Happy Easter from our Team, at Crowdpolicy.

On 27 April 2017, the first cycle of the program befinnovative will be completed. For the first time, a Demo Day will take place for executives and institutions that will have the opportunity to explore potential collaborations with the be finnovative teams.

The main aim of the program is to promote business and technology innovation in the field of financial transactions (fintech) that can be applied to important sectors of the Greek economy and society.  The program befinnovative hosts startup teams and companies that have implemented innovative and outward-looking services and digital applications which can provide solutions to practical problems of businesses and organizations. For example, some applications deal with the digitization of electronic transactions and simplification of procedures, promotion of transactions through social networks, blockchain solutions that can be applied to large organizations and the culture, as well as multi-channel interconnection with customers through chatbots technologies, etc. The teams of the program have participated in a six-month acceleration program through which they have been advised and mentored-coached by renowned executives from Greece and abroad.  More information about the teams is available at http://befinnovative.com/el/teams. The Demo Day, which will take place on Thursday, April 27, from 18:00 to 21:30 at the premises of be finnovative will be attended by executives of Venture Capital companies, the program NBG Business Seeds of the National Bank of Greece, the non-profit organization The People’s Trust which will offer up to three (3) prizes of 6,000 euros to the teams, companies and institutions that supported the program, etc. In addition, the Demo Day can be attended by:

• Investment Schemes – Venture Capital representatives, Market experts that deal with capital management etc.
• Representatives of companies of various sectors, such as retail, tourism, catering, Information Technology etc.
• Representatives of collective bodies
• Officials of public and local administration.  
• Executives with experience in utilizing funding programs and opportunities based on innovation

Participation is only possible upon invitation. Please fill in the application form: https://goo.gl/IgawST

Demo Day: 74 Str. Peiraios, 18346, Moschato

Presentation of the teams: BE FINNOVATIVE TEAMS (EN)

Update: 16.05.2017 / 17:40 – The teams and applications will be announced shortly and the presentations and code links will be posted.

The 1st Marathon on the Development of Applications for Local Government KEDE City Challenge Crowdhackathon Smartcity was held with great success. The marathon was attended by more than 200 contestants in 50 teams that implemented original applications useful for cities and local government in three days, with the help of 40 experienced mentors and 17 members of the evaluation committee from Municipalities, the market and the academic community. The 32 volunteers provided valuable help to the event. KEDE City Challange Crowdhackathon Smartcity was organized with the technological support of the innovation company Crowdpolicy.

On Sunday evening the teams presented their applications to the jury and the audience, in the presence of the President of KEDE, Mr. George Patoulis. The jury, made up of officials of Municipalities, academics and experienced market executives, decided to award the following teams.

Prizes

The President of KEDE, Mr. George Patoulis, awarded the prizes:

The 1st prize of € 6,000 was awarded to the team Needsa for their application Happy Trees. It is about the remote irrigation of green areas with the ability to collect weather, soil moisture data and so on.

The 2nd prize of € 4,000 was awarded to the team MX2T for their application Social Wallet for vulnerable groups.

The 3d prize of € 2,000 was awarded to the team City Hub for their application API Dashboard that links existing applications of Municipalities.

Award of the 1st prize to the team Needsa for their application Happy Trees

Award of the 2nd prize to the team MX2T for their application Social Wallet for vulnerable groups

The team Citizen 17 and their application for payments to municipalities using blockchain won the prize of € 3,000 offered by the National Bank of Greece for a fintech-related application. The prize was awarded by Mrs. Nelly Tzakou-Lambropoulou, General Manager of Retail Banking of the National Bank of Greece, and Mr. Nikos Christodoulou, General Manager, Group COO, who were also members of the jury.

Award of the fintech prize by Mrs. Nelly Tzakou-Lambropoulou, General Manager of Retail Banking of the National Bank of Greece, and Mr. Nikos Christodoulou, General Manager, Group COO.

Award of the 3d prize to the team City Hub for their application API Dashboard

The Mayor of Vari – Voula – Vouliagmeni, Mr. Gregory Konstantellos, awarded the 4th prize of € 1,000 to the team Hack Smart for their application Smartacus that is about image recognition for tourist spots.

