‘Young entrepreneurship, building on exploitation of technological knowledge, is already bearing fruit and will be a key factor in the reconstruction of the Greek economy’ – this was the key message delivered on completion of Cycle 1 of the SEV Strategic Initiative “Together at the starting line!”, which promotes entrepreneurship among young scientists. At an event held today (Monday, 30.6.2014) at the Theatre of the Ellinikos Cosmos Cultural Centre, we saw the first presentations and awards for the 31 business teams participating in Cycle 1 of the initiative. We look forward to seeing the teams move on rapidly to success with their dynamic new start-up businesses.
The event was honoured by the presence of the Minister for Development and Competitiveness, Mr Nikos Dendias, who delivered an address to mark the occasion, prefaced by remarks by SEV President Theodoros Fessas.
Mr Fessas emphasized in these remarks that ‘our attitudes to youth entrepreneurship and innovation are indicative of our resolve to move forward’. He pointed out that SEV had launched this initiative in the summer of 2013, in the awareness that our country was full of talent, knowledge and new ideas being hatched in our universities but failing to make their way to market. He also referred to the need for the state to take the appropriate initiatives, for example introducing legislation to allow a ‘special type of new innovative business’, and pointed out that the existing tax and insurance framework in which the young businessman was treated was not in line with contemporary reality. Mr Fessas laid particular emphasis on the need for young people to learn early to take initiatives and to cooperate with others, since ‘this is a skill they will take into business, either as founder, or partner, or employee’. He stressed that initiative and cooperation are a passport to creation, and the business teams which have completed Cycle 1, like those which will follow in their footsteps, are the voices of a new Greece, ‘a Greece which is changing from within, in its structures and attitudes, and which wishes to build a better reality’.
Particular mention was made of the objectives and results of the SEV Initiative “Together at the starting line!” by Ms Maggie Athanassiadi, SEV Young Entrepreneurship Coordinator, who laid particular emphasis on the dynamism of the business teams, noting the remarkable international distinction secured by PROTEΟMARKERS BIOTECH, in the field of health sciences. The team were chosen among the 25 best start-ups worldwide to present their design at the TechConnect-National Innovation-National SBIR/STTR-WORLD 2014 Summit in the USA. There followed remarks by a representative of the Mentors and of the Business Teams themselves, the participants in the programme. The event concluded with the distribution of awards to the participants by SEV President Mr Theodoros Fessas, members of the SEV Young Entrepreneurship Team, Ms Sophie Daskalaki-Mytilinaiou and Mr Panos Kyriakopoulos, as well as representatives of the programme management team.
In its “Together at the starting line!” Programme, SEV is offering practical support to knowledge-based entrepreneurship and the preparation of a new generation of businesspeople, with excellent prospects for the creation of new, innovative, export-oriented businesses. The programme provided 31 business teams with comprehensive support services, including their first premises, training, advisory support, networking and mentoring from senior and well respected business executives. The programme has received strategic support from more than 10 Greek universities, the country’s three largest research centres (N.C.S.R. DEMOKRITOS, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Institute for Technology and Research) and a broad network of SEV member-businesses. For more information on SEV actions to support young, innovative entrepreneurship, visit the website www.ekinisilab-sev.gr
The SEV initiative to encourage entrepreneurship among young scientists is included in the Operational Programme «Education and Lifelong Learning» and co-financed from national funds and the European Union.
See here the report on the 31 Business Teams which took part in Cycle 1 of the “Together at the starting line!” Programme.
Read here the address of welcome from the SEV President, Mr Theodoros Fessas.
See here the presentation of Ms Maggie Athanassiadi, Young Entrepreneurship Coordinator of the Initiative.
Click here to see photos of the event from the coverage on a STAR news bulletin.
