With great success 223 participants, 42 speakers, and 7 panels, the online workshop entitled "Innovation in Crete and the institutions that support it 3.0", which took place on Friday 18/2 at 15.00, was completed with great success, with highly topical issues that kept the interest alive for 4,5 hours, until 19.30 in the evening. The conference was opened by the Deputy Minister of Development and Investment, Mr. Ioannis Tsakiris, and the President of Forth, Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis. The Deputy Minister of Development and Investment, responsible for Research and Innovation, Mr. Christos Dimas, and the Regional Governor of Crete, Mr. Stavros Arnaoutakis, sent greetings. 

From the National Bank of Greece, the General Director of Retail Banking, Ms. Christina Theofilidi, addressed the innovative digital transformation of the Bank and digital business onboarding. Concluding her greeting, she said “Returning to the event, we feel proud that an initiative launched by six important institutions of Crete has managed to rally the entire economy of Crete.” 

The program included 7 thematic panels, with speakers from institutional representatives from the Ministry of Development and Investment, the Region of Crete, the Chambers of Commerce, the Municipality of Heraklion, the Academic and Research Institutions of the island, the Science and Technology Park of Crete, the Observatory of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the PRAXI/FORTH Network, and the National Bank of Greece. Also participating were representatives of major investment companies (VC Funds), as well as prominent entrepreneurs from Crete. The topics discussed included early-stage innovation support structures and funding, innovation competitions, funding from Funds in Crete, the role of established businesses and the value of networking, institutional innovation support bodies, and the role of scientific and research institutions in the innovation ecosystem in Crete. The event was held under the auspices of the Region of Crete and was co-organized by the NBG Business Seeds program, the H2B HUB of the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce, the PRAXI Network / FORTH, the Science and Technology Park of Crete (STEP-C) of FORTH, Bizrupt, the 4Locals initiative, the Athens Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin) of the Athens University of Economics and Business, the Archimedes Center of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Endeavor Greece, Uni. fund, Metavallon and Bayer Hellas.