VIEWS AND ACTIVITIES OF BUSINESSES AND STAKEHOLDERS, WHICH ARE INVOLVED AND RELATED TO MARITIME
Constructive discussion on the Blue Economy
Inspired by Greek mythology and the rich maritime history and tradition of Greece, we chose the symbolism of sea nymph Cymothoe and gave her name to our effort. Just as the sea nymph Cymothoe stirs and strengthens the sea waves, so we also hope that this initiative will stir the waters and foster a wave of renewal. The Cymothoe Initiative organizes series of events, forums and actions in sectors related to maritime, with the aim of:
– the recording of today’s reality in the fields of interest.
– the networking of involved bodies (institutional, market, research, etc.).
– the creation of communication and information channels for the subjects covered.
– the dialogue among international, European and national bodies for the design of long-term strategic objectives related to the subjects.
– the creation of important events and actions on a regular basis.
Areas of Interest
Shipping/Ports
Marine Transport
Shipbuilding
Fishery
Marine & Coastal Tourism
Shipping/Ports
Fishery
Marine Transport
Shipbuilding
Marine & Coastal Tourism
Marine Construction
Offshore Renewable Energy
Offshore Oil/Gas
Seabed Mining
Aquaculture
High-tech Marine Services
Aqualife
Marine R & D
Safety & Surveillance
Business Services
Marine Construction
Offshore Oil/Gas
Offshore Renewable Energy
Seabed Mining
Aquaculture
Aqualife
High-tech Marine Services
Marine R & D
Safety & Surveillance
Business Services
Activities
The Big Tent to expand your thinking and create space for solutions for every issue related to the Blue Economy
ACCELERATOR
SAIL WITH PURPOSE
PYTHEAS TRIP
Piraeus – Marseille
On April 26, 2024, the Olympic Torch will board the French barque Belem, and will arrive on May 8 in the port of Marseille. The Greek sailing vessel Pytheas will follow the same sea route and will wait for Belem to accompany her when will be arriving in the port of Marseille.
SAIL WITH PURPOSE
PYTHEAS TRIP
Piraeus – Marseille
On April 26, 2024, the Olympic Torch will board the French barque Belem, and will arrive on May 8 in the port of Marseille. The Greek sailing vessel Pytheas will follow the same sea route and will wait for Belem to accompany her when will be arriving in the port of Marseille.
CONFERENCE
BLUE ECONOMY IN MID 2020s:
from Resilience to Growth
The conference aims to capture the current state of the Blue Economy, illuminating the most important movements, actions and best practices, which are recorded in all industries that are related to maritime, both in Greece and abroad.
ACCELERATOR
SAIL WITH PURPOSE
PYTHEAS TRIP
Piraeus – Marseille
On April 26, 2024, the Olympic Torch will board the French barque Belem, and will arrive on May 8 in the port of Marseille. The Greek sailing vessel Pytheas will follow the same sea route and will wait for Belem to accompany her when will be arriving in the port of Marseille.
CONFERENCE
BLUE ECONOMY IN MID 2020s:
from Resilience to Growth
The conference aims to capture the current state of the Blue Economy, illuminating the most important movements, actions and best practices, which are recorded in all industries that are related to maritime, both in Greece and abroad.
Advisory Board
Welcome to BlueTech Competition 2024, a new acceleration program that aims to support innovative technological solutions which are applied in sectors of Blue Economy. Solutions to be submitted for judging are expected to be applied in areas of Maritime, indicative but not limited to:
• Shipping / Ports
• Marine transport
• Shipbuilding
• Fishery
• Aquaculture
• Marine construction
• Offshore oil / gas
• Marine / Coastal tourism
• Seabed mining
• Offshore renewables
• Aqualife
• Business services
• Hightech marine services
• Marine R&D
• Safety & Surveillance
Programme structure is hybrid, with many of its components to be offered online, and demo days and finals to take place in Thessaloniki. BlueTech Competition has four tracks
• General track
• Port Operations track
• Safety Robotics track
• Seabed Exploration track
and its main objective is to revitalize the Blue ecosystem in Europe and Mediterranean. The programme combines knowledge, industry best practices, marketable guidance, and targeted networking. During their journey, the teams will validate their solutions, validate their businesses, validate the markets, and get prepared to ask for and receive investments.
The teams which participate in BlueTech Competition are never required to offer any of their equity to the programme.
We catalyze innovation, cultivate technology entrepreneurship, and play a role in the economic advancement of our region. We foster unconventional thinking and inspire the generation of revolutionary ideas. We are committed to mentorship, support, and continuous progress. We invite you to become a part of our community as we strive for collective growth and success.
We are honored to have the support of the Walk AUTh, the Alexander Innovation Zone and the Thessaloniki Port Authority.
