The main goal of the TwInn4MicroUp project is to significantly and measurably increase the competitiveness and the capabilities of NTUA in the fields of Project Management & Administration, Budget Acquisition, and Synthetic Microbial Biotechnology for the elevation of NTUA’s research profile. This will be achieved by transferring research knowledge, excellence and best practices, from the three high-performance research establishments: Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands & Midwest (TUS), Athlone, Ireland; Belgrade, Serbia; The Microbial Biotechnology Laboratory of the Department of Bioscience, Biotechnology and Environment (UNIBA), Bari, Italy.

TwInn4MicroUp will generate 4 new state-of-the-art clean technology innovations that will lead to sustainable jobs, encompassing essential skills for the transition towards a greener future. Leveraging previous research achievements to valorise by-products of plastic waste and demonstrating the scale-up of these processes will highlight the untapped potential within low-value co-products and underscore the importance of pilot-scale research alongside laboratory developments. TwInn4MicroUp aims to educate and train researchers in Synthetic Microbial Biotechnology while fostering innovation through the formation of an expert network including the stimulation of relevant policy discussions. Our strategy involves engaging with the industry (over 100 companies), facilitating their active participation and investment, and working together to create a roadmap towards a greener, more innovative, and sustainable future. Through these collaborative efforts, NTUA aims to compete successfully at the EU level carrying out project coordination roles in HE initiatives.

LIEE-NTUA will support the creation of a Hub in the field of synthetic microbial biotechnology and will support the process of potential exploitation in the market of research ideas and results in order to link the rich production of innovative products in NTUA with existing or new firms in the specific sector.

The AI-THOS project aims to facilitate systematic and extensive training on Ethics and Research Integrity with a particular emphasis on the use of Artificial Intelligence technologies. The goal is to promote the principles of Ethics and Research Integrity, engage participants and their social networks in dialogue about the importance of these principles in scientific practices, and ultimately cultivate a culture of Ethics and Research Integrity in Europe. This culture will mitigate ethical implications and enhance trust in science and technology.

To achieve this goal, the project’s specific objectives are:

1. Investigate successful educational practices and innovative teaching techniques by mapping existing educational practices on Ethics and Research Integrity.
2. Strengthen the confidence and capacity of educators/trainers in Higher Education Institutions to provide training on these topics.
3. Support the development of related competencies among students by implementing a pilot program in the participating Higher Education Institutions.

The aim of the project is the design, creation and operation of an integrated network of structures to highlight and support Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Region of Peloponnese.

Specifically, LIEE will undertake the implementation of three (3) studies: a) “Entrepreneurship governance model study”, b) “Study of Research Utilization Practices (VALORISATION – SPIN OFFS)” and c) “Support Mechanism Operation Evaluation Study”, while also LIEE will operate an Integrated Information System.

Also, LIEE will have the scientific support for all the Phases of the Project and particularly in the staffing of the Evaluation Committees of the innovation competitions and hackathons, in the process of diagnosing the needs of business schemes, as well as the selection of the thematic content of the actions.

The project aims to optimise freshwater consumption in the food and beverage industry by introducing AI-based monitoring and control technologies, as well as water recovery and reuse technologies. At the same time, the project aims to achieve sustainability through energy recovery and waste management technologies, developing value-added products. In the framework of the project, LIEE contributes to the development of the strategy for the exploitation and commercialisation of the technological developments, project results and developed products, leading to the rapid adoption of the developed solutions by other companies active in the food and beverage industry.

More information about the project here.

EU-NETS addresses the emerging topic of the Energy Communities, with the objective to develop a new training path for managers and professionals that will work to create, develop and manage these new entities, that will play an important role in the energy and climate transition. In order to make the transition to a sustainable economy and to establish a real climate policy, it is crucial to change the energy system into a fully sustainable one. This transition is also a great opportunity to achieve the goal of energy democracy. For example sun and wind, on the contrary of fossil fuels, are available all over the world and this allows for decentralized and connected systems, based on cooperation. Citizens cooperatives and local authorities can play a crucial role here, developing public-civil partnerships.

EU Directives 2018/2001 and 2019/944 introduce the concept of Energy Community. Energy Community is a community of users (private, public, or mixed) located in a specific area, in which end users (citizens, businesses, public administration, etc.), market players (utilities, etc.), designers, planners and politicians actively cooperate to develop high levels of “smart” energy supply, favoring the optimization of the use of renewable sources and technological innovation in distributed generation and enabling the application efficiency measures, in order to obtain benefits on economy, sustainability and energy security.

The creation and the management of these communities will require the development of new professional figures that in the coming years will be responsible for leading the design, development, implementation and management of energy programs for the entire community and leading the Community’s goal of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions.

The objective of EU-NETS project is to outline the characteristics and qualifications necessary to guarantee to the new professional profile the abilities, the skills and the competences to implement its duties and the optimal management of energy communities according to the EQF scheme.

The EU-NETS project will be implemented in Italy, Greece and Spain, three Countries which present a similar scenario in terms of Energy Communities potential development and which has the same needs to support the creation of a professional figure able to manage this new entity.

