PhD candidate Bianca Cristina (Pop) Borgyos (Engineering and Management, year II, UTCN doctoral school) pitched her research on protecting agricultural innovation through intellectual property.
The vulnerability of agricultural innovation
The presentation framed several risks affecting Romanian agricultural innovation: counterfeit seeds, piracy of agricultural software, unauthorised copying of Agri-Tech solutions and a generally low level of awareness of intellectual property rights in the sector.
Why Maramureș?
The Maramureș county was chosen for its strong local identity, its developing agri-food ecosystem and its traditional products with high economic potential — all of which face an elevated risk of imitation and unfair competition.
The research question
How can we transform intellectual property from a legal concept into a social behaviour?
The model proposes: knowledge + values + social norms + legal perceptions → formation of mindsets → respect for intellectual property rights.
The solution — an integrated educational and legislative model
The work proposes an integrated model based on two strategic pillars: an educational pillar and a legislative pillar, with the joint objective of reducing counterfeiting and piracy and enabling sustainable innovation in the agri-food sector.
Methodology and preliminary results
Empirical study: 615 validated respondents from Maramureș county, a questionnaire with 72 items covering 11 constructs, analysed with advanced statistical methods — Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Cronbach's Alpha for internal consistency, correlation analyses, descriptive analyses and predictive modelling.
Preliminary results show that individuals with prior innovation experience exhibit higher levels of IP knowledge, stronger ethical values, higher intentions to respect IP rights and authentic mindsets oriented toward development.
Presentation slides
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