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"Athena" Research Center, a partner organization of the central Technology Transfer Hub Science Agora, Innovation to Society, participated in an event celebrating one year since its establishment. The event, titled "One Year of Science Agora", took place on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, and featured distinguished speakers from partner agencies such as Google, Science Agora's Proof of Concept award-winning teams, successful innovative business cases, and major industry players.

 

During the event, Prof. Ioannis Emiris, President of "Athena" RC ,participated in a panel discussion with the other heads of the cooperating bodies of the Hub. They stressed the added value for their institutions and the wider ecosystem of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship deriving from their collaboration and shared their views on the future of the Hub.

 

Eleni Petra, leader of the Fresqo team, which received a distinction in the Proof Of Concept program, presented the results of the project. The group developed a system that provides a safe estimation of the fish freshness index using hyperspectral image analysis tools from fish tissues. Thanasis Gentimis, CEO of Symbiolabs, a spin-off company of  "Athena" RC, spoke about the services and digital applications that the company has developed to support businesses and agencies in the transition towards Circular Economy, as well as about the challenges faced by a new market entrant.

 

The event started with a discussion among the heads of the organizations that make up Science Agora, namely Prof. I. Emiris, Dr. G. Nounesis, Prof. D. Bourandonis, Prof. A. G. Boudouvis, and Prof. Emeritus I. Vassiliou. The discussion was followed by a presentation of the actions that have been implemented by the Hub up to now and those planned for the immediate future. These actions include training of the executives of the Technology Transfer Offices and the research potential of the institutions, and the extroversion of the Hub and development of partnerships with the market. A typical example of the latter is the Proof-of-Concept Program already implemented and subsequent ones planned in the fields of Culture, Creative Industries, and Tourism.

 

Google Marketing Director for Southeast Europe, Maria Founta, referred to the importance of the results of the Proof-of-Concept program on the topic of Environment and Energy. She also expressed the organization's intention to support similar actions in the future. After a brief presentation of the implementation process of the Proof-of-Concept program supported by Google, the teams supported by the program (Fresqo, Scidrones, Run4More, SILDI, FreshIt, Dataphoria), took the floor to report on the results of the pilot action and the benefits they gained from their participation.

 

The event continued with the presentation of companies that have been supported in the past by the Science Agora organizations and have already a significant market presence, including Cyrus, SymbioLabs, and TEKMON. The representatives of these companies shared their experiences and stressed the challenges, as well as the prospects of the transition of research from the laboratory to the market.

 

The event concluded with short presentations by well-known market executives who referred to the prospects of the Hub's cooperation with businesses and suggested specific actions that will speed up the interconnection of the two.