On Thursday, November 24, 2022, at 6:00 p.m., the presentation of the Research Project entitled “Small Business Clinic – IME” took place at the Joist Innovation Park, in which members of the project’s collaborative scheme, from the University of Thessaly and the Consulting Company, participated Grant Thornton Services.
The Conference was attended by the President of the Chamber of Larissa, Mr. Sotiris Giannakopoulos, who referred to the vulnerable position of small businesses in Greece, which the said project is called upon to support by giving them access to specialized development and innovation services. Mr. Giannakopoulos welcomed this effort and committed to the presentation of the project to the Board of Directors and the members of the Larissa Chamber, as well as to the dissemination of the results of the project and the connection with local entrepreneurship.
The event was also welcomed by the President of the Regional Department of Thessaly OEE, Mr. Georgios Hatzis, thanking the organizers for the invitation and recognizing the need for cooperation between the research community and the business sector, in order to strengthen the viability of small businesses. Mr. Hatzis emphasized the importance of supporting such initiatives and pledged to support the Economic Chamber of Greece in the work of the cooperative scheme.
The importance of this new tool for the development of small entrepreneurship was also mentioned by the President of EFEEL, Mr. Asterios Nakas, thanking for the invitation and emphasizing the opportunity given to the accounting industry to highlight the scientific role of the tax technician in small businesses. Mr. Nakas characterized the use of this tool as valuable for supporting tax professionals in consulting small businesses.
Finally, the event was also welcomed by the President of the Larissa Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Charalambos Papadopoulos, who referred to the Association’s orientation towards the digital transformation of trade and pledged to assist the Association in innovative research projects aimed at the sustainability and development of the commercial sector.
Afterwards, the professor of the University of Thessaly, Mr. Georgios Petrakos, Coordinator and Scientific Manager of the Project, took the podium. Mr. Petrakos, thanking those present, underlined the new opportunities for cooperation created by the “Small Business Clinic” in matters of development at the local and regional level. The professor presented the possibilities, which are created at a scientific and technological level, in order to provide companies with specialized consulting services through the use of the digital platform of the project and with the aim of dealing with the critical problems of the operation of small businesses. He referred to the innovations of the project and its services, as well as its implementation methodology, which was based on the combination of different fields of economic science (microeconomics, management, marketing, etc.) with technology and computer sciences. He did not fail to develop all the free services offered by the project to small businesses (business profiling service, comparative analysis-benchmarking service, etc.), as well as the online services with a subscription (estimation of the business recognition index, etc. a.). Finally, Mr. Petrakos, after presenting a demo video of the use of the project’s site by businesses, expressed the ambition of the cooperative scheme to make its platform and services available outside the borders of Greece. He did not fail to develop all the free services offered by the project to small businesses (business profiling service, comparative analysis-benchmarking service, etc.), as well as the online services with a subscription (estimation of the business recognition index, etc. a.). Finally, Mr. Petrakos, after presenting a demo video of the use of the project’s site by businesses, expressed the ambition of the cooperative scheme to make its platform and services available outside the borders of Greece. He did not fail to develop all the free services offered by the project to small businesses (business profiling service, comparative analysis-benchmarking service, etc.), as well as the online services with a subscription (estimation of the business recognition index, etc. a.). Finally, Mr. Petrakos, after presenting a demo video of the use of the project’s site by businesses, expressed the ambition of the cooperative scheme to make its platform and services available outside the borders of Greece.
This was followed by the speech of the representative of the business partner of the project, Grant Thornton, Mr. Manos Mavrogenis. Mr. Mavrogenis analyzed the company’s participation in the implementation of the project and mainly in the construction of diagnostic and consulting services for small businesses. In turn, he underlined the innovation of the project in terms of the utilization of “BigData” & “BusinessAnalytics”, in order to extract diagnoses, analyses, advice and rules for the benefit of small businesses.
The Conference was concluded with a speech by the project manager of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (iED), Mr. Thomas Galatsis, who, after welcoming the research project, presented to the attendees the Institute’s Open Call for funding applications for innovative and creative business ideas for sustainable cities, in the framework of the European project “U-SOLVE: Urban sustainable development SOLutions Valuing Entrepreneurship”.
The “Small Business Clinic – IME” project is implemented within the framework of the Action “RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE”, which is co-financed by national funds (through the EP Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation – EPANEK, NSRF 2014-2020) and from community resources (European Union, European Regional Development Fund) (Project code T1EDK-02161).
Information:
https://ime.uth.gr/
Source: University of Thessaly I News (https://bit.ly/3XDJxnf)