How Start-up Ecosystem in Greece is Recovering from the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

It is well known that the recent global pandemic crisis of 2020, despite the healthrelated problems that it caused, also unstabilized the economies around the globe. That situation led to many business closures, unemployment, extra government funding support for businesses, and many other protective reforms that were necessary in order to restart the economy. However, in Greece, even though this health crisis was rapidly affecting the economy and businesses, reports showed that during the pandemic, start-up businesses seemed to be adapting and handling the new situation quite well. Reports, also indicated, that the quick recovery from the start-up ecosystem, was mainly because there were good opportunities for the most innovative start-ups to further expand their operations and bring innovative solutions to handling the pandemic situation. Furthermore, the government, the universities, and some organizations helped the start-ups to further expand through special health and digital hackathons, dedicated seminars, business accelerators, devoted online support platforms for start-ups, and many more. Therefore, the objective of this short paper is to examine, through the latest literature, studies, and reports, how the Greek start-up ecosystem is recovering and expanding, what were the difficulties of start-up founders, and to find other interesting facts about the start-up ecosystem in Greece, during the first two years of the pandemic. Additionally, we will also try to answer questions that will help us in understanding the current situation. Some of these questions include the difficulties that entrepreneurs had in that period and lastly, if the Greek Government was able to help, through various initiatives, the start-up ecosystem during Covid-19. Keywords: start-ups, Covid-19, Greec

Entrepreneurship in Greece

Back in 2008, when the global economic crisis started, Greek companies and generally the corporate sector faced numerous difficulties. A lot of businesses closed, and the unemployment rate was significantly raised. The aim of the following paper is attempting to study the current situation of entrepreneurship in Greece, to find the problems that arose from the crisis and to acknowledge any future chance of positive development. Our results from the conduction of the two surveys have indicated that the entrepreneurs who answered our survey are facing a lot of problems in extroversion, due to the high taxation and the general market crisis. Also, only half of them had any advisory support at the beginning of their business. Similarly, their answers showed that it is more possible for them to close their business soon, as they are more pessimistic for better conditions and environment in entrepreneurship, in the near future. On the other hand, the results for the non-entrepreneurs, who answered our second survey, showed that a lot of them were in favor of making a company but they hesitate because of the taxation system, the bureaucracy and the lack of knowledge in business sector. The key to making entrepreneurship in Greece approachable is to rebuild the tax system and make it more sustainable for the businesses. Similarly, it is important to have financing support through private and public initiatives and help new innovative businesses and startups begin operations. Lastly, Greek Government must make a new proactive environment to protect all low and middle range businesses from terminating their operation.   Keywords: entrepreneurship, Greece, crisis, economy introductio

The Development of Entrepreneurship in Greece: The Aftermath of an Economic Crisis

The European economic crisis was devastating for many business owners in Greece. The constant change, instability and uncertainty led many people to lose their jobs. Likewise, many graduates were unemployed without a chance to pursue a career path, ultimately leading many to emigrate to other countries to find a better working environment. However, in Greece, the crisis led to an environment where some people, due to the lack of good job opportunities or because of a new business opportunity, decided to start their own business. In this research, we conducted a survey targeting active entrepreneurs. We aimed to analyze the entrepreneurial situation in Greece through questions about their business’ development, finance and growth from the end of 2018 until the end of 2019. Within this framework, our results indicated that the entrepreneurs faced numerous problems and some have still not fully recovered. Nonetheless, some enterprises managed to grow and expand their business operations. In conclusion, the future generation of entrepreneurs needs to have all the necessary business skills and access to funding opportunities to accelerate and innovate their business ideas more quickly. Keywords: entrepreneurship, economic crisis, Greece, development, SM

Non- Parametric Statistics: A Set of Statistical Techniques to Compare Two or More Independent Populations

Nonparametric methods are a powerful research tool used by investigators in practically every field of human activity. Nonparametric methods are useful alternatives to the parametric methods (when parametric methods are not available) and their use and application is made much easier when statistical tools, like MINITAB, are used to solve problems completely or partially. The techniques of we discuss in nonparametric statistics fall in the following 5 categories: I) Tests for RandomnessII) Chi-Square TestsIII) Tests for Matched PairsIV) Tests to Compare 2 or More Independent PopulationsV) Spearman Rank Correlation Test MINITAB examples are given for: Tests of Randomness, Tests for Matched Pairs (Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test, Friedman Test) and Tests to Compare 2 or More Independent Populations (Mann-Whitney Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test)

Linear and Non-Linear Regression: Powerful and Very Important Forecasting Methods

