Corallia: Development guided by Smart Specialization:
Distinction at a pan-European level
Corallia among the four most successful organizations
distinguished in Europe
Maroussi, 29.04.2015: Corallia received a significant distinction for its contribution to the design and implementation of smart specialization, not only in Greece but also at a European level, by being selected among the four most successful organizations in the GROW your REGIOn competition.
This is a significant recognition of the efforts of the country's innovative technology ecosystem, which has stood out for its developmental footprint. This development constitutes another step in the international visibility of the country's ability to promote innovative entrepreneurship and regional development.
The four most successful organizations in Europe, including Corallia, which stood out from 47 nominations, were invited to present their progress and achievements at the two-day conference, which took place in Brussels on 27 and 28 April and was co-organised by the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry and the Directorate-General for Regional Policy and Urban Development of the European Commission.
As a primary issue at the top of the European Commission’s agenda for Europe’s economic growth, the smart specialization strategy through clusters was a key focus of the conference, which was attended by more than 450 participants from all over Europe. Based on the success stories of Corallia and the other three distinguished organizations from France, Germany and Italy, speeches were organized in parallel by high-ranking officials of the European Commission (DG Growth, DG Regio) and discussed the actions that can be undertaken and the types of partnerships required to shape an effective smart specialization policy and the shaping of a new model for the European economy.
Mr. Carsten Schierenbeck, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission, said: “Corallia’s story was among the four discussed at GROW your REGIOn, making a very important contribution to the conference’s work, thanks to its strong methodological approach, long-term strategy and vision for success.”.
Through the promotion of Corallia in GROW your REGIOn, its commitment to excellence and the undertaking of actions to upgrade Greece's value chains are reflected.
About Corallia
Corallia is the first organization established in Greece for the organized and systematic management and development of innovation clusters with the aim of creating integrated productive and innovative ecosystems in which actors from specific sectors and regions of the country operate in a coordinated manner, where a competitive advantage and export orientation exist.
In the clusters it develops, Corallia has a coordinating role and within this framework, it plans and implements support and promotion interventions for all innovation actors in the ecosystem, including industry, universities, research laboratories, central government and regional services, business angels and investment fund managers, financial institutions, infrastructure providers and business development services, with the aim of strengthening competitiveness and promoting entrepreneurship and innovation.
Today, Corallia has developed and coordinates three highly specialized technological Clusters in Greece, namely the mi-Cluster (Nano/Microelectronics Systems and Applications), the si-cluster (Space Technologies and Applications) and the gi-Cluster (Entertainment and Creative Technologies & Applications).
In addition, Corallia manages a network of three single-thematic innovation centers (InnoHubs) in strategic locations in the capital and the region: α1-innohub (Marousi, Athens, Attica), π1-innohub (Kastritsi, Patras, Western Greece) and α2-innohub (Marousi, Athens, Attica), where the head offices are also housed.
Corallia also implements a youth entrepreneurship acceleration program (YEAP) with a series of initiatives such as: the country's most important accelerator, egg - enterˑgrowˑgo, in collaboration with Eurobank, the Educational Trip with the student associations of Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Georgia Tech and UC San Diego, etc.
In the context of the extroversion of Greek entrepreneurship, the exchange of good practices and the promotion of collaborations with corresponding European and international initiatives, Corallia invests in international collaborations, establishing strong ties with important European policy-making bodies for the development of clusters and actively participating in selected European projects.
The actions and projects implemented by Corallia are co-financed by Community funds, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), National funds, and private funds, within the framework of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (OPC-II), the Regional Operational Programmes for the period 2007-2013, the Public Investment Programme, the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union, the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme, as well as donations from private and business initiatives.
More information at https://www.corallia.org.