Award of the 4th prize

The Mayor of Moschato – Tavros , Mr. Andreas Efthymiou, awarded the 5th prize of € 1,000 to the team City ++ for their application WeCycle for smart bins and recycling models.

Award of the 5th prize

Mrs. Sophia Kounenaki – Efraimoglou, representing the Foundation of the Hellenic World that was one of the sponsors of the event, awarded the 6th prize of € 1,000 to the team Park Guru for their application for onstreet parking.

Award of the 6th prize

The team from the High School of Neo Monastiri of the Municipality of Domokos won a laptop as the youngest – in age – team that participated and for the tourist guide they developed for their village Neo Monastiri. The team for people with special needs vento volunteers also won a laptop for the volunteer platform they developed.

Lots of gifts, laptops, tablets and watches were drawn to the rest of the teams as well as chronograph watches to the volunteers for their valuable help during the event.

City Challenge

At the award ceremony, the President of KEDE Mr. George Patoulis stated that  Crowdhackathon Smartcity will be held on an annual basis and that it will be established as an institution for innovation in local government and the support of youth entrepreneurship, in accordance with the recent decision of the KEDE conference, and announced the organization of the 2nd City Challenge Crowdhackathon Smartcity that will be held in June 2018.

In addition, the President of KEDE noted that the applications of the teams will be further developed through the City Challenge Accelerator, which is being prepared by KEDE to lead to the maturity of applications so that they can function productively in Municipalities. KEDE will then create a marketplace of applications from which each Municipality will be able to choose the ones it needs with a small subscription fee.

The Chairman of the Committee for Organization and e-Government of KEDE, Mr. Ioannis Tsiamis, announced the activation of the network of executives of the Municipalities City Challenge, under the umbrella of KEDE, as ambassadors for the development of new innovative services in the Municipalities of the country to solve everyday problems through electronic means and improve the lives of citizens.

The President of KEDE, Mr. George Patoulis, with the Chairman of the Committee for Organization and e-Government of KEDE, Mr. Ioannis Tsiamis

More than 250 officials of Municipalities attended the City Challenge Crowdhackathon. Three workshops were held in which renowned speakers, representatives of Municipalities and executives of the City Challenge network participated.

Mr. George Patoulis, President of KEDE, with Mr. Ioannis Tsiamis, Chairman of the Committee for e-Government of KEDE, and Michael Psalidas, Managing Director of CrowdPolicy, talked about the 1st Marathon on the Development of Applications for Municipalities City Challenge Crowdhackathon (http: //crowdhackathon.com/smartcity/) on a TV program of the channel ERT (Source: http://webtv.ert.gr/…/eni…/13mai2017-mazi-to-savvatokiriako/)

Beginning of the Crowdhackathon

Beginning of the Crowdhackathon – Address of the Mayor of Moschato – Tavros, Mr Andreas Efthymiou

Mr. George Patoulis, President of KEDE, launches the City Challenge Crowdhackathon. In the panel, from left to right, you can see Mr. Dimitris Papastergiou, Mayor of Trikala, Ioannis Tsiamis, Chairman of the Committee for Organization and e-Government of KEDE, George Patoulis, President of KEDE, Andreas Efthymiou, Mayor of Moschato – Tavros and spokesman of Mr. Nikos Pappas, Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media. Mr. George Karamanolis,  the CTO / CIO of CrowdPolicy, describes the process.

Workshop CT1: smart city best practices & innovation

• Dr. Michael Gebert, “Smart cities best practices & innovation”, Crowdmentor Network
• Blaž Golob, CEO SmartISCity LTd, Slovenia “Development of smart cities and the role of Data”
• Väino Olev, IT director of Tallinn city, “Smart City Tallinn. Ensuring Quality of life through innovation and collaboration”
• Andrea Vesco, PhD – Instituto Superiore Mario Boella Torino – Smart City Strategic Program, “Smart city practices: ICT as an enabler, People at the core”
• Dimitris Papastergiou, Mayor of Trikala
• Discussion

Workshop CT2 1st work session and briefing of members of the ICT network of the Municipalities CITY CHALLENGE

Members of the ICT network of Local Authorities that participated:

