New collaboration to support the academic community of the Agricultural University of Athens (ELKE-AUA) with the Hellenic Development Bank (HDB)

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Special Account for Research Funds of the Agricultural University of Athens (ELKE-AUA), specifically through its Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Technology Transfer Office “InnovInAgri,” and the Hellenic Development Bank (HDB) was signed last week.

The Vice-Rector for Research, Finance, and Development, Professor Thomas Bartzanas, and the Executive Board Member of HDB, Pantelis Tzortzakis, together with the Chief Executive Officer of HDB, Ismini Papakyrillou, extensively discussed the scope and next steps of the collaboration, aiming to implement joint initiatives soon.

The Hellenic Development Bank (HDB) is a specialized financial institution focused on promoting fair, sustainable, and holistic economic development at both regional and national levels. It designs support policies for business innovation across all sectors of the economy, offering combinations of financial instruments and value-added services that provide practical tools and solutions for businesses to achieve innovation and enhance international competitiveness.

Under this collaboration, the two organizations have agreed to coordinate and implement activities to promote the research work of the Agricultural University of Athens and explore pathways for its commercial utilization. They will jointly develop initiatives for mutual information exchange alongside commercial exploitation efforts of the university’s academic and research outputs.

To facilitate the commercial application of mature research results, a series of activities and reciprocal visits will be organized. These will include presentations of commercially viable research outcomes and related business plans, as well as mentoring and advisory sessions between business executives, entrepreneurship consultants, and researchers to discuss business plans for the commercialization of research findings.