News

Professor Ioannis Emiris, president of the Athena Research Center, was an invited speaker at the StartSmart SEE Summit 2024 held on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at the Eugenides Foundation. The key theme around which the summit's agenda revolves is "Igniting Innovation, Fortifying Futures".

After the address by the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendia - who now heads the effort of introducing innovation into the Greek Armed Forces—the conference began. The summit was graced by esteemed guest speakers, who delivered their contributions in the breakout panels focused on issues such as technology transfer, the commercialization of research, and strategies for investment in startup tech enterprises.

Professor Emiris presented in the panel discussion "From Lab to Market" which was committed to defining pathways for successful commercial exploitation of research, linking research with the market, and best practices in the management of intellectual property for successful commercialization. In the discussion, there was an engaging exchange of views among the participants, who emphasized the challenges facing Research Centers and Universities in maturing research results for the creation of spin-offs and companies, in attracting capable researchers, and in retaining human resources in Greece - challenges that often compete with private companies at a national and international level.

At this point, Professor Ioannis Emiris underlined the continued demands of the research community to the government for the stability of the regulatory framework, the maintenance of a consistent frequency of funding actions, and the necessity to reduce the fragmentation that characterizes the research ecosystem. He also presented the many innovative activities developed by the Athena Research Center, including those related to extroversion and the potential for the development of Athena, both in Greece and abroad.