egg – enter•grow•go, in partnership with the French Embassy in Greece, organised an event aiming to connect the Greek and French innovation ecosystems.
The initiative forms part of the Extroversion Programme of egg, Eurobank’s business accelerator that aims to support the sustainable development of innovative entrepreneurship.
The aim was to connect institutions, investors, innovative companies and accelerators from France, a country with one of the most developed innovation ecosystems globally, with selected Greek companies from the egg Start Up and Scale Up platforms, in the sectors of Tourism, Health, Energy, Environment and Deep Tech.
The egg Extroversion Programme, an important pillar in Eurobank’s strategy to enhance the outward-looking potential of Greek healthy entrepreneurship through all stages of its development, is of great importance in the context of the current pandemic crisis, which forces startup entrepreneurship to face new and complex challenges.
The Financial Advisor to the French Embassy in Greece, Ms Emmanuelle Boulestreau, speaking on behalf of the French Ambassador to Greece, Mr Patrick Maisonnave, the Deputy Minister of Research and Technology, Mr Christos Dimas, and the Deputy CEO at Eurobank, Mr Stavros Ioannou were the keynote speakers of the event, which took place online, due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic, and was attended by representatives of the Greek and the French innovation ecosystems. The challenges that the pandemic poses to the startup ecosystem globally, and the new reality in the post-COVID era were analysed in the panel discussions that followed, where participants included Ms Marie-Claude Taillandier-Thomas, Head of International & European Affairs at the Development Bank of France (BPI France).
Ms Emmanuelle Boulestreau, speaking on behalf of the French Ambassador to Greece, stated, “In last years, Greece has built a rich startup ecosystem and France has become an undeniable point of reference in Europe in terms of innovation. It is our goal to further strengthen the business ties between our two countries. We want this event to be the first step towards building a French Tech Community in Athens by the end of 2021. We expect results, such as sharing good practices, attracting investments, carrying out joint projects, and creating jobs and added value.”
The Deputy Minister of Research and Technology, Mr Christos Dimas, noted, “For the first time in Greece, we have a concrete strategic plan to enhance research and innovation. Today, together with the Prime Minister, we are launching the operation of the National Startup Registry through the ElevateGreece platform, which will be the hub for accessing the entire innovation ecosystem. We are also creating a guide for Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs), with the aim of formulating a national strategy based on best and tested practices followed in other countries. This action will highlight opportunities to commercially exploit the result of the research conducted in our research centres and Universities. At the same time, we are improving the institutional framework for Technoblasts (Spin-offs) so that University faculty members and researchers can develop their research activity into innovative products and services, much more easily.”
The Deputy CEO at Eurobank, Mr Stavros Ioannou, stated, “egg remains an ambitious venture we are currently supporting financially to allow its transition into the next phase, which will be more demanding and more rewarding. The Greek startup market is feeling the impact of the pandemic; some sectors more than others. And the more they are affected, the more they need our immediate support. Supporting innovation is a top business priority for Eurobank. For egg it is its raison d’être. In every growth story, there comes a time when standing alone is not enough. egg has reached this point and is now time for us to choose our partners. We would be thrilled to see partnerships from France. Assisting Greek startups to establish strong links with French counterparts and amalgamating the two respective ecosystems can be instrumental for our success and beneficial to both parties.”
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egg, designed and being implemented since 2013 byEurobank and Corallia of the Athena Research Centre, pays special attention to the Extroversion Programme. In the pre-COVID era, educational and business delegations abroad took place every year through this Programme, in partnership with the world’s largest universities, and entrepreneurship organisations and institutions in the destination countries, aiming to link these companies with mature startup ecosystems abroad, as well as potential customers, partners and investors. In the recent years, egg has carried out more than ten (10) extroversion business delegations in major centres abroad, including Boston, Israel, Toronto, London, Barcelona and Berlin.
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The digital event is streamed live.
Photo: Mr Thibault Msika-Ulrich, Economic Attaché, Embassy of France in Greece (left) and Mr Stavros Ioannou, Deputy CEO at Eurobank (right)
View the event programme