On Tuesday, 9 December 2025, in Brussels, the comprehensive policy report titled “Making the EU’s 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework Work for Southern Europe.”, prepared by the PromethEUs network, was presented.

The report assesses the European Commission’s proposal for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and its implications for Southern Europe, focusing on two key instruments: the European Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe. The presentation was attended by policy makers, representatives of industrial associations, and think-tank groups from various countries, who provided comments on the report’s findings.

Aggelos Tsakanikas, Director of the Laboratory of Industrial and Energy Economics (LIEE), presented the chapter he co-authored with Dr. Petros Dimas on the impact of previous HorizonEU programmes on SMEs in Southern Europe, with a particular emphasis on their digital footprint. The report also includes policy recommendations for the tools currently being developed.

Further details about the report and the event can be found here
The full report is available here

On Wednesday, November 19, 2025, the first workshop was successfully held, focusing on the concepts of innovation and innovative entrepreneurship and their role in the wider region of Western Macedonia. A series of 10 workshops will follow throughout the implementation of the project, as well as specialized innovation coaching sessions and open innovation project proposals to companies in the region.

The workshop introduced participants to the basic principles of innovation and its importance for modern entrepreneurship. The following topics were presented:

• the main forms of innovation
• the process of developing an innovative idea
• practical applications for the daily operation of a business.

The seminar was interactive, aiming to link theory with practice and provide beneficiaries with tools for immediate application in their business plan.

More information here

More information about the project here

The Laboratory of Industrial and Energy Economics (LIEE) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) organized the Validation Workshop of the research project: “Leveraging Global Value Chains for Innovation and Competitiveness: The Case of Greece (GRinGVCs)” (Principal Investigator: Aimilia Protogerou, NTUA Assistant Professor). The project was carried out within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU (Implementation body: Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation).

The workshop was held on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, from 16.00 to 19.00, in the “Koumoutsou” Hall of the School of Chemical Engineering at the NTUA Zografou Campus. Online participation was also available.

The Workshop’s Programme is available here.

The project’s main objective was to examine Greece’s participation in global value chains (GVCs), with a particular emphasis on the interplay among GVC integration and innovation performance as key drivers of growth and international competitiveness. The core premise is that globalization – manifested through integration into fragmented international production networks – can serve as a catalyst for innovation-led competitiveness, which, in turn, can serve as a backbone for the country’s structural and productive transformation.

The aim of the workshop was to present and discuss the key findings of the research project in order to assess the reliability, relevance, and usefulness of the research results, as well as the associated public policy and business strategy recommendations. The workshop brought together executives from businesses and business associations, policy experts, as well as researchers and academics with significant expertise in the project’s scientific field. Undergraduate and postgraduate students of NTUA also attended. The total number of participants in the validation workshop was 50.

The workshop opened with a welcome address by Angelos Tsakanikas, NTUA Professor and Director of LIEE. This was followed by presentations by Aimilia Protogerou, NTUA Assistant Professor, and Petros Dimas, NTUA post-doctoral researcher, who presented the key findings of the research project and the corresponding public policy and managerial implications, formulated on the basis of the project’s two core empirical pillars.

The first pillar of the research work regards the country and sectoral level (macro level) and draws on two extensive databases developed within the project. These include a) the GRinGVCs database, which provides information on participation and positioning of 45 industrial sectors of 77 economies (including all EU27 members and other OECD countries) in global value chains, and b) the ESPAT database, which contains patent data (applications and grants) from the European Patent Office (EPO) for 99 industrial sectors of 24 European countries. The second pillar concerns the micro level analysis and is based on a field survey conducted with a structured questionnaire among 161 of the largest Greek manufacturing firms. The presentation of these findings was followed by a constructive discussion, with participants posing questions and providing comments that further enriched the analysis.

Subsequently, an organized discussion – panel was held with executives from manufacturing firms that participated in the survey. The panel included: Nikos Adamopoulos, New Business Development Director of GALENICA S.A., Dionysis Ventouris, EU Funding & Continuous Improvement Manager of SIDENOR STEEL INDUSTRY S.A., Violeta Ioannidou, CFO and Chair of the Board of Directors of ELASTOTET S.A., Manolis Bazigos, CEO of N. BAZIGOS S.A., Vasilis Boursinos, COO of MAILLIS METALS SOLUTIONS S.A., and Giannis Tserepas, CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors of LARIPLAST S.A. The discussion focused on targeted questions regarding the extent and nature of their firms’ participation in global value chains, as well as the strategic planning challenges and opportunities arising from this engagement.

The workshop provided a constructive platform for dialogue and the exchange of views, underscoring the relevance and practical value of the project’s findings for both business practice and current public policy in Greece. Insights gathered from the discussion directly informed the final formulation of the project’s main conclusions and policy recommendations. These contributions reinforced the central finding that Greece’s position in global value chains remains largely peripheral and must be strengthened through coordinated efforts aimed at enhancing value creation and supporting the country’s productive transformation.

As part of the activities of the PromethEUs network, the Elcano Royal Institute organized a workshop in Madrid on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, entitled “Making the EU’s 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework Work for Southern Europe.”

The conference provided an opportunity for the PromethEUs network to present and discuss preliminary findings, in view of the final report to be presented in Brussels in November, on the European Commission’s proposal for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and its implications for Southern Europe. The meeting brought together representatives from public administrations, academia, industry associations, and think tanks from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece.

The main topics discussed were the budget allocation in the new MFF, the European Competitiveness Fund, digital leadership, and the Horizon Europe programme. Aggelos Tsakanikas, head of the Laboratory of Industrial and Energy Economics (LIEE), presented the joint work with Postdoctoral Researcher Petros Dimas (in progress) on the digital footprint of previous HorizonEU programs in SMEs and Southern Europe, with excellent comments from Dimitris Liakos.

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Those interested can apply until the end of November.

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