Over 300 nominations - Entries by leading research institutions and individual researchers –
Interest from many fields of applied research and innovation – The Organizing Committee and Scientific Council commence the evaluation of proposals
Interest from many fields of applied research and innovation – The Organizing Committee and Scientific Council commence the evaluation of proposals
The competition “Greece Innovates!”(www.kainotomeis.gr), a joint initiative of the SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises) and Eurobank EFG, has set the stage for the promotion of a dynamic and vibrant research community that creates and operates in Greece.
The number and quality of entries surpassed all expectations. The initial phase of the competition has been completed, with the submission of more than 300 proposals. Entries were submitted by university groups, institutions, and individual researchers in the fields of applied research and innovation. Entries were submitted by both public and private research institutions and cover an impressively wide range of applications in various sectors, notably renewable energy sources (solar, biomass, wave), environmental technology, medical and pharmaceutical research, electronics and information technology, construction and building materials, and even cutting edge technology, such as nanotechnology applications.
The competition aims mainly at providing an opportunity for the research and business worlds to come together and develop a better understanding of each other, with the prospect of delivering tangible research applications and innovative products or services that will contribute both to the improvement of everyday life, as well as the development and advancement of an outward economy. As part of the campaign to promote the competition within the research community, members of the SEV and Eurobank visited science parks, research centres and centres of business innovation. The awareness campaign, organized in close cooperation and with the support of the administrations of the respective bodies, covered the whole country and included presentations at the Technological Park of Lavrion, the Science Park of Patras, the Corallia Microelectronics Innovation Centre, the Science and Technology Park of Crete, the Thessaloniki Technopolis and the BSRC "Demokritos".
The next phase of the competition is the evaluation of the entries by a body of distinguished scientists coordinated by the Scientific Council. The Scientific Council consists of Messrs Fokion Deligiannis, Evangelos Dialynas, Dimitrios Thanos, Yannis Kalogirou, Pantelis Kapros, Spyros Lioukas, Nicholas Melanitis, Nikolaos Travlos, Vassilis Tsakalos, Athanasios Tsaftaris and Georgios Chrousos. The latter recently assumed the position of Vice President of the new National Research and Technology Council. The challenging task of evaluation will be completed in early 2011, with the qualification of the 20 best entries (up to 10 entries for the field of Applied Research and up to 10 for the field of Innovation). The SEV and Eurobank will then organize a series of presentations for the promotion of the qualified entries to the business community and the wider public, which will include regional events in major Greek cities (Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion), as well as the publication of an album of the qualified proposals and its distribution to a wide circle of recipients, mostly entrepreneurs.
All information regarding the competition can be found at www.kainotomeis.gr .