• George Patoulis – President of KEDE
• Ioannis Tsiamis – Chairman of the Committee for e-Government of KEDE, Presentation and analysis of the technological infrastructure of KEDE for Municipalities
• Angelos Karvounis – Directorate of Design and Development of the General Secretariat of Information System and Administrative Support, Gcloud & Interoperability Center of the Ministry of Finance
• Leonidas Anthopoulos – Associate Professor at the Business School of the TEI of Thessaly, Modeling of smart cities
• Michael Psalidas, Managing Director of Crowdpolicy
• Presentation and analysis of Smart City Accelarator KEDE / Crowdhackathon
• George Voulkas – Business Development Manager at APOPSI SA, Presentation of Training / e-Learning Platform of KEDE
• Georgios Andreadis – Co-Founder & Sales Manager at e-Sepia Web Innovation, Presentation of the web application e-meeting / tool for updating the network of Local Authorities
• Discussion – Questions of members of the ICT Network of Local Authorities

Workshop CT3 Best practices in municipalities and financing tools for innovation

PART 1:

HEDNO

MUNICIPALITY OF ATHENS

MUNICIPALITY OF HERAKLION, CRETE

MUNICIPALITY OF TRIKALA – e trikala

MUNICIPALITY OF MOSCHATO – TAVROS

MUNICIPALITY OF GORTYNIA

MUNICIPALITY OF CHALKIDA

DAEM

PETA SA

MUNICIPALITY OF ANTIPAROS

MUNICIPALITY OF SITIA

MUNICIPALITY OF NEA SMIRNI

MUNICIPALITY OF AGIOS DIMITRIOS

MUNICIPALITY OF FARKADONA

MUNICIPALITY OF ARISTOTLE

MUNICIPALITY OF HERAKLION, ATTICA

MUNICIPALITY OF IGOUMENITSA

PART 2:

Live crowdhacking. !!!

Presentation of applications

Party and award ceremony

Registrations

 Photo Gallery

• Facebook album (click on the link)

Useful links

• Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/143826782796324/
• Micro site: crowdhackathon.com/smartcity/
• Crowdhackathon
• KEDE
• Crowdpolicy

See the innovation solutions of Crowdpolicy      

1. The results of crowdhackathon #smartcity

The 1st Marathon on the Development of Applications for Local Government KEDE City Challenge Crowdhackathon Smartcity was held with great success. The marathon was attended by more than 200 contestants in 50 teams that implemented original applications useful for cities and local government in three days, with the help of 40 experienced mentors and 17 members of the evaluation committee from Municipalities, the market and the academic community. The 32 volunteers provided valuable help to the event. KEDE City Challenge Crowdhackathon Smartcity was organized with the technological support of the innovation company Crowdpolicy.

You can download the detailed results and find information about all the teams and their innovative ideas pdf

A few words about Smartcity

The effort to define the term “smart city” resulted in three axes:

The first axis presents the “smart city” as a compendium of technological factors, natural infrastructures, smart technologies, mobile telephony technologies, digital and enhanced technology solutions and, finally, digital networks. All these factors result in:  Digital city, Intelligent city, Ubiquitous city, Wired city, Hybrid city, Information city.

The second axis concerns social factors such as Municipalities and the institutional and regulatory framework. These social factors result in smart communities and smart growth.

Finally, the third axis is man because through the human and social capital of the city, Creative city, Learning city, Humane city και Knowledge city are generated. This holistic approach defines the smart city phenomenon.

The three-day innovation competition resulted in solutions covering all the smartcity axes.  In particular, the innovative applications that were developed are related to smart transportation, smart health care, smart safety, smart energy, smart environment and other organizational solutions for municipalities. All this provides an excellent example proving that this is not a theoretical approach, but all this is achieved by innovators who are optimistic and show us that they can create the city of tomorrow today!

2. Winners

The President of KEDE, Mr. George Patoulis, awarded the prizes:

• The 1st prize of € 6.000 was awarded to the team Needsa for their application Happy Trees. It is about the remote irrigation of green areas with the ability to collect weather, soil moisture data and so on.
• The 2nd prize of € 4.000 was awarded to the team MX2T for their application social wallet for vulnerable groups.
• The 3d prize of € 2.000 was awarded to the team City Hub for their application API Dashboard that links existing applications of Municipalities.

