At FORTH, the heart of technological innovation in Crete, and the H2B HUB, the Greek consortium Enterprise Europe Network Hellas discussed the progress of the EEN 2025 project on May 16-17, 2024.
The 5th consortium meeting for the 2022-2025 period was successfully organized by the PRAXI Network and the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce in an environment of knowledge exchange, mutual understanding, and support.
Network executives toured the FORTH facilities, enjoyed Cretan hospitality, and had the opportunity to connect meaningfully with members of the local SME community.
The meeting focused on empowering women in business, digital transformation, methodologies and tools for supporting startups, the use of AI applications to boost productivity, and the role of innovation clusters.
Attendees included European Commission officials, consortium members, and local innovation ecosystem participants.
The first day began with updates from European Commission representatives. Mariella Masselink, Head of Unit D.2 of DG GROW - Industrial Forum, Alliances, Clusters, spoke remotely, while Natalia Martínez Páramo, Head of Unit SMP/SME Pillar at EISMEA - Internal Market and Support to Standardisation, was present throughout the meeting.
The program featured engaging presentations and discussions, highlighting the importance of communication and information exchange with innovation system institutions and initiatives.
European Digital Innovation Hubs: Ioannis Amarantidis, Senior Project Manager at Greece's first European Digital Innovation Hub in Agri-Food, DigiAgriFood EDIH, discussed synergies between European Digital Innovation Hubs and the EEN.
Greek Digital Health Cluster: George Dimitriou presented developments and initiatives within the Greek Digital Health Cluster.
Women's Entrepreneurship: Natasha Grigoraki and Eri Pavlaki were applauded for presenting the successful Women Do Business initiative, emphasizing the importance of empowering women in entrepreneurship.
Advancing the Project with Artificial Intelligence
The second day focused on internal consortium issues and included presentations and information materials on services aimed at the startup community and the utilization of Artificial Intelligence.
Overall, the Enterprise Europe Network Hellas consortium meeting in Heraklion provided the necessary momentum for the successful continuation of the project and reminded all partners of the value of collaboration and information exchange among all actors supporting SMEs with innovation and extroversion potential.