Embassy of Greece co-host of the National University Startups Conference (Washington, DC, 1-3 Oct 2008)

The Embassy of Greece was the “Embassy Host” to this year’s National University Startups Conference, which took place on October 1-3, 2008 at the Washington DC Convention Center organized by the National Council for Entrepreneurial Tech-Transfer (NCET2).

The Opening Reception of the National University Startups Conference was held at the Embassy of Greece on October 1st, the evening before the Conference, with more than 250 attendees to the Conference arriving from all over the US.

For this event and the Conference, we welcomed from Greece:
- Dr. Haritakis, CEO of the New Economy Development Fund S.A. - TANEO (http://www.taneo.gr/welcome-eng_20.htm), which is Greece’s Fund of Funds,
- Dr. Niarhos, Director & COB of Greece’s National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos" (http://www.demokritos.gr/index_muk.asp).
- Dr. Tsakalos, Co-ordinator of the PRAXI / HELP-FORWARD Network (www.help-forward.gr), a partnership of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece (FING) and the Foundation for Research & Technology - Hellas (FORTH),
- Dr. Seferis, COB & CEO of the Glocal Network Corporation (glocalcorp.net), who has established together with TANEO the first Greek VC Fund investing in foreign technology coming to Greece.

This year’s Conference theme was "Powering the Innovation Economy by Creating and Funding University Startups". The Conference is dedicated exclusively to creating and funding globally-competitive, venture-backable university startups, bringing together universities creating startups with VCs, Angel investors and Fortune 500 technology scouts funding them, all of them working together on improving the Innovation Economy by increasing the quality and quantity of startups coming out of universities. The conference was co hosted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the University of Columbia and the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Furthermore, the Embassy of Greece in its capacity as “Embassy Host” of the Conference, lead the efforts to reach out to the Embassy community in Washington, DC and coordinated the first ever international participation to the Conference. The first Embassy Panel of the Conference was realized under the moderation of the Greek Embassy with the participation of the EU, France, Netherlands, Great Britain and Sweden.

The success of this year’s Conference can be the cornerstone for the development of now missing international partnerships and networks between the worldwide leading US and the rapidly catching up international community.

In the coming years, the intention is to broaden and establish the international presence at the Conference as a key link to connect the US with the international R&D and funding community respectively. The Embassy of Greece will continue to lead the efforts to bridge the distance between the US and the international Tech Transfer and Funding community.