Final of the 1st Applied Innovation Competition 2023: Presentation of Proposals and Awarding of the Winners

The final of the 1^st Applied Innovation Competition of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, organized by the Archimedes Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, took place on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, with the participation of 15 research teams from various scientific and research fields.

Present at the event were the Rector of NKUA, Professor Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos, the Vice-Rector of Research and Lifelong Education, Professor Nikolaos Voulgaris, the Deans of the Schools of NKUA, who also comprised the evaluation committee, as well as a representative of the Regional Development Fund of Attica. In his address opening the event, the Rector said, among other things, that:

‘Collaboration with the Region of Attica was essential for this competition and stressed the shared desire of NKUA and the Regional Administration to make known the innovation born and bred in our University. The purpose of the competition was to highlight and promote research for society and the economy by encouraging researchers to consider the practical applications of their research results. In line with the priority areas of the Regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization, the submitted research proposals covered a wide range of research fields, such as agrofood, health & pharmaceutical products, environmental technology, and port construction materials. Today, we will review all submitted proposals and select the winners.’

Shortly afterwards, Professor Emeritus Nikolaos Mylonas, Academic Advisor of the Archimedes Center, addressed the event and signalled the start of the process.

The 15 participating research teams were from the Departments of Biology, Geology & Geoenvironment, Chemistry, and Physics of the School of Science, the Departments of Medicine and Pharmacy of the School of Health Sciences, the Departments of Business Administration and Ports Management & Shipping of the School of Economics & Political Sciences, the Department of Psychology of the School of Philosophy, and the Department of Physical Education & Sport Science of the namesake School.

The first prize of €10,000 went to Professor Nikolaos Thomaidis’ team from the Department of Chemistry. The team also included the post-doctoral researchers at the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory of NKUA, Sofia Drakopoulou, Anastasia Kritikou, and Reza Aalizadeh, and the Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural Development, Agrofood & Management of Natural Resources, Yannis Doukas.

The second prize of €8,000 went to Professor Aristides Eliopoulos’ and Assistant Professor Kalliopi Gkouskou’s team from the Department of Medicine.

The third prize of €6,000 went to Assistant Professor Kosmas Tsakmakidis from the Department of Physics.

The action was implemented in the framework of the Act ‘Innovation Center of Attica Region (ICAR)’ as part of the OP ‘Attica 2014-2020’ and was funded by the Attica Regional Development Fund.

A selection of photographs from the event