Results

17 valid applications from the whole Greece were submitted in the contest, 9 in the category of  innovative entrepreneurial ideas, 7 in category of start-ups (active for up to five years) and 1 in the category of 5-7 years.  The winners of each category were evaluated by an independent 3-member jury.

The first prize in the category of start-ups was awarded to HYSSOPUS ORGANICS which is located in Serres. Ms Stella Chatzigavriil presented the entrepreneurial idea for HYSSOPUS ORGANICS, which lies on the multiple exploitation of  Aromatic and Medicinal Plants with Innovative methods and their connection in specific cases with super foods. The second prize was awarded to MOLY THE MYTHIC ANTIDOTE coming from Volos. Mr_s Chistodoulos Vilaras and Manolis Manos presented the procedure of creating mixtures with primary criterion the harmony of the ingredients based on the principal of adaptogen herbs without the need to use artificial sweetener.  The third prize was awarded to the startups secrets pure nature and εκχύλισμα-φυτικά καλλυντικά. Ms Kalliopi Semertzidou presented the multifunctional Farm life secrets pure nature which combines the primitive production, with the processing and the services. The company with the title Εκχύλισμα-φυτικά καλλυντικά creates healthy innovative cosmetics.

The first prize in innovative entrepreneurial ideas was awarded to AgroMist, a team of students of Pharmacy Dep. of University of Patras. Mr Konstantinos Mesiakaris who represented the team, presented their idea to exploit beneficial plant extracts as natural add-ons in replacement liquids of the electronic cigarette. The second prize was awarded to O|H| LIVE, a team of postgraduate students from Athens. Ms Elena Lekka presented their innovative idea which lies in the creation of beverages from biological greek herbs in capsules compatible with Nespresso. The third prize was awarded in SotmanAloe which is located in Patras. Mr Sotiris Manikas presented innovative products from the extract of aloe.

Finally, a special prize was awarded to the agricultural collaboration ΣΤΕΒΙΑ ΕΛΛΑΣ – STEVIA HELLAS COOPERATIVE, which is located in Lamia. Ms Stella Dampasi presented Stevia Hellas Coop which is not only an innovative agricultural collaboration andbut also the only one which produces stevia in the whole Europe.

Thank you all for both supporting and competing in our contest!

Why a competition for innovative business idea and startups in Aromatic and Medicinal Plants?

Aroma Innovation Hub organizes the 1^st Greek Competition for innovative entrepreneurial idea and innovative entrepreneurship titled “Innovation in the Production and Exploitation of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants”. Aromatic and medicinal plants are critical raw material in a range of industries, such as food, beverage, cosmetics, soap industries, and agrochemicals. It is a rapidly growing sector of the economy with significant dynamics that attracts entrepreneurship actions and the participation of young people and teams. Introducing innovation in the production process creates added value, and supports competitiveness, affecting, thus, significantly the viability of the efforts. The effort to promote innovation as a critical factor for the success of an entrepreneurial effort is the aim of the organization of this competition, which is open to individuals or groups with innovative business ideas throughout the production and exploitation line of aromatic and medicinal plants (cultivation, standardization, production of health products and nutrition).

The contest will be completed on May 10th and the final winners will be announced and awarded during a ceremony at the Patras Science Park on the 18^th May 2018, where they will have the chance to present themselves.

We wish to all the participants best luck!

Registration
– The competition starts from 13 April 2018 until 10 May 2018.
– Registration can be made from all over Greece.
– Registration is free of charge.

– After your application, you will receive a confirmation email that the application has been successfully registered in the system. After collecting and processing your data, you will be informed about the progress of your application as well.

The prizes
The prizes of the competition for the innovative entrepreneurial ideas (individuals or teams who haven’t establish a company) are:
1st prize:

• Scientific consulting and laboratory analyses from AROMA HUB
• Technology transfer consultancy (terms of spin offs, research and business collaboration agreements, critical issues, etc.) from Enterprise Europe Network
• Incubation services (next incubation round) by Orange Grove Patras
• One license of specialized software (for six months) by the company InSyBio (Intelligent Systems Biology)
• One license (for 12 months) for the Search Platform for investors In4Capital

2nd prize:

• One license (for three months) by the company InSyBio
• Technology transfer consultancy (terms of spin offs, research and business collaboration agreements, critical issues, etc.) from Enterprise Europe Network

3rd prize:

• Technology transfer consultancy (terms of spin offs, research and business collaboration agreements, critical issues, etc.) from Enterprise Europe Network

The prizes of the competition for start-ups (active for up to five years) are:
1st prize:

