The Role of GiSeMi HUB
The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub of the Municipality of Trikala, "GiSeMi HUB", is a joint initiative of the Municipality of Trikala and e-Trikala SA, which aims to highlight new innovative business ideas, which provide solutions to the challenges and problems faced by modern cities.
In particular, in a modern, functional and fully cooperative space of the city of Trikala, there is the opportunity to host groups of young people who have an innovative business idea and want to develop it into startups, startups that want to improve their business operations, as well as companies that want to grow or diversify their business.
Given that cities are the main tool for the development of local economies (they bring together 70% of the population, create 70% of new jobs, generate 70% of GDP, absorb 70% of EU Cohesion Policy resources), a key condition is the object of their business idea to provide solutions-address one or more issues of the Urban Agenda of the European Union:
- Employment and skills in the local economy.
- Energy transition.
- Transition to the digital age.
- Security in public places.
- Urban poverty.
- Air quality.
- Sustainable land uses.
- Climate change.
- Circular economy.
- Integration of immigrants and refugees.
- Urban mobility.
- Housing.
- Innovative public procurement systems.
Meanwhile, GiSeMi HUB constitutes the know-how diffusion accelerator produced in academia, research centers / institutes and production organizations, in order to create a new inter-regional scale development pole. The individual objectives of GiSeMi HUB also include:
- The utilization and promotion of the human capital of the wider area of Trikala.
- Encouraging and supporting local development.
- Highlighting the comparative advantages of the local economy.
- The formation of the local productive identity.
- Encourage the upgrading of existing and the creation of new production units by introducing new technologies.
- Encouraging the exploitation of research by creating new high-tech companies by researchers (spin-offs).
- The support of R&D of local companies.
- The education and training of business executives.
The hosting of the companies in the GiSeMi Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub will last twelve (12) months and will be of a reciprocal nature in relation to the city. The companies established within the Node will have the obligation to provide and implement their products-services in the city free of charge, which will improve the daily operations of the city and / or will enhance its viability. At the same time, companies will have the opportunity to promote and demonstrate to their potential customers the results from the implementation of the product / service they have developed.