6 events, 500 participants, 15 co-organizers, 36 speakers, total duration 15 hours
The NBG Business Seeds actions were completed with great success at the 86th Thessaloniki International Fair.
6 events, 500 participants, 15 co-organizers, 36 speakers, total duration 15 hours.
On 10 September, our first event on “Women's Entrepreneurship in the spotlight” was launched in the NBG TIF Branch. Mr Gikas Hardouvelis, Chair of the Board of NBG, Ms Chara Dalekou, General Manager of Group Marketing & Communication, Mr Christos Pantazis, Regional Manager of Branch Network B1, and other executives of NBG and the Thessaloniki Head Office honoured the event with their presence.
Proud of NBG’s longstanding and practical support for women, Mr. Gikas Hardouvelis noted in his remarks that "National Bank of Greece, as far back as 1911, was one of the first companies in Greece to hire women, while today, 111 years later, 53% of its personnel, 30% of its Board members, and 55% of its senior officers in the Branch network are women.”
In addition, our valued associates Ms Sonia Mousavere, Head of Communications & Public Relations at Bayer, Ms Dora Trachana, Unifund Principal, Dr. Aggeliki Kosmopoulou, Executive Manager at the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, took part in the event, providing essential input to the teams.
In two productive hours, the women’s teams participating in NBG Business Seeds Innovation & Technology Competition stood out with their innovative ideas. In total, 12 women’s teams presented their work to 60 participants. The event was attended by Women Do Business and journalists from the field.
On the same day, on the main stage of pavilion 7, Dr. Spyros Arsenis, Head of NBG Business Seeds, presented the actions of ΝΒG Business Seeds at an event titled: “13 years of supporting and financing the innovation ecosystem”. The panel was comprised of our associates Ms Sonia Mousavere, Head of Communications & Public Relations at Bayer, Ms Katerina Pramatari, Assistant Professor of the Athens University of Economics & Business, Scientific Officer of the ACEin hub of the Athens University of Economics & Business and Unifund Partner, Mr Giorgos Saperas, Chief Financial Officer at Unifund, and Mr Michalis Vafopoulos, Founder & CEO at Linked Business and winner of the Innovation & Technology Competition.
Further information was provided by Dr. Spyros Arsenis and Ms Katerina Pramatari in a special panel for the Greek Fintech Hub on the main stage in pavilion 7. The Greek Fintech Hub is an initiative of NBG in cooperation with Endeavor Greece, the Onassis Foundation, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the Athens University of Economics & Business. And together with these institutions, the European Crowd Dialog initiative.
We actively participated in the two-day DisinfoHackathon in pavilion 7 on the fight against disinformation, by attending both the relevant workshops and the award committee. Our purpose was to develop an ecosystem with the participation of media, technology and communications professionals in order to combat disinformation in various fields and set up and use appropriate digital tools.
The participants had the opportunity to enjoy a hands-on experience of working together to develop team solutions with the help of technology and digital model applications. Each thematic challenge had been designed in collaboration with experts and involved the submission of proposals and methods by which innovation could contribute to the fight against disinformation in journalism, health, religion and advertising.
The two-day Disinfo Hackathon was held by DCN Global, AD & PR LAB of Panteion University and YET, financed by the US Department of State, supported by the US Embassy and under the auspices of the Ministry of Development. The program was implemented with the support and collaboration of: NBG Business Seeds, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Elevate Greece, Found.ation, Social innov, Industry Disruptors Game Changers ID-GC, Inside Story, Envolve Entrepreneurship, Thessaloniki Tech Lab, EduAct.
Our actions continued with the event titled “Northern Greece as an International Innovation Center: Extroversion and Challenges” which took place in the Vellidis Convention Center on Friday, 16 September. Over the course of three hours, 6 dynamic panels highlighted the region’s prospects of playing a central role in Southeast Europe through the establishment of major international businesses, actions by universities and research centers, extroversion of local businesses, and initiatives by local government and other bodies.
Welcome speeches were given by Mr Michael Koupkas, Deputy Mayor for Finance in Thessaloniki, Mr Stavros Kalafatis, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs for the Macedonia-Thrace sector, Mr Nikos Papaioannou, Chancellor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Ms Christina Theofilidi, General Manager of Retail Banking & Board member at NBG.
Ms Theofilidi noted, inter alia: “According to a recent study by the NBG Economic Analysis Department, the export orientation of the region is plain to see. 37% of industries are exporting, surpassing by 8 percentage points the rest of Greece. Northern Greece leads the way in agricultural products, holding 40% of Greece’s exports, and in minerals where it holds an impressive 51%, whereas in tourism Chalkidiki ranks second after the islands (note: the index refers to the number of 4/5 units combined with their occupancy). Our study identified a favorable development backdrop for Northern Greece in five sectors: industry, tourism, digital services, infrastructure and energy. At today’s event, we invited many of the leaders in this development. Our goal was to highlight the region’s prospects of playing a central role in Southeast Europe through the establishment of major international businesses, actions by universities and research centers, extroversion of local businesses, and initiatives by local government and other bodies”.
The event was co-organized by NBG Business Seeds, AUTH, OK! Thess and the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce.
The NBG Business Seeds team visited Pavilion 7 with the teams participating in the Elevate Greece program and discussed their growth potential.
Our events were concluded with a networking and information meeting regarding NBG Business Seeds actions, on Saturday, 17 September.
The winners of the 12th Innovation & Technology Competition from Thessaloniki and new teams from Northern Greece presented their innovative ideas before our guests, Ms Litsa Panagiotopoulou, form the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Ms Sonia Mousavere, Head of Communications & Public Relations at Bayer, and Mr Ioannis Kourtidis from The Peoples Trust in Thessaloniki.
We look forward to meeting and guiding the teams of the 13th Innovation & Technology Competition.
