The representatives of IEC Tehnopolis are on a five-day study visit, with the assistance and support of the Ministry of Science of Montenegro and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, during which they had the opportunity to negotiate concrete partnerships and agreements with similar organizations in the countries of Southeast Europe.
During the study visit, the team of IEC Tehnopolis agreed on concrete cooperation and developed new project partnerships through calls from Interreg Mediteran, Interreg Adrion, Erasmus, Horizon 2020, EBRD and Cosme. In addition, significant contact has been achieved with experts from the European Commission who will provide significant expert support in further development of Tehnopolis in the future.
When it comes to further strategic cooperation with the key institutions of Greece in the field of business development and innovation, it was agreed to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Athens, which besides a large number of members has a well-developed business angel network. Within the Chamber of Commerce and Industry there is their business incubator – “THEA”. During the meeting with the chamber, the structure of the tenants was presented as well as their work, as well as the possibility of organizing joint events, the presence at important events organized by these two centers, and also a joint appearance at the great world events.
Concrete cooperation was achieved with the Patra Technology Park, where it was agreed to jointly apply to calls for EU funds, and that they will work together on transfer of knowledge, especially in the field of technology transfer. Cooperation in this field has been agreed with the Lefkippos Technology Park, which is part of the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, which is the largest multidisciplinary research center in Greece. The work of the Technology Park and the Center was presented by Dr. George Strogylopoulos, one of the leading experts in the European Commission in the field of technology and innovation.
A visit to Thessaloniki marked meetings with Technology Park in Thessaloniki, where representatives of IEC Tehnopolis presented the project of the Alexandrian Innovation Zone in Thessaloniki. It is a project launched by the Greek government in cooperation with the Israeli start-up center and strong US companies and relevant centers from the Balkans. Also, at this meeting, it was agreed that IPC Tehnopolis should be part of the initiative to establish a network of South East European technology parks aimed at linking and sharing experiences, as well as a joint effort towards direct financing of the initiative by the European Commission. The visit to Greece was concluded with a meeting with the management of the Alexandrian Innovation Zone, with which a partnership was agreed on future calls for projects and also hosting at the events of two organizations.
IEC Tehnopolis visited the following scientific parks in Greece: Patras Science Park where they were received by Professor Vassilis Anastassopoulos, director of this science park; The Athines Startup Business Incubator with Dr. Harris Lambropoulos, Lefkippos Tech Park, Thessaloniki Technology Park hosted by Mrs. Georgia Aifadopoulou, Managing Director of the Park and Director of the Research Center and Alexander Innovation Zone S.A. together with Dr. Kyriakos Loufakis, General Manager of this center. The teams of these centers also attended the meetings.
Representatives of Tehnopolis on this study visit are: Executive Director Ratko Batakovic, Finance Manager Vanja Zoric Sundic, Project Manager Aleksandar Janicic, Business Incubator Manager Jelena Djedovic, Programme Manager Djordjije Brkuljan and Assistant on project activities Miljana Pekovic.
During their stay in Athens, they were pleased to be accompanied by her Excellency Ana Vukadinovic, Ambassador of Montenegro in Greece, as well as Ms. Iva Dabovic, First Secretary of the Embassy, whom we thank for this occasion for providing assistance in arranging this meetings.
