News

The sixth meeting of the consortium in Kozani was accompanied by innovative ideas and presentations of successful collaborative projects.

The sixth meeting of the Enterprise Europe Network Hellas consortium for the period 2022-2025 was successfully held in Kozani on 21 and 22 November 2024, hosted at the premises of ANKO West Macedonia S.A., a member of the consortium.

During the two-day event, the representatives of the consortium members and European Commission officials discussed the progress of the EEN 2025 project and exchanged ideas for improving the services provided to SMEs, creating an environment of effective cooperation and promoting innovation at regional and national level.

The participants of the meeting had the opportunity to visit the modern facilities of the University of Western Macedonia and to get in touch with representatives of the innovation ecosystem hosted within the University, with a strong potential for cooperation with Enterprise Europe Network Hellas.

The programme of the meeting included highly interesting presentations and discussions, highlighting the importance of local and beyond networking and information exchange between the actors of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem for the benefit of businesses.

In a region where, admittedly, the violent and rapid de-lignification has traumatized the whole ecosystem, which is now being reconstructed, the presentations of institutions leading the new research and entrepreneurial scene in the region of Western Macedonia were of particular interest, with ANKO as the region’s development organization and Enterprise Europe Network hub.

First day’s working programme

The first day started with a warm welcome by the General Manager of ANKO, Mr. Anastasios Sidiropoulos and the institutional representatives of the Region of Western Macedonia, Mr. Nikos Lissaridis, Vice-Regional Head of Entrepreneurship and Tasos Rafailidis, Vice-Regional Head of Digital Transformation. The speakers stressed the strategic importance of the Enterprise Europe Network in strengthening the competitiveness and extroversion of local small and medium-sized enterprises in the region of Western Macedonia.

A local success story: Innovation Bee

The presentation of Innovation Bee by Tasos Garinis, member of the founding team of the start-up, made a special impression. Mr. Garinis presented the portfolio of high quality products and services of the start-up company, emphasize at the same time the significant contribution of ANKO and the Enterprise Europe Network in the development and strengthening of the extroversion of the company, especially in the early stages of its operation.

Presentation of Sector Group Agrifood

Spyros Kellidis from ANKO, chairman of the Agrifood Group of the Network, presented the objectives, current actions and future initiatives of Sector Group Agrifood.

SYNERGiNN EDIH

The first day was concluded with the presentation of SYNERGiNN EDIH (Digital Innovation Hub of Western Macedonia) at the University of Western Macedonia by its head Professor Nikolaos Ploskas and his partner Fotis Tsampouris, which expects to play an active role in strengthening local innovation in businesses, a goal that is particularly urgent for the transformation of the region’s previous production model in the context of the green transition. The presentation also discussed the areas of cooperation between SYNERGiNN and EEN Hellas.

Second day’s working programme

The value of cooperation in a region facing major challenges

The value of cooperation and the great challenge of economic reconstruction in the region was discussed by Dr. Yannis Fallas, Director of the CluBE Bioeconomy cluster, at the opening of the second day’s proceedings. The attendees had the opportunity to learn about the Green Hydrogen Economy and the multitude of actions being developed around green energy, biodiversity protection and climate neutrality of the region’s urban centres.

Dr. Yannis Fallas stressed that research institutions, businesses and policy makers can cooperate and produce remarkable results, while he also informed about the planning for a hydrogen production and refuelling station in the city of Kozani.

Moreover, it is noteworthy that in a region where the spread of photovoltaic installations is impressive, the discussion on technical interventions that will allow and at the same time preserve agricultural crops has been widely opened cooperation between SYNERGiNN and EEN Hellas.

Updates from the European Commission and monitoring of the project’s progress

Dr Achilleas Barlas, Consortium Coordinator, launched the overview of the Work Packages, reviewed management issues, ensuring that all members remain aligned and fully informed.

Christos Skouras, DG GROW executive, provided an extensive update on the priorities of the European Commission. Makis Tikfesis, project officer and responsible for the monitoring of the Greek consortium from the EISMEA, presented data and indicators that demonstrate the significant contribution of the Greek consortium to the results of the Network.

In particular, the importance of continuous improvement in the communication and promotion of the Network’s results was emphasized, with Panagiotis Frantzis, Communication Consultant at EKT and Communication Officer of the consortium, presenting good practices followed in the last period in the promotion of the Network in Greece.

Finally, Angelos Angelidis, project team coordinator at EKT, presented the content of the new proposal for the period 2025-2028, ensuring the continuity and sustainability of Enterprise Europe Network Hellas.