Cities of Innovation: Athens
Key indicators
ICT Infrastructure
Average broadband speed (Mbps)
ICT Infrastructure ranking (Global City Talent Competitiveness Index)
— Greece ranks 10th for broadband penetration in the EU — 100% of households covered by 30 Mbps minimum speed and 50% by 100 Mbps minimum speed by 2020 — 80.3% broadband coverage 10-30 Mbps
Local, national and international transport links
Airport 24.1 million passengers per year
Ports
— 1 International Airport: Eleftherios Venizelos with 140 destinations — 3 ports: Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio — Attica Tollway is a pioneering motorway project extending along 70km
University links and access to talent
QS World University ranking (University of Athens)
Universities & colleges (+ 7 research centres)
— Athens ranks 28th in Global City Talent Competitiveness Index, 30th in workforce with tertiary education, 32nd in Talent Impact and 39th in R&D Expenditure — Many of the higher education institutions possess innovation and entrepreneurship units
Costs and availability of workspace
City centre rent (Syntagma Square)
Co-working spaces
Average monthly rents: Centre of Athens (Syntagma Square) €8.50 m2 Kolonaki (Athens) €11.2 m2, Maroussi €9 m2 Piraeus €6 m2
City support for start-ups and SMEs
Start-up competitions
Hackathons
— Envolve Award Greece offers up to €1.2 million in prize funding plus mentoring and exposure to 3 companies per year — 3 hackathons: · Beyond Hackathon · Be Finnovative · Fintech Challenge
Financial support and access to investors & accelerators
Investor programmes
Venture capital investing (2018-2023)
— Incentives can reach up to 55% of the total investment — Equifund is a new fund of funds programme to support SMEs backed by the Greek Ministry of Economy and Development and the European Investment Fund
Additional information
ICT Infrastructure
The national targets of availability and use of broadband connections of high and ultra-high-speed, set at Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) target levels, act as a catalyst for digital development. Achieving these objectives requires the mobilisation of large-scale investments estimated to be between a total of EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 4.5 billion, depending on the development model pursued.
Local, national and international transport links
Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos is Greece’s busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers.
Local transport links: Athens has a very well-developed infrastructure and a modern mass transit system. There are city buses, electric trolley-buses, metro, trams, suburban railway, public bike sharing (Glyfades) and car-sharing services.
The popularity of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and hybrid cars is increasing rapidly, and there are EV charging points throughout the Athens metropolitan region powered by green electricity.
University links and access to talent
Greece ranks 42nd in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index/ first in tertiary enrolment.
Costs and availability of workspace
Amongst the coworking spaces are: The Cube, Foundation, Orange Grove (a CSR-driven initiative), Impact Hub Athens, Stone Soup, Romantso, Higher Incubator Giving Growth & Sustainability (HIGGS) is an initiative which aims to reinforce non-profit organisations operating in Greece, Tzaferi 16, Athens Place, Athens Investment Center is aiming to develop collaborations between Greek and foreign enterprises, and Space, which offers two options.
City support for start-ups and SMEs
In addition to the Envolve Award, the National Bank of Greece has a similar initiative, which acts as a pipeline for its Business Seeds programme.
MIT Enterprise Forum Greece, which is the local chapter of MIT Enterprise Forum, holds an annual competition that connects Greek startups to the US ecosystem, and especially Boston. They also provide mentoring, access to a pool of potential investors in the US, and local exposure.
‘The Squeeze’, organised by Orange Grove, is a quarterly competition with prizes up to 15,000 euros.
Disrupt Greece, held in 2018 and organised by Fortune Greece, is one of the latest additions to the startup competitions pool.
Blue Growth is a marine challenge competition that seeks to deliver innovative business ideas for products and services relating to the blue (maritime – which is of course a significant sector) economy. They offer co-working space, mentoring, business services and resources.
Financial support and access to investors & accelerators
Accelerators
— Metavallon
— Startech Ventures – Venture Garden
Angel Investors
— EVEA Business Angels Network MIT Enterprise Forum Greece, which is the local chapter of MIT Enterprise Forum, holds an annual competition that connects Greek startups to the US ecosystem, and especially Boston
— Angels Group by Start Tech Ventures Incubation Fund *can only find same website as for start tech above: https://www.starttech.vc
— Angel List or Crunch Base (portfolio of Greek or Greek-origin private investors)
VC Investors
— Open fund II
— Piraeus Jeremie Tech Catalyst Fund – Elikonos Jeremie Sicar
— The JEREMIE funds (Jeremie Openfund II, Piraeus Jeremie Tech Catalyst Fund, Odyssey Jeremie Partners and Elikonos Jeremie SICAR)
Odyssey Venture Partners
— Fundbox Capital
— NBG Business Seeds
— Venture Friends
— Marathon Venture Capital
— Corporate Venturing Network – UniFund AKES
Additional information
Athens was awarded the European Capital of Innovation prize in 2018 by the European Commission.