32
καινοτομια
ερευνα & τεχνολογια | 09 - 11/2014
Social entrepreneurship is an
emerging, alternative form of
entrepreneurship based on the
Social Economy. In other words,
Social Entrepreneurship refers
to people who are considering
innovative solutions to the most
pressing social problems, people
that are ambitious and persistent,
aimed
at
addressing
social
problems by offering new ideas for
wide-scale change.
With the goal to promote and
support business plans of social
enterprises, the Social Business
Excellence Awards 2014 were
organized for the first time
in Greece. The Awards are an
initiative made by the National
Documentation
Centre
(
EKT),
Enterprise Europe Network-Hellas
coordinator, the British Council,
the development partnerships
PROSVASIS, in cooperation with
the Social Cooperative Enterprise
of Integration “Amphitrite Social
Enterprise”, while they have been
established under the auspices of
the Ministry of Development. The
awards were given to seven social
enterprises which originated from
around the country, a fact that
shows that projects related to
Social Economy are significant not
only in the urban space, but also in
regional areas.
The Social Business Excellence
Awards 2014 ceremony was
realized during the 2nd Conference
for Social Entrepreneurship "Doing
Business the Other Way" that took
place on the 3rd of November
2014
at the Onassis Cultural Center,
with over 1.100 participants.
The conference’s central theme
was the trends, opportunities
and challenges concerning the
development of viable social
enterprises with a wide range of
economic activities.
The National Documentation
Centre’s
(
EKT)
focused
efforts to help nurture start-
ups was distinguished as a
good practice during the
recent
Enterprise
Europe
Network Annual Conference
2014
in Torino, Italy (17-18
October). The Conference is
the main annual event of the
Enterprise Europe Network,
providing participants with
an interesting and stimulating
mix of workshops, networking
sessions and social events.
The EKT team, made up of
innovation experts who have
a consulting, coaching and
entrepreneurial background,
aims to address the main
needs of start-ups in the ICT,
energy and health sectors,
as well as in areas such as EU
funding, IPR and innovation
management. All in all, this
good practice has provided
solid, practical support for a
target group that has limited
resources of its own. It has
also helped to address some
of the new priorities that
will be faced by the Network
during the new programming
period, such as Key Account
Management,
enhancing
innovation
management
capacity services and access
to risk finance.
A new study conducted by the
National Documentation Centre
presents the results concerning
the Greek participation in the
European project "Information and
Communication
Technologies"
(
ICT) of the 7th Framework
Programme (FP7) for Research for
the period 2007-2013. According
to the results, Greek research
groups were involved in 591
projects, accounting for 25.7% of
the total projects that were funded.
Greek participants attracted a
total of 330.42 million EUR of
EU funding (4.3% of the total
funding), placing Greece in the top
5
European countries with regard
to the amount of funding received
compared to the size of their ICT
sector. The average success rate for
proposals with Greek participation
stood at 13.2%, placing Greece in
12
th place in all 28 EU Member
States.
Community
funding
was
directed primarily at research
centres and universities, which
collectively accounted for 75.6%
of the funding, as opposed to
the European average (56.8%).
However, the participation of
Greek private entities in approved
projects reaches 32.6% in the
number of Greek holdings. The
FP7 ICT R&D activity is heavily
concentrated in the capital Region,
as 57.12% of the total funding was
absorbed by the Region of Attica.
The partnership between the
Greek SME Crypteia Networks,
which specializes in digital security
and the development of Threat
Intelligence Platforms (MOREAL),
and the National Documentation
Centre (EKT) was distinguished
as a best example of company
support, in this year’s Enterprise
Europe Network Awards, the
biggest European network for
entrepreneurship and innovation.
Crypteia Networks was one of
the three nominees in the “New
success” category, which refers to
the best examples of companies
who have successfully benefited
from the Network's advisory
services. The awards were held
for the first time as a stand-alone
event in Brussels on 23 September
2014.
EKT,
Enterprise
Europe
Network-Hellas
coordinator,
actively
supported
Crypteia
Networks by providing added
value services. Thanks to this
comprehensive service, among
other
accomplishments,
the
company was able to create its first
sustainable business line, turning
research results to a commercial
product (MOREAL) with 90 clients
in Greece.
Social Business Excellence Awards 2014
The National Documentation Centre’s
services for startups and innovation
support stand out
Greek participation in the European
Programme "Information and
Communication Technologies" in FP7
European recognition for the Greek SME
Crypteia Networks and the National
Documentation Centre partnership
info
Crypteia Networks
Enterprise Europe Network
info
EKT’s innovation
support services as a
good practice
info
The publication (in Greek)
Highlights
info
Social Business Excellence
Awards 2014
2
nd Conference "Doing
Business the OtherWay"
