Page 6 - COMPASS - COMPETITIVENESS REPORT 2022 - COUNCIL OF COMPETITIVENESS IN GREECE

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Further state investment to this end includes the design and establishment of two physical
innovation sites: the Athens Innovation District, on the former grounds of CHROPEI, and the
Thessaloniki Innovation and Technology Centre (Thess INTEC), a fourth generation science
and technology park in Thessaloniki. The point of these innovation hubs is to host research-
ers, startups and corporate R&D departments that will, through entrepreneurial—and oth-
er—synergies contribute to the production of innovative products and services to the benefit
of Greek society and economy. Furthermore, through our Elevate Greece initiative, we
provided a definition of startups and proceeded to gradually map them. We now have in our
hands a dynamic record of key data (number of companies, sectors, employees, geographi-
cal distribution, etc.) that allows us to develop targeted policies to help startups strengthen
their footprint in the domestic and international ecosystem.

In addition to the favourable taxation reforms to encourage the acquisition of stock op-
tions, companies that are members of Elevate Greece also enjoy special privileges, such as
tax relief for investments from angel investors, NSRF programmes to increase their liquidity,
international promotion, networking opportunities, and support from Elevate Greece official
partners through high-value-added services and monetary awards. More than €1.2 billion in
NSRF 2021–2027 resources has been earmarked for research and innovation, while we have
secured funds exceeding €500 million from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece
2.0 for financing basic and applied research and for upgrading and extending research
centre infrastructure. We have also completed the National Research and Innovation Strategy
for Smart Specialisation, having identified the most critical sectors for investment through
co-financed programmes.

The Greek innovation ecosystem has exceptionally high potential and has the capacity to
showcase Greece as a country of social, environmental and innovative entrepreneurship,
making it even more competitive. Our goal is to provide the right incentives and tools so
that talented scientists and entrepreneurs can rest assured of their global competitive ca-
pacity while working from Greece. The annual Compass report serves as a record of devel-
opments in the country’s competitiveness over time and of the forces that shape it, and it
constitutes an invaluable tool in the development of structural policies.