An initiative to promote the establishment of a technological cluster in the cloud computing sector, based in Thessaloniki and seeking funding from the next NSRF (SP 2014-2020), is being undertaken by the administration of the Northern Greece Informatics Association (SEPVE).
This was announced by the president of the organization, Theofilos Mylonas, speaking on the occasion of the "Technology Forum", which is taking place today in Thessaloniki, under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology.
The proposed technological cluster, which will have a strongly collaborative structure, will seek to involve - according to Mr. Mylonas - IT companies, large companies (of the "scope" of Microsoft or Google) in the role of consultants, as well as university and research institutions from the technological and research ecosystem of Thessaloniki.
The proposal has already been communicated to the Secretary General of Research and Technology, Christos Vasilakos, who is currently in Thessaloniki, in order - among other things - to follow the forum's proceedings and participate in a meeting of its board of directors.
"Large companies in Greece are considered small in Europe and in the special times we are living in, we need the energy of businesses, research institutions and
Development (R&D) and many institutional factors, in order to quickly have a substantial critical mass of IT services in the cloud," noted Mr. Mylonas.
He added that within the proposed cluster, there will be a transfer of know-how and development of human resources skills, while "better access to funds for reorganization and reconstitution of businesses in formations and connection with R&D bodies in a sustainable long-term relationship will be achieved, while there will be advisory support.".
Referring to the forum itself, he noted that the goal of the SEPE is to institutionalize it, so that it brings together entrepreneurs and researchers, informing the former about the projects that the latter are "running", with the ultimate goal of developing the research into an innovative commercial product.
European university professors only dedicate 20% of their time to collaborating with businesses
For his part, Panagiotis Ketikidis, from the Northern Greece Exporters Association (SEVE), noted that based on a survey by the "Science-to-Marketing" Research Center of Munster University (Germany) on a sample of 6280 professors and university administration representatives from 33 countries, cooperation between universities and businesses in Europe remains at an early stage.
The research, conducted on behalf of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture, showed that the involvement of university professors in developing university-business partnerships (UBPs) is low to non-existent.
On average, professors devote only 20% of their time to PES. The situation is slightly better when it comes to universities as entities, which undertake PES actions to a lesser or greater extent.
According to Mr. Ketikidis, the development of VET can be encouraged - among other things - through strengthening the incentives given to professors to collaborate with businesses, but also by hiring - from the outset - by universities - people who meet the standards for engaging in it. It can also be achieved by reducing or eliminating the main limiting factors, especially with regard to available funding and bureaucratic procedures.
Source: kathimerini.gr
