a supplier, validating biological activity before making a claim, testing formulation stability before committing to packaging and production. None of this replaces the industrial manufacturing, quality, and regulatory processes a finished product ultimately needs – but it substantially narrows the uncertainty a business carries into those later, costlier stages.
Working with BIORESOURCES doesn’t start with a quote for a fixed package of services. It starts with a conversation about the project:
You don’t need a finished research brief to start this process – describing where your project stands today is enough.
This model tends to fit four kinds of businesses particularly well:
The businesses that get the most out of this model aren’t the ones with the most resources. They’re the ones willing to start with a real conversation about where their project stands, rather than either building a lab they don’t need or guessing their way past a scientific question they can’t yet answer.
BIORESOURCES Centre of Competence is supported under Project BG16RFPR002-1.014-0001, “Sustainable Utilization of Bioresources from Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for Innovative Products” (BIORESOURCES BG), funded by the Programme “Research, Innovation and Digitalisation for Smart Transformation” and co-funded by the European Union.
Do you have a plant, extract, formulation, or product idea that needs scientific evidence behind it?
Contact BIORESOURCES to describe your project and find out what the most useful next step looks like.
No. Most projects start with a description of the bioresource, result, formulation, or idea and the problem behind it. BIORESOURCES experts help shape the specific questions and plan from there.
Yes. Collaboration can be scoped as one laboratory service – an analysis, a biological assay, a formulation trial – or as an integrated, multi-stage project. Many businesses start with one and expand once the result justifies it.
Each project is scoped individually during the initial discussion and needs assessment, based on the specific analyses, laboratories, and timeline required. There’s no fixed package or price list, since the right scope depends entirely on the project.
No. Part of the value of working with the Centre is that it supplies the scientific expertise you don’t have to build internally. You bring the bioresource, result, or idea; BIORESOURCES experts help translate it into a workable development plan.
IP arrangements are discussed and agreed as part of scoping a project, and BIORESOURCES can provide guidance on intellectual-property considerations as part of its expert support. Specific terms are set out per collaboration.
Yes – that’s often exactly where a first conversation is most useful. A focused piece of analytical or biological evidence can confirm whether an idea is worth taking further before a business commits to a bigger investment.
BIORESOURCES supports businesses and research organizations more broadly, not only those based in Bulgaria. The best way to confirm fit for a specific project is to reach out directly.
Results are translated into a recommendation for what comes next – further validation, formulation or prototyping work, scale-up planning, or preparation for regulatory or commercialization steps. BIORESOURCES doesn’t replace industrial manufacturing or regulatory approval, but it can help identify the appropriate next stage and, where relevant, a manufacturing or industry partner.
That’s a normal starting point. Describing what you have – a plant, an extract, a result, a formulation, or just an idea – is enough for BIORESOURCES experts to assess the current stage and the most relevant next step.
The Institute for Research Support was established in 2023 as a non-profit association, with a mission to support scientific organisations, startups and organisations developing innovative ideas. It has a multidisciplinary team in the fields of science, marketing, finance, law, intellectual property and more, structuring the entire process of creating a new product or commercialising a scientific development.
The Institute of Polymers at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences specialises in the research and development of advanced polymeric materials and technologies with applications in medicine, pharmacy and industry. Within CC BIORESOURCES, its scientific potential contributes to the creation of innovative materials and high-technology solutions.
The Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy (FCP) at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” is a leading national centre for education and research in the fields of chemistry, pharmacy and materials science. Within CC BIORESOURCES, FCP participates with leading researchers and scientific infrastructure from the Departments of “Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Engineering” and “Analytical Chemistry”, who specialise in the development and characterisation of innovative products for the cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical industries. Our research team has a strong orientation towards scientific research addressing fundamental and practical questions, working in active collaboration with researchers from Bulgaria and abroad.
Sofia University (SU) is the largest and most prestigious university in Bulgaria, with 16 faculties, 119 degree programmes and approximately 20,000 students.