Realizing the Potential of Blockchain

The Municipality of Heraklion will launch the Structured Public Consultation Mechanism for proposals and ideas to be implemented, in the context of shaping and highlighting in a participatory way its needs and priorities in terms of municipal projects and actions.

The Consultation Mechanism (which is not mandatory for our Municipality by law) will be provided to the public through a modern digital tool, the online platform that will be accessible at the link http://84.205.229.127/ethelontismos/.

The platform invites all interested citizens, the residents of the Municipality as well as collective bodies to submit their views on the projects and actions that are proposed by the Municipality or propose their own ideas on projects to be implemented. In addition to proposing ideas, the users of the platform will have the opportunity to comment on the already posted proposals in order to start a constructive dialogue on various topics concerning the Municipality and the provided services.

In addition, the Consultation platform will serve as the main tool for the participatory shaping of Developmental Projects and Actions Programs, as well as for highlighting and visualizing the needs, ideas and proposals of the local community.

Through the Consultation platform, the Municipality aims to promote and strengthen the involvement of citizens and bodies, the rationale of co-shaping actions that make up its strategy, while at the same time it supports collective decision-making on the design and implementation of actions.

The online platform is based on innovative and participatory technologies (Crowdapps) that promote the active involvement of citizens and collective bodies at local level. For more information, please visit http://www.heraklion.gr/ and http://84.205.229.127/ethelontismos/.

Crowdpolicy, a pioneering company in matters of open – participatory government and open data technologies, has designed, developed and implemented the Online Consultation Platform for the Municipality of Heraklion. For more information, please visit http://crowdpolicy.com/.

We are pleased to announce that the annual meeting of the Vouliwatch Cyprus team was held on July 20th, 2017, with the non-profit making Makewaves Cyprus, the Cyprus Youth Council, the independent non-profit organization Vouliwatch Greece, the international organization Café Babel and Crowdpolicy participating. The aim of the meeting was to develop new ideas and define the next steps, which will improve the service of the Vouliwatch Cyprus platform. The team’s philosophy includes the development of tools and mechanisms that will increase the platform’s usefulness by providing more capabilities to users.

Specifically, the following mechanisms are planned to be upgraded shortly:

• Module #vouliwatch Cyprus
• Module #participation
• Module #policy monitor
• Module #open data

More at: http://vouliwatch.org.cy/

UPDATE : The workshop will take place on June 15th, 2017

Through the implementation of the project “Study for the design and development of a platform for searching and managing business innovation resources“, the General Secretariat for Industry aims to implement a digital platform and processes that will actively support enterprises in the broader sectors of industry and crafts as well as in the ICT sector.

The platform will support the networking and match making for the exploitation of innovative technologies and processes in the above-mentioned enterprises. The users of the innovation resources market can be enterprises of all sizes, freelancers, startups, medium-sized and large companies, and any other party interested in receiving or providing innovative services for the development of products and services. It should be noted that it is not necessary for the users –  recipients to be enterprises, but they can also be companies that are in the process of being set up and groups in the following sectors: Processing – industry – crafts and ICT.

Crowdpolicy is the contractor of the project for the formulation of specifications on operational and technical level, as well as the organization of a participatory workshop – hackathon, through which the participants will be informed and propose ideas on the optimal design of the project.

The main objective is to optimize the results of the project with the participation of the beneficiaries, the business and academic community and the public sector officials.

Short-term objectives: 

• To locate and provide access to the productive capacities and infrastructures of Greek sub-contractors, public and private research laboratories, machine shops, experts providing value-added services and the various small craft industries that also provide value-added services.
• Το enable new, simpler and more direct financing methods using vouchers and other financial tools through the normalisation, recording and simple certification of the services provided on the platform that will be created.

Long-term objectives of the project:

• Enhancing the technological and innovation capacity of enterprises in the industry – processing – craft sectors through new technologies.
• Improving the ability to acquire knowledge from the outside environment.
• Improving the ability to attract highly skilled human resources.
• Enhancing organisational functions.
• Improving the ability to expand, deepen and extend distribution networks.
• Improving corporate image and recognition.
• Improving access to venture capital.
• Improving access to strategic networks.
• Enhancing the capacity of creating and capturing value.
• Improving the ability to design and implement effective business models that will make the recipient undertaking efficient in all function and development components (e.g. revenue streams).

