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Innovation and entrepreneurship

16 December 2014 / 14:12:45  GRReporter
2163 reads

Simona Peneva
     Every year around 80,000 euro are allocated in Greece to reward and support innovative ideas. Professor Dimitris Kouretas and his students in Biochemistry from the University of Thessaly in Volos realized their idea with this support. This year they developed a project for testing blood samples from different people. With the help of the samples, they analyze the genes of those people and find the profile of their metabolism. They thus determine the food they need, prepare it and send it by courier to the homes of the people who had been subjects of the testing.
     As a former rector of the University of Thessaly Dimitris Kouretas said that in Greece, they do not look for information on the most profitable sector, depending on the gross domestic product of the region, before founding a university. The result is the establishment of universities with specialties that will hardly develop in the specific region, thus making it difficult for the students to find a job. Another disadvantage of universities is that they buy equipment, machinery, materials, which are not subsequently used. "The National Strategic Reference Framework will provide enough money for the period 2014-2020 and universities should take advantage of it," said Dimitris Kouretas.


     Innovations and the role they play in the successful development of an enterprise or business idea were discussed at a forum organized by the organization "Canvas - debates about business ideas", which was attended by representatives of various institutions from Greece and abroad.
     A major problem of the current state of the Greek entrepreneurship, according to journalist Nikos Xidakis, is the aging population. "We have become an aging society. The average age of Greek citizens is now forty-two years. We need young people, their ideas and their fresh thinking to emerge from the crisis," added Xidakis, defining as necessary a financial shock, either with the help of European resources or through debt forgiveness. According to him, government money will help the Greek economy recover.
     Andreas Papadopoulos, a former member of the Democratic Left party is of the opinion that Greece is on the edge of a precipice and when the crisis broke out, it had taken the easiest path, namely the cuts in salaries and pensions. According to him, the blame is solely on Greece and it is pointless to accuse Europe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel because the state itself has made the mistakes. In his opinion, the main problem of the state is its populist character. "The pensions of fifty-year-olds and of the younger people eat up the resources for the very young who are just starting to develop. Therefore, the first thing to do is to equally distribute wealth. And if there are innovative ideas and competitiveness, then stability and profits will be ensured," he said, stating that the state should not be involved in entrepreneurship but mainly in health and education. Andreas Papadopoulos also added that, if the SYRIZA party that will probably form the next government fails to cope with the burden and does not adjust to the new European prototypes, then Greece will drift towards catastrophe.

Tags: InnovationEntrepreneurshipCompaniesEconomic growthUniversitiesEducationEconomic crisis
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