The National Research Centre for Physical Sciences “Demokritos” is one of the three finalists that will compete for the European Commission ‘s European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA 2020) in the category ” Promoting the Entreprene urial Spirit”, on 16 November 2020 in Berlin.

The Greek proposal was selected among 185 nominations from 27 countries and is entitled, “Demokritos: Innovation Ecosystem for Sustainable Entrepreneurship”. The two other finalists in this category are Open Entrepreneurship from Denmark and Atlantic Futures from France.

According to the comments of the jury of the Awards, Democritus, as a public research institution, can support innovative entrepreneurship in a meaningful, effective and sustainable way.

The Centre’s integrated strategy for promoting entrepreneurship in high-tech sectors includes:

-Administrative structures that contribute to the successful transfer of technology and intellectual property from the laboratories of the NCSFD “Demokritos” to Greek and international companies, as well as open access to research infrastructures.

-The Industrial Scholarship Programme, a 4-year programme for post-doctoral or doctoral candidates, which for three years has granted 70 scholarships, creating strong links and productive partnerships with Greek Industry.

-The Lefkippos Technology Park which today hosts 45 start-up innovative companies and R&D departments of large international companies.

-The Digital Innovation Hub AHEDD – Attica Hub for the Economy of Data and Devices, for the digital transformation of businesses, focusing on Internet of Things, Sensors and Artificial Intelligence technologies.

The Democritus Innovation Ecosystem contributes both to attracting investment and talented researchers from around the world, and to the repatriation of young Greek scientists who left Greece during the economic crisis.

The Minister of State for Research and Technology, Mr. Christos Dimas said: “Once again it is proven that our Research Centres have great potential in supporting entrepreneurship in cutting-edge technologies. In this particular case, in addition to its excellent research potential, DMOKRITOS has proven that it is a “hotbed” of innovative entrepreneurship and excels both within and beyond borders.

Demokritos is funded by the European Investment Bank with a €48.3 million project, which involves the reconstruction of four new buildings: the Nanotechnology, Information Technology and Telecommunications, Chemical Biology and a new building for the expansion of the Lefkippos Technology Park. The project also involves the renovation of seven other buildings of the Centre, including research laboratories, administrative and technical services.

The European Enterprise Awards 2020 is a European Commission initiative launched in 2006 to recognise and reward excellence in public bodies promoting entrepreneurship and small businesses at national, regional and local level. There are six categories of Awards: a) Promoting Entrepreneurship, b) Investing in Business Skills, c) Improving the Business Environment, d) Supporting the Internationalization of Business, e) Supporting the Development of Green Markets and the Efficient Use of Resources; and f) Responsible and Integrative Entrepreneurship, and there is also a Grand Jury Prize.