The commitment of the National Bank to continue to dynamically support the domestic ecosystem of start-ups and innovation was conveyed by senior executives of the Bank on the occasion of the completion of 15 years, since the beginning of an important institution, the Innovation and Technology Competition

As pointed out, the 15th Competition marks a new beginning, with its subject matter expanding and aligning with the bank’s strategic priorities. In particular, Competition, which is now an institution in the Startup business ecosystem, was enriched with new thematic sections, which concern current cutting-edge sectors, such as Fintech, Deep Tech, Climate Change, Financial Literacy, Financial Empowerment and Inclusion.

The National Bank’s Innovation & Technology Competition is the longest-running innovation competition in Greece, which started shortly before the start of the financial crisis in our country and managed to support the domestic start-up ecosystem from its inception until today.

In total, during the 14 previous years of its organization, participations have risen to over 8,200 with almost 4,800 business proposals formulated, while NBG has given almost 700,000 euros in prizes to the 140 winning teams.

Contest Winners are many well-known companies in the ecosystem today, such as Avocarrot, Pollfish and Mist.io that have been acquired by international companies, as well as e-table, Ferryhopper, Clio Muse, DoctorAnyTime, and many research and student groups.

The annual Competition is an activity of the NBG Business Seeds Program of the National Bank. NBG Business Seeds is part of the National Bank’s wider Operational Strategy to support entrepreneurship and create partnerships, and makes a key contribution to it. Specifically, the Program has evolved into an accelerator that highlights business ideas through the annual Innovation & Technology Competition, while at the same time providing infrastructure, guidance and access to the innovation ecosystem to business groups from all over Greece.

Through the Competition, start-ups are distinguished that NBG can support in the future both financially, with loans or participation in the equity capital, and strategically, through commercial partnerships and agreements that strengthen both the development of the companies in question and the digital transformation and the Bank’s ESG orientation. In this way, the NBG Business Seeds program has been supporting Greece’s path towards competitiveness, extroversion and sustainable development for 15 years.

More specifically, after the enrichment of the thematic sections, participants in this year’s competition are invited to submit proposals in the following categories:

  1. Financial Technology (Fintech), i.e. proposals for new business models, applications, processes or products with a significant impact on the financial sector and the provision of related services.
  2. Digital Entrepreneurship & Ecosystems (Digital Ecosystems), i.e. proposals regarding Digital Entrepreneurship in all branches of activity, with an emphasis on ideas and solutions that cover the entire ecosystem of each branch with an end-to-end approach or one-stop shop solutions.
  3. Advanced Technologies & AI (Advanced Technologies & AI), i.e. proposals concerning the creation and commercial exploitation of cutting edge technologies which can contribute to the overall technological development and transition of the Greek economy to high added value services, but also to the retention and attraction highly qualified human resources.
  4. Environment/Climate Change, Society & Governance (ESG), including Financial Literacy & Financial Empowerment, such as proposals related to climate change and its response, as well as the general green transition of businesses and households. Specifically for the field of Financial Literacy, proposals for applications (apps), tools (tools, gamification) and other digital solutions (e.g. e-learning apps) with the aim of acquiring basic financial knowledge and skills.

The first 3 winners of the 15th Competition will receive cash prizes with a total value of 40,000 euros:

  • First Prize: twenty thousand euros
  • Second Prize: twelve thousand euros
  • Third Prize: eight thousand euros

In addition, for the first time this year, 2 Special Award Categories are introduced:

  • Special Award for Female Entrepreneurship with a cash prize of 4,000 euros for the best entry within the first 20 entries of the Competition.
  • Special Financial Literacy Awards for Empowering Households in their Financial Decisions, totaling up to Euro 10,000 for the best entries on a topic related to Financial Literacy and especially Households.

Submission of proposals is done online at nbg.gr/competition – submissions close on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. For more information, interested parties can visit the Competition website at nbg.gr/competition or contact e-mail [email protected]

National Bank’s actions were detailed by the Bank’s executives: Ernesto Panagiotou, General Manager of Transformation, Strategy & International Activities, Demi Goudoufa, Assistant General Manager of Strategy & Sustainable Development, Spyros Arsenis, Head of Innovative Entrepreneurship Development | NBG Business Seeds, Charalambos Vlatakis head of Annex. Business Strategy Sector and George Nikolaou Strategy Analyst – Innovative Entrepreneurship Development Sub-Directorate – NBG Business Seeds.