The participation and the great interest (more than 130 participants) featured the opening of the MITEF Greece Startup Competition 2017 in Thessaloniki held at the Bissell Library of the American College of Thessaloniki, on December 5, 2016.  The event was co-organized by MITEF Greece, Anatolia School of Business and Venture Garden.  Dr.Panos Vlahos, President of Anatolia College, made the opening speech emphasizing on the special support that Anatolia College offers on the current forms of Entrepreneurship based on its innovative programs.  During this special event, the participants had the unique opportunity to listen to Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis, Founder and Director of Interactive Robots and Media Lab, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who presented Interactive Robots and Media Lab and shared interesting insights on the latest developments in robotics and its usefulness in improving the future quality of human life in the fields of medicine, industry, entertainment, education, etc.  Following, Mr. Vassilis Papakonstantinou, Chaiman of MITEF Greece, informed the audience about the competition and Dr. Dimitris Kontarinis, Director of the Entrepreneurship Hub, Anatolia School of Business at ACT presented the four teams of Thessaloniki, EventReception.com, Elektronio Handcrafted Vehicles, ErgoSensePro and BAeTI which managed to be among the 25 semifinalist teams of the MITEF Greece Startup Competition 2016.  It should be noted that two of them, Elektronio Handcrafted Vehicles and BAeTI, are VentureGarden Thessaloniki graduates.

Applications for the 3^rd MITEF Greece Startup Competition are open to all eligible teams/startups till midnight December 30th, 2016. For more information regarding the MITEF Greece Startup Competition application, please advice the FAQ’s page and the Eligibility page.

For detailed information on the specific legal rules and terms of participation, please follow Rules & Terms of Participation page.

A live crowdfunding event is always an exciting happening

Especially when there is dinner and wine afterwards for participants!

Last Wednesday, the Dukakis Center and FEAST Thessaloniki joined forces to host an innovative crowd-funding event at WE Thessaloniki. “A Taste of Change” was an unforgettable fun(d)raising event focusing on new social challenges.

To kick things off Dorie Clark, best-selling author and CEO of Clark Strategic Communications, gave a Dukakis Lecture entitled “Marketing for Social Change,” in which she focused on a whole range of considerations in strategic marketing.

After a stirring finale in which Dorie Clark defined public service and citizenship in a most satisfying way ("If we want to be citizens, I think it is important for all of us to be thinking about ways to be of service"), representatives of three local non-profits stepped up to pitch their socially entrepreneurial projects to the sizable audience of 70 strong.

Those presenting were the following; CEPI – Citizen Engagement Policy Innovation, Citizens& Activists, and Give. Each team was given ten minutes to present their inventive and original ideas to the audience, with a view toward winning the gate to fund their projects. The audience was then invited to vote for their preferred project.

CEPI focused on the creation of a channel in which contemporary issues and policies could be discussed, rated and shared among users. Citizens& Activists introduced a platform in an attempt to bring together a community of activists. Meanwhile Give, the winning team, introduced a platform aiming at bringing together physically challenged people in need of clinical help with activists or professionals.

FEAST Thessaloniki have considerable experience hosting this sort of event at venues like WE, and came into the collaboration with the Dukakis Center highly recommended by the US Consulate General of Thessaloniki and the Municipality of Thessaloniki.

Feast members Argyro Barata and Niki Vouimta organized the soup event portion of the evening, including lining up sponsors for dinner and for extra prizes. The Dukakis Center hosted Ms Clark and organized follow up mentoring sessions at the Bissell Library with the individual teams.

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All photos by Alexandros Tsaousis

The Anatolia School of Business at ACT

invites you to a lecture on:

Senses - Emotions - Investment Decisions

Speakers:

Theo Lizardos

Chief Sales, Sales Support & Marketing Officer, 3K Investment Partners

George Anastasiadis

Instructor, Anatolia School of Business, ACT

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

5:30 pm

Bissell Library, ACT

The lecture will take place in Greek.

Cocktails will follow 

RSVP by Monday, November 28

tel. 2310 398 383

The  GreenHouse event in Kozani, received great interest and  participation. 64 applied for the event while 38 people  participated.

The free intensive three-day entrepreneurship workshop was organized by VentureGarden. VentureGarden is the result of co-creation by two leading educational institutions, ALBA Graduate Business School at The American College of Greece in Athens and Anatolia School of Business of The American College of Thessaloniki in Thessaloniki, with the support of The Hellenic Initiative. VentureGarden in collaboration with the University of Western Macedonia, with the support of Kozani Municipality and the Chamber of Kozani organised the Greenhouse event in Kozani.  Its purpose was to familiarize participants with entrepreneurial thinking and action, encourage the development of their ideas, and offer them useful tools in their first business steps.  During the weekend each idea was examined in depth and 11 teams had the opportunity to make a final presentation (pitch) and present their business plans to a judging committee. The two winning teams will have the opportunity to attend remotely the integrated training program of VentureGarden.