The Faculty of Biology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” conducts scientific research in the fields of molecular biology, biotechnology, ecology and biodiversity. The Faculty’s expertise supports the development of sustainable solutions related to bioresources, human health and environmental protection.
Sofia University (SU) is the largest and most prestigious university in Bulgaria, with 16 faculties, 119 degree programmes and approximately 20,000 students.
The AgroBio Institute (ABI) at the Agricultural Academy is one of the leading research institutes in Bulgaria in the fields of plant biotechnology, molecular genetics, metabolomics and the sustainable utilisation of plant genetic resources and agricultural by-products. Within CC BIORESOURCES, ABI contributes its scientific capacity and specialised laboratory infrastructure for the selection and accelerated breeding of medicinal and aromatic plants, as well as the development and implementation of innovative methods and technologies with applications in the bioindustry.
The Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IOCCP – BAS) is a leading scientific organisation in the fields of organic chemistry, phytochemistry and the development of bioactive compounds. The Institute conducts research aimed at the sustainable utilisation of natural resources and the transfer of innovations to business and society.
Институтът за изследователска подкрепа е създаден през 2023 г. като сдружение с нестопанска цел, чиято мисия е да подпомага научни организации, стартиращи компании и организации, развиващи иновативни идеи. Разполага с мултидисциплинарен екип в сферата на науката, маркетинга, финансите, правото, интелектуалната собственост и др., който да структурира цялостното създаване на нов продукт или комерсиализацията на научна разработка.
Институтът по полимери към Българска академия на науките е специализиран в изследванията и разработването на съвременни полимерни материали и технологии с приложение в медицината, фармацията и индустрията. В рамките на ЦК БИОРЕСУРСИ неговият научен потенциал допринася за създаването на иновативни материали и високотехнологични решения.
Факултетът по химия и фармация (ФХФ) към Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“ е водещ национален център за обучение и изследвания в областта на химията, фармацията и материалознанието. В ЦК БИОРЕСУРСИ ФХФ участва с водещи изследователи и научна инфраструктура от катедрите „Инженерна химия и фармацевтично инженерство“ и „Аналитична химия“, които са специализирани в областта на разработването и охарактеризирането на иновационни продукти за козметичната, хранителната и фармацевтичната индустрии. Изследователският ни екип има силна ориентация към научни изследвания, свързани с решаването на фундаментални и практически въпроси, като работи в активно сътрудничество с изследователи от страната и чужбина.
Софийският университет (СУ) е най-големият и най-престижен университет в България с 16 факултета, 119 специалности и обучавани около 20 000 студенти.
Биологическият факултет към Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“ развива научни изследвания в областта на молекулярната биология, биотехнологиите, екологията и биологичното разнообразие. Експертизата на факултета подпомага разработването на устойчиви решения, свързани с биоресурсите, човешкото здраве и опазването на околната среда.
Софийският университет (СУ) е най-големият и най-престижен университет в България с 16 факултета, 119 специалности и обучавани около 20 000 студенти.
АгроБиоИнститут (АБИ) към Селскостопанска академия е един от водещите научноизследователски институти в България в областта на растителните биотехнологии, молекулярната генетика, метаболомиката и устойчивото оползотворяване на растителни генетични ресурси и отпадни продукти от земеделието. В рамките на ЦК БИОРЕСУРСИ АБИ допринася със своя научен капацитет и специализирана лабораторна инфраструктура за отбор и ускорена селекция на медицински и ароматни растения, разработване и внедряване на иновативни методи и технологии с приложение в биоиндустрията.
Институтът по органична химия с център по фитохимия към Българска академия на науките (ИОХЦФ – БАН) е водеща научна организация в областта на органичната химия, фитохимията и разработването на биоактивни съединения. Институтът развива научни изследвания, насочени към устойчивото оползотворяване на природни ресурси и трансфера на иновации към бизнеса и обществото.