“Innovation in Western Greece and the bodies that support it 2.0”
On Friday 18 March, at 3 pm Athens time, the second online workshop “Innovation in Western Greece and the bodies that support it 2.0” took place. 200 workshop attendees, 58 speakers and 9 panels participated in a 5 hour event dealing with issues that are more relevant today than ever before, keeping everyone engaged in discussion through to 8 pm. The workshop included participants not only from Greece, but also the USA, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Israel and Spain. The workshop was opened with welcome speeches by Nektarios Farmakis, regional governor of Western Greece , Ioannis Tsakiris, Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Platon Marlafekas, President of the Achaia Chamber and Christos Bouras, Chancellor of the University of Patras. The Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Mr.Christos Dimas, overseeing Research and Innovation issues gave a welcome speech.
On behalf of NBG Pantelis Maraveas, Assistant General Manager Retail Segments, also welcomed the participants” It is with great pleasure that we come again to Western Greece to talk about innovation. The city of Patras and the wider region pleasantly surprises us every year with a new exit. First it was Think Silicon, last year it was Adveos, and this year Αcussonus is very close to announcing its buy-out. All three companies are high-tech companies, reflecting the strong calibre of the region's scientists as well as its potential. I would even go so far to say, without exaggeration, that here we are talking about the Greek Silicon Valley”.
The agenda included 9 thematic panels with speakers from the Ministry of Development and Investments, the Prefecture of Western Greece, Chambers of commerce, Academic and Research Institutions, the Science Park of Patras and National Bank of Greece. In addition, participants included representatives of major investment companies (VC Funds), and prominent businessmen from the Achaia region. Participating on behalf of NBG were Georgios Ntinos Regional Manager Georgios Deligiorgis Head of the Product Development & Support Sector, and Spyros Arsenis, Head of the NBG Business Seeds Program.
The issues discussed concerned support structures and funding for innovation in the early stages, innovation competitions, financing provided by Funds in Western Greece, the role of established businesses and the value of networking, innovation support institutions and the role of scientific and research institutes in the innovation ecosystem in Western Greece.
The workshop was held under the auspices of the Prefecture of Western Greece and was co-organized by NBG Business Seeds, the Prefecture of Western Greece, Patras IQ, the Chamber of Achaia, the University of Patras, the University of Peloponnese, the Hellenic Open University, the Science Park of Patras, PoS4Work, Mindspace and Orange Grove, the Athens Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin) of the Athens University of Economics and Business, the Archimedes Center of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUoA), Endeavor Greece, Uni.fund, Metavallon, Bayer Hellas, Bizrupt, and Phaistos Networks.
.We look forward to seeing you again next year. And this time it will be in person!
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