Elevate Greece 2022: Awarding entrepreneurship

The Elevate Greece National Startup Entrepreneurship Awards 2022 were awarded this year for the 2nd consecutive year, at an event on Friday, December 2, at the National Centre for Scientific Research (NCSR) "Demokritos", under the auspices of the Ministry of Development and Investments. 10 startups and members of the National Register of Startups Elevate Greece were awarded at the event, having gained the highest score after evaluation by members of the prestigious national and international innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The Elevate Greece awards have become a respected institution that rewards startups, innovation and creativity in general.                               

The top ‘Startup of the year’ Award in the Elevate Greece Start-up Entrepreneurship Competition 2022 was won by DIGISEC S. A. The Bird Monitoring System, produced by DIGISEC S. A., is an innovative system for preventing birds from colliding with wind turbines that combines high-tech hardware and Artificial Intelligence software and protects wildlife around wind farms.

George Diakomanolis, co-founder and COO of DIGISEC S. A., received the ‘Startup of the Year’ award from the Minister of Development and Investments Adonis Georgiadis and the ‘Environmental Impact Award’ from the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments Christos Dimas.

The National Documentation Centre (EKT) was an official supporter of the Competition, while Dr Evi Sachini, Director of the EKT, was a member of the team presenting the award for the category ‘Harnessing 4th Industrial Revolution Technologies’ to the company 3DHUB. It should be noted that EKT provides a network of intermediary services to enhance the extroversion and the digital and productive upgrade for all the awarded companies. These services focus on networking and the development of bilateral collaborations supporting their participation in brokerage events for their further international networking, with the aim of achieving business, technological and research collaborations, as well as participation in knowledge communities and networks.

EKT actions also give advisory guidance on access to European research and innovation programmes, technology transfer and diagnostic services for their innovative and digital potential. It provides complementary information and training services on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital skills.

The winning start-ups of the 10 categories in the National Start-up Entrepreneurship Awards ‘Elevate Greece 2022’ are the following:

'Startup of the Year’ | Digisec S.A.

1. ‘Environmental Impact’ | DIGISEC
2. ‘Business Development & Extroversion’ | SafeSize
3. ‘Tourism & Hospitality Services’ | Ferryhopper
4. ‘ Sciences & Health-Pharmacuticals ‘| 2bullMeDiTherapy
5. ‘Harnessing 4^th Industrial Revolution Technologies’ | 3DHUB Greece
6. Spin-off of the year | Aquatic Biologicals
7. Fastest Rising Business  | cloudeo Hellas
8. Women’s Entrepreneurship | iDNA Genomics
9. Social Con tribution | docandu
10. Top Start-up in the Ecosystem | COVARIANCE P.C.

The 10 winning companies were awarded cash prizes worth more than 200 thousand euros as well as the high added value services of all the Official Supporters of Elevate Greece.

As part of the event, honorary Awards were also given to the teams that excelled in the European Junior Achievement Competition. The awards were given to the student startup Microgreens – Magicgreens, from the 2nd Experimental High School of Kilkis and to the student startup Drug n' Drop, from the Athens University of Economics and Business and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

George Diakomanolis, co-founder and C. O. DIGISEC, who won the ‘Start-up of the Year’award, said: ‘We are very proud and very happy that the committee has selected us as the Start-up of the Year. Warm congratulations to the entire Digisec team and special thanks to the Deputy Minister Mr. Christos Dimas and the Ministry of Development for their practical support to start-up entrepreneurship’.

The competent Deputy Minister Christos Dimas, presented and analysed the statistical and analytical data that, following the creation and operation of the National Register of Start-ups Elevate Greece, are now recorded for the start-up ecosystem. During the event, Mr. Ch. Dimas stated that ‘our goal is to transfer knowledge from research centres, universities and start-ups to the real economy. Elevate Greece is now the reference point for supporting innovation and start-up entrepreneurship in Greece.’

Adonis Georgiadis, Minister for Development and Investment stated: "In these last 3.5 years, Greece has been the fastest growing country in Europe in terms of research and innovation spending, and the first in the percentage of companies that have invested in innovation in recent years. A vibrant innovation community has developed in our country, employing over 7,000 scientists and researchers. We already have the first companies acquiring larger companies and we have companies receiving funding from international investors. Greece is being transformed.  And all of you in this room are the protagonists of this transformation and the winners of the awards are the examples that emulate this transformation."

Watch the video of the event

The National Register of Start-ups Elevate Greece

To date, more than 700 start-ups, employing more than 6,700 employees, have completed their registration in the Elevate Greece Start-up Register.

Through Elevate Greece, the state now has a clear and mapped picture of the innovation ecosystem and has for the first time the ability to design policies tailored to the specific needs of the start-up ecosystem. Elevate Greece is an essential tool through which the state provides specialised incentives to start-ups, such as tax deductions for angel investors, a modern tax framework for stock options, and even NSRF actions to enhance their liquidity in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
The National Register of Start-ups is flanked by a significant network of Official Supporters active in the field of innovation, investment and entrepreneurship, including banks, multinational companies, Greek businesses and institutional supporters. EKT is one of the institutional supporters of Elevate Greece.

ΕΚΤ in the innovation ecosystem

EKT has a long-standing strategical link to the actors of the domestic innovation system. In this context, it supports the digital transformation and the enhancement of the development dynamics of the ecosystem, providing integrated services aimed at meeting specialised development needs and connecting research with entrepreneurship. Businesses, academic institutions, research and development organisations have access to networking, mentoring, information and education services.

With combined value-added services, EKT supports the Greek research and business community to excel and grow internationally. As National Contact Point for Horizon Europe, for the  clusters 'Health', 'Digital, Industry and Space' and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), and for the EU Mission Cancer ), supports organisations, businesses, academic and research bodies from identifying funding opportunities to drafting and submitting proposals, implementing projects and exploiting research results.

As co-ordinator of the Enterprise Europe Network Hellas, the Greek node of the Enterprise Europe Network, the largest business support network in the world, it provides services complementary to those of the National Contact Points, for international networking and search for business and technological collaborations, technology transfer and innovation, access to European funding and finding partners to participate in research proposals. In addition, EKT is the hub in Greece of EIT Health, one of the largest European public-private partnerships for health innovation.