The project concerns support services to existing and start-up businesses in the Municipality of Athens for the improvement of their competitiveness and their comparative self-assessment, aiming at the creation of new businesses and the improvement of the operation of existing ones, especially in the areas of regional smart specialization. The project will develop a set of quality criteria and a self-assessment tool specific to the sectors of interest with 20 questionnaires and pilot application of the criteria in selected enterprises

The aim of the project is the design, creation and operation of an integrated network of structures for the promotion and support of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Peloponnese Region.

Specifically, LIEE  undertakes the implementation of three (3) studies.

Furthermore, the LIEE will provide scientific support in all the Phases of the Project and in particular in the staffing of the Evaluation Committees of the innovation competitions and hackathons, in the process of diagnostic needs of business models, as well as in the thematic content of the actions.

This is a two-year research project will investigate the participation of Greece in global value chains (GVCs) at different levels (country, sector, firm), focusing on the underlying role of knowledge flows and innovation development as determinants of the country’s catching-up in terms of structural competitiveness in global markets and leveraging globalization as a growth strategy.

The project has four main objectives:

• To map Greece’s participation in GVCs, providing a rich set of participation indicators at the sector and country level.
• To study the participation incentives, integration strategy and expected benefits at the firm level, through a large-scale survey on selected sectors.
• To investigate the nexus of GVC participation, innovation performance and international competitiveness at the sector and firm level and unveil the underlying structural mechanisms that facilitate or hinder it.
• To provide evidence-driven policy recommendations and inform Greece’s relevant research, technology, and innovation (RTI) policy interventions.

The project will inform Greece’s Smart Specialization (S3) and future RTI strategies, focusing on three main pillars that these strategies aim to facilitate, namely globalization, growth, and competitiveness. The project treats these pillars as an interconnected triangle, where the main challenge is how to leverage globalization as a strategy for growth and competitiveness, through knowledge diffusion and innovation development in GVCs. In particular, the project aims to provide conceptual and empirical insights on the GVC-related dimensions of this triangle, which are rather underexplored for the Greek economy case.

The project’s objectives are expected to address the following challenges:

• Investigate and identify the benefits of participation in GVCs at the sector and firm level.
• Examine whether GVC participation holds innovation and growth potential for Greek firms and sectors.
• Understand how GVCs interact with the Greek national Innovation System (IS) and the ways GVC participation can enhance and upgrade the country’s innovation capabilities.
• Address Greece’s catching-up in terms of integration and competitiveness in global markets.
• Highlight the pervasive structural weaknesses that hinder the catch-up process and the potential comparative advantages that may facilitate it.
• Inform the country’s GVC participation strategy through a coherent and integrated set of policy and managerial recommendations.

• 14th Panhellenic Conference of Chemical Engineering

Results from WP2 were presented in poster form in the 14th Panhellenic Conference of Chemical Engineering, held in 29-31 May 2024 in Thessaloniki, with 500
participants:

A full paper (Dimas, P., Stamopoulos, D., Panagiotopoulos, P., Protogerou, A. (2024), “Mapping the participation of Greece in global value chains” ) was included in the conference proceedings.

Additionally, a shorter investigation (Stamopoulos, D., Dimas, P., Tsakanikas, A. (2024), “Μeasuring regional participation in global value chains") into the participation of Europe's regions in global value chains was presented  and discussed with conference participants.

• 36th Annual EAEPE Conference

A working paper (Stamopoulos, D., Dimas, P., and Protogerou, A. (2024), “Participation and Positioning of Greek Sectors in Global Value Chains and Evolution of Their Trade Patterns’’) on the roles of Greece in the GVC network was presented in the 36th Annual EAEPE Conference, held in Bilbao (Spain) in September 2024. 

• Researchers’ Night 2024

The GRinGVCs team was in LIEE's kiosk with a poster presentation in this year's Researchers’ Night on 27 September 2024 at “Averof” building in the historical Patission building
complex, with the attendance of more than 2000 people, discussing the project's aims and objectives with interested member of the wider public. 

The project includes a series of studies for the research and scientific support of the Consortium “SYDNA BUSINESS SUPPORT CENTRE” and in particular studies for: (a) the market conditions and developments and trends in the area of competence of SYDNA (Kallithea, Alimos, Paleo Faliro); (b) a study of employment prospects in the three municipalities; (c) a study to identify the sectors of the local economy that have potential for extroversion; and (d) business discovery, business and environmental mentoring and extroversion promotion actions for the enterprises of the area.

The aim of the project is to quantify the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the economy of the Region of Central Greece and the country as a whole (direct, indirect and induced effects) in terms of GDP, employment and public revenues, as well as to highlight the main challenges and prospects for the further development of the sector in Central Greece. It will also assess the main challenges of manufacturing in Central Greece (e.g. economic activities of the Region with growth potential, factors contributing to the strengthening of industrial activity), as well as the main obstacles faced by enterprises and the proposed interventions.