The Elevate Greece 2022 National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards will take place for the second consecutive year on Friday 2 December at the National Research Centre for Natural Sciences (NCRS) "Demokritos" , under the auspices of the Ministry of Development and Investment.

The announcement for the awards was made by the Deputy Minister of State for Development and Investment and initiator of Elevate Greece, Christos Dimas, who said:

"The Elevate Greece Awards have become an institution for rewarding and promoting start-ups buissneses, innovation and creativity."

During the event, 10 winning startups - members of the National Register of Startups - Elevate Greece, which have registered their participation in the Second National Startup Awards and have been awarded the highest score, after evaluation by active members of the national and international innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The categories of the Elevate Greece awards for 2022 are the following 10+1:

1. Fastest rising start-up: Fastest scaling in the last three years

2. Spin-off of the year: Innovative business originating from research organisations (research centres and universities)

3. Social Contribution Award: Impact on major social challenges

4. Environmental Impact Award: Highlighting environmental solutions

5. Women's Entrepreneurship Award: Women's in Business Leadership

6. Business development and extroversion award: Notable penetration of foreign markets

7. 4th Industrial Revolution Technology Utilisation Award: modern industrial technologies (Robotics, AI, 3D printing, IoT, etc.)

8. Tourism and Hospitality Award: Innovative products/services in the field of tourism

9. Life Sciences Award & Focus on improving human health

10. Top start-up from the ecosystem: Voted exclusively by Elevate Greece members

11. Start-up of the year

The final prize will be awarded to one of the above categories that will be judged to meet the criteria of the best start-up of the year, after evaluation by members of the National Research - Technology - Innovation Council (NSETEK).

At last year's event, the award was presented by the Prime Minister. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to be present this year as well. Also, the leadership of the Ministry of Development and Investment will be present at the National Young Entrepreneurship Awards.

The start-ups that excel in their participation in the awards will win cash prizes with a total value of hundreds of thousands of euros, which constitute offer from the official supporters of Elevate Greece, coming from the innovation, investment and entrepreneurship sector, including banks, multinational companies and Greek businesses.

At the same time, the winning startups will also gain rewards of great monetary value from the institutional supporters of Elevate Greece, such as:

• cloud services
• hosting
• networking
• advisory services
• as well as favourable use of financial instruments

In addition, the awarded start-ups have the privilege of networking with strategic partners from established businesses and institutions, visibility and the opportunity to develop extroversion by expanding their activities abroad.

More than 700 startups in Elevate Greece and 6,700 employees

Elevate Greece is the national register of start-ups and spin-off companies operating in Greece, operating from October 2020, under the auspices of the Ministry of Development and Investment. Today, the number of registered startups in Elevate Greece exceeds 700, while the number of employees is 6,700, innovating among 21 sectors of activity.

The primary role of the Elevate Greece foundation is to support for talented entrepreneurs and the linking research and innovation to entrepreneurship, while the annual National Awards for Young Entrepreneurship are one of the most important actions for support and promote the Greek innovation ecosystem. In the framework of Elevate Greece, targeted tax incentives for Angel Investors and stock options have been introduced. In addition, in response to the economic impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, two NSRF calls for non-refundable aid for working capital of up to €100,000 per business on the register were issued, with the total budget of the action amounting to 60 million euros.