• Support of the French-Greek Innovation Network MAZINNOV
• Scientific consulting and laboratory analyses from AROMA HUB
• Branding identity from TOPIA Architects
• Construction of a website και education on the efficient use of social platforms from TROPOS BRANDING
• A voucher for using the Improve Innovation Benchmarking Assessment Tool from the National Documentation Center
• Consulting for participating in the Horizon 2020 R&D programs from the National Documentation Center
• One license (for 12 months) for the Search Platform for investors In4Capital
• Services for the European Inno4agrifood program from the National Documentation Center

2nd and 3rd prize:

• Two vouchers for using the Improve Innovation Benchmarking Assessment Tool from the National Documentation Center
• Services for the European Inno4agrifood program from the National Documentation Center

Presentation of the jury

The members of the jury for the innovative entrepreneurial ideas are:

• Antigoni Oreopoulou, Chemical Engineer, VIORYL S.A.
• Stelios Kakagiannis, Pharmacist-Entrepreneur, founder of Think GAEA
• Athanasios Petropoulos, Agronomist, executive of the Managing Authority, Region of Western Greece

The members of the jury for startups (up to 5 years) are:

• George Megas, Innovation & European Programs Advisor, National Contact Point for Horizon 2020, National Documentation Center
• Myrto Papathanou, partner, METAVALLON VC
• Angeliki Karagiannaki, lecturer, founding member & director, Athens Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Regulation

Legally established firms and individuals or groups who have not yet established a company have the right to participate in the competition for the categories of start-ups and innovative business ideas, respectively.

Legally established firms should (a) have their registered office in Greece and be active in Greece and (b) meet the following criteria:

• The firm must have an official legal form or be an individual business
• The company should have a maximum operating period of five years from its official date of establishment.

Terms of participation

• Participation in the entrepreneurship competition results in the unconditional acceptance of every term and procedure described in the competition call.
• Participation in the competition is realized by submitting a proposal in the special on-line form at the Internet site of the competition.
• Submission of proposals and accompanying texts must be in Greek (except for the use of scientific or special international terms, whenever this is necessary).
• Each participant declares and warrants that the proposals submitted for the competition abide by the law and the competition terms, and that they are novel and innovative.
• Each participant is solely and fully responsible against the organizers of the competition and every third party for the submitted proposal and for the accuracy of the data filed.
• Each participant declares and warrants that the proposal submitted has been produced by the participant, belongs exclusively to the participant, and keeps every legal right for its use, disposal, and exploitation. Each participant also warrants that the proposal does not infringe intellectual or industrial property rights or other rights belonging to natural persons or legal entities in Greece or abroad, otherwise that the participant is the lawful holder of such rights, such as e.g. intellectual or industrial property rights of third parties and all licenses that are adherent to or used to produce the proposal submitted in the competition.
• Each participant is fully responsible for any claim against the organizers and holds the organizers, its employees and its representatives, as well as the members of the committees immune from any responsibility for compensation, damages, lost profit, expenses of any type and fees or demands of third parties that would probably arise due to breaching the competition terms or rights of third parties e.g. rights of intellectual or industrial property.
• The organizers may at any stage of the competition require relevant documents for the verification of the participants’ data according to the terms of the competition call. In case of false data the organizers have no legal responsibility and they have the right to exclude such participants at any stage of the competition.
• Proposals containing illegal or indecent material are excluded from the competition. Also, proposals that are not related to any of the thematic subjects are excluded.
• Participants must not be: employees of the entity that organizes the competition and of the companies that participate in the hub, members of the committees of the competition, as well as spouses and relatives up to 2^nd° of the persons above.
• Costs for preparation of the proposals that will be submitted to the competition (for example tests and other analysis etc.) will be borne exclusively by the participants.
• In case of proposals having the same title or the same content for the description of a product or service, the proposal that was submitted first, based on the date of electronic submission, will participate in the competition.
• Business ideas and plans that will be submitted in the competition will remain confidential, and the intellectual and industrial property rights belong to the creators of each proposal. Participants authorize the organizing entity, its employees, representatives, jury members etc to use the data and information submitted for the purposes of the competition and for reasonable publicity purposes thereof including its website.
• In case no proposal is awarded in a thematic subject, the organizers of the competition have the right to award more proposals that belong to the other thematic subject.
• The entity that organizes the competition has the right without any previous announcement to amend the competition terms or to postpone the procedure at any stage, or to call the competition off, announcing it afterwards at aromahub.gr/competition, without any responsibility against the participants in the competition or any third person.
• Prizes are given and carried out according to business terms of the sponsors.
• This call and the competition confer no legal rights to participants.

Evaluation process
The evaluation of the applications will take place in two stages. In the first evaluation phase, all submissions are evaluated for their completeness. In the second phase the proposals will be evaluated by a 3-member jury based on the following criteria:
• The originality of the idea and the possibility of practical application and commercial exploitation.
• Innovation / competitive advantage.
• Market targeting (extroversion, etc.).