The platform and the action as a whole have the characteristics of a pilot project.

Proposals and goals of crowdhackathon idea #agora

In the context of the implementation, an open innovation methodology will be used during the hackathon and the participants will contribute with business models as well as modules for implementing the alpha version of the platform. This methodology constitutes a significant innovation for the realisation of such projects, as the stakeholders and users of the platform themselves will be able to contribute actively and directly with ideas and suggestions.

Open Call for Participation

• the users or “clients” of the platform, such as startups, business executives and anyone interested in creating a product and looking for suppliers.
• various service and infrastructure providers, such as machine shops, special facilities, craft executives and subcontractors, food packers, industry executives, public research executives etc
• business consultants interested in promoting all this productive wealth of Greek manufacturing,
• the public sector officials involved or interested in the action,
• Developers – Designers – Business Analysts

The places are limited (70) and the model “first come first served” will apply.

The main objectives of the participatory action are to formulate proposals and submit ideas at the following levels:

• Highlighting innovative ideas and usage models that can later be exploited for the platform.
• Suggestions on the brand name of the platform, branding, UX and UI.
• Functional modules of the platform in MVP phase (Minimum Viable Product).
• Other ideas and applications for the platform – market.

Place – theme and organisation of participatory process 15/6/2017

The action will take place at be finnovative, 74 Piraeus Str., Moschato (χάρτης -map) from 09:00 to 18:30.

Program

• 9:00 – 09:30:  Check -in
• 10:00 – 10:30: Welcome – Introduction
• 10:30 – 11:30:  Formation of workgroups
• 13:30  – 15:30: Break
• 18:30:  Presentation of the results

Formation of workgroups:

• Workgroup 1: Operational issues.  This group deals with the processing and submission of proposals concerning the operational issues of the platform.
• Workgroup 2: Technical issues.  This group will suggest technologies and functionalities with added value.
• Workgroup 3: Institutional-legal issues.This group will formulate ideas and suggestions concerning the institutional framework and the actions to be implemented for the implementation and operation of the platform.
• Workgroup D&D: Designers και Developers

Registration: https://www.eventora.com/en/events/ggb-agoraplatform

News: Facebook event 

Each weekend is special, but the weekend of January 26-28 2018 is unique, as it will be the launch point for new InsurTech businesses. The event will focus on the creation of innovative applications (Minimum Viable Products – MVP) in the wider insurance sector (#insurtech).

Hackathon cy #Insurance is organized by Crowdpolicy technology and innovation company and KPMG, within the framework of the open innovation event hackathon.com.

KPMG in Cyprus is putting together a hackathon to develop and showcase new tech solutions within the insurance industry.

The Objectives of Hackathon cy #Insurance

• Create preconditions of youth entrepreneurship: through competition, new groups or startup companies are born, which in the future contribute effectively to Cypriot – and why not -global economy
• Utilize knowledge and expertise of programmers, new businesses, groups and executives, in order to create innovative applications
• Design and promote novel applications and business models in the following domains:
  • Applications aiming to assist innovative entrepreneurship in the insurance sector – promotion of entrepreneurship and startups in the sector of #insurtech (e.g.: aggregators, p2p & on demand  insurance, marketplaces)
  • Innovation through the creation of new products and services – Insurance innovation through the use of emerging technologies and trends (e.g.: blockchain, crowdsourcing, chatbots, p2p insurance, Internet of things, big data analysis tools, API economy, robo advisors, open hardware etc.)
  • Applications, procedures and partnership models which boost enterprises’ services and infrastructure (#insurtech & digital transformation)
  • Applications promoting Social Innnovation and Social Solidarity.

Participation is free; there is a limited number of slots per role; participation is on a first come-first served basis.

