News

The Athena Research Center, through its "ARCHIMEDES" unit, is pleased to announce its collaboration with the National Fund of Greece - Growthfund, aiming at the intensive digitalization of the services provided by its subsidiary companies to citizens. A valuable partner in this endeavor is the "ARCHIMEDES" unit, which leverages the vast amounts of data generated by digital services.

In the first phase of this collaboration, funded by a grant from the "Greece 2021 Committee" significant datasets from Athens public transport (urban buses) and ship transits through the Corinth Canal were utilized to study operational conditions. This collaboration employed the latest technologies (machine learning models, genetic algorithms, neural networks, etc.) with the aim of the "social good," akin to similar international "Data for Social Good" initiatives. A total of 21 graduates, postgraduate students, PhD candidates, and postdoctoral researchers from the National Technical University of Athens, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Athens University of Economics and Business, and the University of Piraeus, under the guidance of Mr. Timos Sellis, Director of the "ARCHIMEDES" unit, and his team, collaborated with the Growthfund company executives to develop innovative technological applications.

Growthfund expects the "ARCHIMEDES" team to assist both it and its subsidiaries in a series of additional goals and actions:

• Optimizing applications using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies (such as chatbots).
• Shaping the Data Governance strategy and framework designed for the Group's companies.
• Within the broader Group strategy for adopting Artificial Intelligence technologies in the digital transformation of its subsidiaries.

Mr. Timos Sellis, Director of "ARCHIMEDES" stated about the collaboration: "The Growthfund and the 'Archimedes' Research Center closely collaborated to address key challenges, applying the innovation methodology centered on the citizen-user. Additionally, priority was given to training and providing real problem-solving experiences for as many students as possible through internships and practical training actions. Simultaneously, the involved companies familiarized themselves with a rapid innovation process and actively engaged in solving their critical challenges. The collaboration was highly productive for all involved and was crowned with absolute success. We warmly thank the Growthfund for this opportunity for collaboration in innovative actions and for giving young engineers the chance to engage with real problems."

Ms. Aphrodite Sevasti, Growthfund's Chief Technology Officer, stated: "Through this excellent collaboration, for which we thank the 'Archimedes' Research Center, we reinforce our strategic priority for leveraging data in the operation and optimization of services provided to citizens by Growthfund's companies. The culture of the data-driven enterprise, familiarization with data extraction, processing, and analysis for the Group's company executives, and the development of infrastructure for data collection and utilization are part of our strategy moving forward. Many congratulations to all participants and especially to our companies' executives for their contribution to this 'baptism by fire'."