Maggi Athanasiadi, the Innovation & Technology Senior Advisor of SEV, the Association of Greek Enterprises writes why innovation is a strong lever to economic development of a country. The most successful states design their policies and invest public and private funding in education, development of skills, cooperation between business and research institutions. Although, funding might seem the most important factor, it is the “innovative” spirit and the expectations that can lead to success.
According to a research of the European Innovation Scoreboard, Greece occupies the 25th place among 37 countries having a Moderate performance in Innovation. In Portugal, the innovation business models and products are widely known through media while in Ireland the acknowledgment of the innovation impact is eminent on employment and sales; such practices ranked as leaders.
A key to success seems to be the collaboration of well-established companies with small ones or start-ups as well as Research Centers and University research teams. Lately, Greece managed to achieve an impressive increase in innovation practices. Focusing in growth and profitability whilst being able to take advantage of Intellectual Property, the joint development and distribution of new products, SVE introduces the initiative of “Innovation Ready”. This will develop partnerships among manufacturing, Media, startups and Research community. The first online meeting included 11 funded companies presenting their innovating products in medicine and health while more industries are expected to follow.
This is a translated, summarized version of Maggi Athanasiadi’s article in Naftemporiki. You can read the full article, in greek, here: naftemporiki.gr
