More than 600 participants attended the Consultation of Operational Programme Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation “Restart – movement” under the new National Strategic Reference Framework 2014-2020, which had great success on Thursday 3^rd of April, at Hilton Hotel.

At the start of the event, speeches were given by theMinister for Development and Competitiveness, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis; the head of the Athens Office of the Directorate General for ECFIN of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas; the General Secretary of Public Investments – NRSF, George Giannousis; the President of the Hellenic Bank Association, George Zannias; the Head of the Strategic Planning Bureau of the Prime Minister, Dimitris Ptochos; the President of the Hellenic Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, Yiannis Papadopoulos, and the founder of the startupWarply, Yannis Doxaras.

Later, fruitful dialogues marked the sessions of the working groups on the sectors of the economy on which the new “EPAnEK-kinisi” programme will focus, namely:

1. tourism
2. agri-food
3. logistics
4. environmental industry
5.  health overall
6. energy production and saving
7. information and communication technologies
8.  materials-constructions
9.  creative industries

As the Minister for Development and Competitiveness, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis, pointed out, Greece enjoys comparative advantages in the above nine sectors of the economy and therefore we will see immediate result in terms of economic recovery and the creation of jobs.

The EPAnEK-kinisi programme, with a budget of 3.73 billion Euros, will be the largest operational programme of the new NSRF, and will focus on innovation, doubling the relevant budget from 4% to 8%, and on export-oriented businesses.

In particular, for the purposes of the EPAnEK-kinisi programme, 9 Sectoral Councils, one for each priority sector, will be set up, and will consist of representatives of the business community who will monitor the implementation of the development plan, proposing measures and strategies to support each sector and recording whether policies are indeed being implemented and what their impact on competitiveness is.

Within the framework of the public consultation process, there is an online consultation on the 9 strategic texts of EPAnEK-kinisi, closing at 17:00 on 22 April. The proposals and views submitted will be taken into consideration during the final review of the Draft Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation” (EPAnEK-kinisi). The detailed texts open for public consultation are posted at http://www.antagonistikotita.gr

After the completion of the consultation process, the EPAnEK-kinisi programme will be sent for approval to the European Commission, while it is expected that all Sectoral Regional Programmes will have been sent by 28 April.

Attached files
1. Read the speeches of the morning session
2. See the presentations of the working groups on the 9 strategic sectors
3. What the press said about the EPAnEK-kinisi Day Event