Participation deadline: 12/1/2018

Benefits for Participants – Competitors

• Acquiring skills that will help you correctly design and transform ideas that solve real-life problems into apps.
• Preparation in time-pressure conditions with the guidance of mentors with significant market experience.
• Networking of young developers and participants with experienced business executives, professionals of the insurance sector and entrepreneurs.
• Comprehension of the overall business culture and ecosystem through the utilization of information from the insurance sector which holds a key position in the market.

Work with awesome people, win money and found your startup at the same time!

Sign up here!

For more information and registration please join our Facebook event or contact:

Ms Elena Ioannidou , +35722209106

Ms Aglaia Souliou, +302169002600

On the occasion of mentoring on entrepreneurship in a high school lesson, I am recording a few thoughts that answer the following question:

I have an idea. Now what?

You certainly do not keep it secret and do not put it in the drawer because if you do, then, it is worth nothing. Try to work it out, discuss it, get useful advice and start implementing it. Then, list some useful tools and methodologies that will help you implement your idea and see what it is really worth.

I have an idea. What is it worth?

Ideas alone are worth nothing. In addition to this, there is no unique idea. Whatever you have thought of has surely been realised somewhere else and hundreds of other people in the world have the same idea as you do. How can you find out? Google it !

I have an idea but I am not sure of it.

Check out the Startup Idea Matrix.

It is a useful matrix that can help you shape your business idea. On the vertical axis, you can see the sectors of the economy and, on the horizontal axis, the innovations and changes that one can design. It depicts existing known and large companies in the cells created. Note, however, that many cells are blank and may be waiting for you to implement this innovation. Food for thought for the next crowdhackathons.

I have an idea. How do I turn it into a business?

A really useful tool is the Business Model Canvas of Strategyzer. It helps transform an idea into a proper business proposition. The table presents in two axes the basics of a business plan organised into four key modules: Value proposition, Customer, Infrastructure, and Profit Equation.

Business Model Canvas is a popular visual tool for designing the strategic development of a business idea. It is especially useful to a startup because it helps you see the business opportunity behind the idea in a structured way.

Download the template here.

How do I organise my time?

Time is a key parameter. Besides, a manager’s job is to manage limited resources, ie time, people, money.

You have to organise work into work packages spread over time and set milestones that you have to respect. See a way to do it using Google Sheets. You can download a template here .

How do I organise my team?

A lot of people, a lot of tasks, now what?

To monitor the project, I recommend trello. You can see an interesting trello board here .

Admittedly, Trello is the most complete solution in its class. Actually, it helps you organise tasks and unfinished tasks through an easy-to-use interface. Trello is based on the Kanban system.

Trello allows you to create boards to which you add your tasks one by one. For example, each sector of a company could be a board. In there, cards can be created, so in our example, the different cards of a sector could relate to the various tasks it has for it, such as issuing invoices for the customer and so on. Each card in turn has text in the form of updates, deadlines, and even a list from which you can delete lines. You can attach files (either from your device or somewhere online), as well as give the right to view and / or edit the table to others, for example, if the content concerns them. Finally, for each board, there is a detailed history showing every modification made.

You can see various use cases at https://trello.com/inspiration.

How do I create a prototype?

We call it MVP from Minimum Viable Product.

The term “Minimum Viable Product or MVP “ has become known by Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, a book I would suggest you read. This term represents a way of thinking that describes the creation of partially implemented products, with the fewest possible features, in order for one to understand their functionality. This leads to the use of limited resources, time and cost. Products are quickly tested on the market to record consumer reactions. Thus, the business can make the necessary changes to eventually produce a product that truly meets people’s needs.

MVP is a methodology that generates innovation at the lowest possible cost. See more about the MakeYourMVP service at the website of Crowdpolicy.

How do I finance my idea?

The picture shows the different stages of financing a new business. The way of financing depends on the maturity of the business idea and the amount of money required. See more about Crowdfunding at http://crowdpolicy.com/service/crowd-funding/.

How do I build a financial plan?

Check out this useful financial model template for startups (sheet).

How do I present my idea?

Guy Kawasaki pitch deck can help you https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/ .

Useful methodologies

You should check out the following:

Agile Development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development

Lean Startup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_startup

Contact

Your commenting on the article and adding more resources would be really useful. If you wish to contact me, you can do so at LinkedIn or Facebook.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/psalidas/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mpsalidas