On November 21^st 2016, Ms. Aliki Arouh (Anatolia alumna) from the Archives of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Dr. Aigli Brouskou (ACT professor), Anthropologist, and Ms. Areti Makri (ACT alumna) from the Historical Archives of Macedonia presented at the ACT Bissell Library their joint research project titled: "The interface between official archives and oral testimonies. The story of Dario, a baby Shoah survivor from Salonica". It is a unique project that refers to the incredible story of a Jewish newborn that was left in the care of the Aghios Stylianos Foundling Home in Thessaloniki for his protection in 1943. The boy survived the Holocaust against all odds and was discovered by the researchers living in Canada.

It was an event organized by the ACT, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences with the support of the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service and it was well attended (among others) by Anatolia and ACT colleagues and a good number of ACT and Study Abroad students who were later involved into a dynamic discussion.

More on his story you can find in the article: http://www.ekathimerini.com/212055/article/ekathimerini/community/untangling-the-tale-of-a-jewish-wwii-orphan-in-thessaloniki

The Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service at ACT celebrated the American general election on November 8 with a public reception at the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki.

Nearly 200 friends and well-wishers attended, snacked on wine and cheese, and watched a special election day program throughout the evening. Among those present were US Consul General Rebecca Fong, representatives of the municipalities of Thessaloniki and of Pylea-Hortiatis, representatives of the American College of Thessaloniki and the American Farm School, and scores of students from ACT and the Universities of Macedonia and Thessaloniki, including a contingent of American study abroad students from ACT.

Joining co-hosts Lambrini Nassis, Esq., Adjunct Professor on International Relations at ACT, and David Wisner, Executive Director of the Dukakis Center, on the program were, via Skype, Michael Ertel (R), Supervisor of Elections, Seminole County (Florida), John Koenig (D), former US Ambassador to Cyprus, Democratic delegate (Washington State), and Alec Mally (D), former US Consul General of Thessaloniki, Democrats Abroad Greece.

Guests also took a poll, designed by ACT alumnus Pantelis Rafail, with questions on the candidates and campaigns, and the state of democratic governance in the United States. Hillary Clinton won a straw poll by a margin of 70%-30%, while most of those who took the poll agreed that the campaigns were among the most negative in recent memory.

A majority of those polled expressed faith in the integrity of the American political process and the relative health of democratic governance in the United States.

The gathering broke up too early in the evening to review exit polls and election results.

On October 2016 the Cultural Society of Entrepreneurs of Northern Greece, in association with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Navarino Network, hosted the 5th International Symposium in Thessaloniki in World Affairs, with further support from ACT - The American College of Thessaloniki and City College. The International Symposium first began in 2012 and has become an important event with a great appeal especially to young audiences in the city.

Over 55 IB and ACT students attended the conference. Six ACT students registered as volunteers for the Symposium and contributed greatly to the success of the event. They were led by ACT (and IB) alumna Maria Kalogeroudi (ACT Class of 2015), who was especially active among the student volunteers, overseeing the check in procedure, distributing certificates, and facilitating audience participation.

This year, the symposium focused on the future of Europe in the times of crisis and “The World in 2017 and Beyond: In search of stability.” Featured speakers included Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Anatolia alumnus Gikas Hardouvelis, former Finance Minister of Greece, Gerald Knaus, chairman of the European Stability Initiative, and Dimitris Papademetriou from the Migration Policy Institute.

The event focused primarily on the economic position of Europe in terms of the crisis in Greece and the European Union countries. Moreover, the instability in Ukraine, Turkey and the Middle East regarding the refugee crisis were the topics dominating the presentations of the speakers and the subsequent discussions.

Professor David Wisner, Director of the Dukakis Center, moderated the final panel that discussed the threats to democracy in Turkey and the US. Featured speakers were Karabekir Akkoyunlu, of the University of Graz, and former US diplomat John Brady Kiesling.

ACT and IB students and their chaperons attended the event thanks to the generous donation and support of Anatolia College Trustee and alumnus, Jack J. Florentin.

Saturday,  22 October 2016, 11:00  - 19:00

Olympion, 10 Aristotelous Square

The world in 2017 and beyond

In search of stability

www.thessalonikisymposium.org

General admission: presale 7€ / at entrance 12€

Certificates of participation will be awarded.

The working language of the Symposium will be English.

Simultaneous translation in Greek will be available.

Read the program here.

For more information and ticket presale:

Navarino Network, 3 Apellou St. / T: +30 2310 260332

E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Facebook: Thessaloniki International Symposium