The Olympic Flame will light in Ancient Olympia, Greece on April 16, 2024. The torch with the Olympic Flame will be travelling for eleven days, passing through the main Greek cities, before being delivered on April 26 to the French delegation in Athens, to travel to Marseille via Piraeus port. The torch will board the French 128-years-old three masted barque Belem, and will arrive on May 8 in the port the ancient Greek colony of Massalia (Marseille), where two days of cultural events are planned to welcome it in the presence of top officials of the French government.
A smaller sailing vessel, the keeler Pytheas from Greece (named after the ancient Greek explorer), will follow the same sea route as Belem, departing from the port of Piraeus to the port of Marseille. There, Pytheas will wait for Belem to accompany her when will be arriving in the port of Marseille. Pytheas will carry the flags of Greece, Olympic Games, and the Municipalities of Ancient Olympia and Piraeus on her mast.
Upon completion of the Marseille events, and the departure of the Olympic Flame for Paris on May 9, Pytheas will depart for her return to Greece. During the return journey, she will stop at the ports of some of the most important ancient Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean, Nice, Cargese, Napoli, and Reggio Calabria, before entering the waters of Greece where it will stop briefly in Ithaca and then head to its destination Katakolo, the port of Ancient Olympia.
Cymothoe Initiative has proudly undertaken the planning and organization of this project, in close cooperation with Mr. George Kesses, captain of Pytheas.
Pytheas of Massalia, an ancient Greek explorer (born in Marseille in c. 300 BC)
Navigator, geographer, astronomer, and the first known scientist who visited and described the Atlantic coast of Europe, the British Isles, the Celtic and German tribes, the polar ice, and the midnight sun. Although “In the Ocean”, his major work, has been lost, big part of his ventures remained known through the writings of Greek historian Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BC). Sailing from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, Pytheas stopped at the Phoenician city of Gades (now called Cadiz, Spain), probably following the European coastline to the edge of Bretagne. He eventually reached Belerium (“The End of the Land”) in Cornwall, where he visited the famous in the ancient world tin mines. He claimed to have explored much of Britain on foot, having accurately estimated its circumference at 4000 miles. He also estimated the distance from Scotland to Marseilles at 1050 miles while the actual distance is 1120 miles. He visited some northern European countries and may have reached the mouth of the Vistula river in the Baltic Sea. He also spoke of Thule , the northernmost inhabited island, which is six days from Scotland and extends at least to the Arctic Circle. The area he visited may have been Iceland or Norway.
CONFERENCE
BLUE ECONOMY IN MID 2020s:
from Resilience to Growth
April 7, 2023
Hellas Liberty Floating Museum, Piraeus
Almost fourteen years after the emergence of the economic crisis in Europe, three years after the appearance of Covid-19 and the first lockdown in Greece, and one year after the start of the war in Ukraine, Resilience, which appeared as Word of the Year 2020, continues as a very popular management style in the private and public sectors. At the same time, it seems that the spring, which remained completely compressed during the years of recession, still has a lot to decompress and – despite the difficult global circumstances – it makes market players quite optimistic.
The conference Blue Economy in mid 2020s: from Resilience to Growth aims to capture the current state of the ecosystem called Blue Economy, illuminating the most important movements, actions and best practices, which are recorded in all industries that are related to maritime, both in Greece and abroad. The conference is under the auspices of the Ministries of Development & Investments and Maritime Affairs & Insular Policy, Municipality of Piraeus, Hellenic Ports Association, and its program includes speeches and round table discussions.
Although, especially in Greece, Resilience is often associated with reticence, downsizing and cost-cutting policies, one of the definitions of Resilience is “the ability of an object or material to immediately spring back to its original shape”. Business history has shown that Resilience can become the most important element of Growth, especially in times of great volatility and uncertainty. It seems that entities, which prefer action to perfection and dare to take calculated risks, show better results, improve their competitive position, acquire a culture of survival in the long term and contribute to the prosperity of society and the Country.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
09:30 – 10:00 | REGISTRATION |
10:00 – 10:25 | OPENING |
10:25 – 10:45 | KEYNOTE SPEAKER |
10:45 – 11:30 | ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION |
11:30 – 11:45 | PRESENTATION |
11:45 – 12:30 | ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION |
12:30 – 12:45 | PRESENTATION |
12:45 – 13:15 | COFFEE BREAK |
13:15 – 13:30 | PRESENTATION |
13:30 – 14:15 | ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION |
14:15 – 14:30 | PRESENTATION |
14:30 – 15:15 | ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION |
15:15– 15:45 | CLOSING REMARKS |
Conference Moderator / Closing remarks: Andreas Zampoukas, Journalist, Athens Voice |
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
SPONSORS
MEDIA SPONSORS
SUPPORTED BY
ORGANISED BY
Advisory Board Members
Dr. George K. Vaggelas is an Associate Professor at the Department of Ports management and Shipping of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also a founding member of PortEconomics – a web-based initiative advancing knowledge exchange on port economics, management and policies. He has hands-on experience as he was an advisor for Thessaloniki Port Authority S.A., member of the Regulatory Authority for Ports in Greece and managing director of consultancy firm in the port and shipping industry. He has (co-) authored several studies published in international scientific journals and presented at international conferences, examining port economics and management, port policy as well as shipping transport and seaport economics, management and policy. George has completed shipping and seaport related projects in several European countries, examining transport systems and port reorganization, transport systems investments, port M&A’s, shipping clusters, shipping policy etc.
Christos Karapiperis is the CTO and Co-founder of DNA Sequence. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a BSc in Computer Science. His academic profile is enhanced by a Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership from the Chartered Institute of Management, UK. Professionally, Christos excels in overseeing large IT projects in both the private and public sectors and has been involved in EU and national-funded bioinformatics research. He specializes in cloud technologies and platforms, focusing on big data pipelines and machine learning operations (MLOps). His expertise extends to multi-cloud environments, making him a versatile and valuable asset in information technology.
During her longstanding career, Dr. Venetia Koussia has acquired senior management positions in companies and organizations of various industry sectors, leading them successfully through highly volatile market conditions by designing and implementing socially responsible growth strategies. Through innovative collaborations with the EU and undertaking an active role in national and international institutions, such as AmCham Greece and Compete Greece, she has been contributing to developing and implementing initiatives aiming always to improve aspects of competitiveness of the Greek economy. Venetia holds a postgraduate Diploma in Corporate Governance, a Ph.D. in Corporate Strategic Planning for Banking Services and an M. Phil. in Agricultural Marketing and Market Research. Her B.Sc. is in Business Administration from the American College of Greece. She does not know what her next field of studies will be but she definitely knows she would like to explore further the impact of humanities on humans.
Prof. Nikolaos E. Labrou received his BSc degree in Chemistry from the University of Patras, and his PhD in Enzyme Biotechnology from the Agricultural University of Athens. He has conducted post-graduate studies in Regulatory Affairs (University of California San Diego, USA) and postdoctoral research, as Marie Curie fellow, in protein biochemistry and molecular biology (Leeds University, UK) and then at Agricultural University of Athens. Dr. Labrou started his academic career as Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, and he is currently full Professor with tenure and Director and Ηead of the Enzyme Technology Lab. He teaches at the postgraduate and undergraduate levels. His research takes place where molecular enzymology, chemistry and blue biotechnology meet and covers aspects of the entire range from pure to applied science. Dr Labrou serves as Editor-in-Chief for three journals, and has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals. Prestigious funding agencies that have supported his research include the EU, NATO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bayer AG etc. Dr Labrou is a Member of the Board of Directors and Group Leader (Biocatalysis) at the Institute of BioEconomy, University Research Center of the Agricultural University of Athens. He is co-founder and Research Director of the biotech company EnzyCeuticals (a spin-off from the Agricultural University of Athens. Dr Labrou featured in the World’s Top 2% Scientists in four consecutive years (2019-2022) in his field according to the Stanford Rankings.
Fay Makantasi is the Research Director of diaNEOsis. She has taught Microeconomic Theory and Game Theory at Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and Principles of Economics at Hellenic Open University (HOU). She completed her PhD thesis on a game theoretic approach of international trade at AUEB. As a Postdoctoral Fellow she focused on public sector reform in Greece, the country’s export performance and the measurement of its human capital. During her studies she awarded grants for excellence and research from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY), the Bank of Cyprus, the Georgios and Victoria Karelia Foundation, the AUEB, the European Research Funding Program -“Heracleitus II”. She has recently received a research grant from the Hellenic Observatory of LSE on intelligent modeling of e-Government initiatives in Greece. Her research has been published in international journals and she has presented her work in national and international conferences. Fay has also co-authored and edited socio-economic research about Greece’s exit from the crisis and its modernization.
Plamen Tonchev has been Head of Asia Unit at the Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER), Greece, since 1998. As an IIER representative, he is a founding member of the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC). In addition, he sits on the EU Chapter of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (EU CSCAP) committee, and has acted as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Asia-Europe Sustainable Connectivity (AESCON) initiative. Plamen has published books on Japan, India and Pakistan, as well as various reports and articles in academic journals on China’s socio-economic development and foreign policies. He has given lectures in a number of European and Asian universities and think tanks on political/economic relations between Europe and Asia. Plamen is a regular commentator in Greek and international media outlets on related issues.