Regression Analysis is at the center of almost every Forecasting technique, yet few people are comfortable with the Regression methodology. We hope to improve the level of comfort with this article. In this article we briefly discuss the theory behind the methodology and then outline a step-by-step procedure, which will allow almost everyone to construct a Regression Forecasting function for both the linear and some non-linear cases. Also discussed, in addition to the model construction mentioned above, is model testing (to establish significance) and the procedure by which the Final Regression equation is derived and retained to be used as the Forecasting equation. Hand solutions are derived for some small-sample problems (for both the linear and non-linear cases) and their solutions are compared to the MINITAB-derived solutions to establish confidence in the statistical tool, which can be used exclusively for larger problems

Entrepreneurship in Greece

Back in 2008, when the global economic crisis started, Greek companies and generally the corporate sector faced numerous difficulties. A lot of businesses closed, and the unemployment rate was significantly raised. The aim of the following paper is attempting to study the current situation of entrepreneurship in Greece, to find the problems that arose from the crisis and to acknowledge any future chance of positive development. Our results from the conduction of the two surveys have indicated that the entrepreneurs who answered our survey are facing a lot of problems in extroversion, due to the high taxation and the general market crisis. Also, only half of them had any advisory support at the beginning of their business. Similarly, their answers showed that it is more possible for them to close their business soon, as they are more pessimistic for better conditions and environment in entrepreneurship, in the near future. On the other hand, the results for the non-entrepreneurs, who answered our second survey, showed that a lot of them were in favor of making a company but they hesitate because of the taxation system, the bureaucracy and the lack of knowledge in business sector. The key to making entrepreneurship in Greece approachable is to rebuild the tax system and make it more sustainable for the businesses. Similarly, it is important to have financing support through private and public initiatives and help new innovative businesses and startups begin operations. Lastly, Greek Government must make a new proactive environment to protect all low and middle range businesses from terminating their operation

Determinants of academic entrepreneurship: the case of business ventures that arose from members of Greek Universities

Τα Πανεπιστήμια, ως αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι του εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος, δύναται να αποτελέσουν τον τρίτο πυλώνα σε μια αναπτυξιακή διαδικασία από κοινού με τη Βιομηχανία και το Κράτος. Οι κεντρικοί άξονες μέσω των οποίων ένα ανώτατο εκπαιδευτικό ίδρυμα μπορεί να επιτελέσει το ρόλο αυτό, είναι εκτός της εκπαίδευσης, η έρευνα και η αξιοποίηση των αποτελεσμάτων της λόγω της παραχώρησης των δικαιωμάτων διανοητικής ιδιοκτησίας ή/και ίδρυσης τεχνοβλαστών, αλλά και η στήριξη/προώθηση επιχειρηματικών ιδεών που διαμορφώνονται από τα μέλη της ευρύτερης ακαδημαϊκής κοινότητας (φοιτητές, ερευνητές κλπ.). Αυτές οι προσπάθειες, όταν κρίνεται ότι εκτός από ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον έχουν και επιχειρηματικό, τους δίνεται η δυνατότητα να αναπτυχθούν περαιτέρω μέσα από τις διάφορες δομές των πανεπιστημίων. Τέτοιες δομές είναι για παράδειγμα οι θερμοκοιτίδες ή/και επιταχυντές επιχειρηματικότητας, όπου φιλοξενούν νεοφυείς επιχειρηματικές ιδέες με στόχο να γίνουν βιώσιμες εταιρείες και spin-offs. Παράλληλα με την εκπαίδευση και την έρευνα, η ανάπτυξη της ‘τρίτης αποστολής’ των Πανεπιστημίων, δηλαδή της επιχειρηματικής δραστηριότητας, στοχεύει στη διάχυση της νέας γνώσης που παράγεται εντός των ακαδημαϊκών ιδρυμάτων προς τη βιομηχανία και την κοινωνία. Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο η έρευνά μας εντάσσεται στο το ρόλο των Πανεπιστημίων για την προώθηση και ενίσχυση της επιχειρηματικότητας και την ανάλυση των χαρακτηριστικών και των προσδιοριστικών παραγόντων της ακαδημαϊκής επιχειρηματικότητας στα Ελληνικά Πανεπιστήμια (πραγματοποίηση έρευνας πεδίου με στόχο την ανάλυση των χαρακτηριστικών και των προσδιοριστικών παραγόντων της επιχειρηματικότητας που προκύπτει από τα μέλη της ελληνικής ακαδημαϊκής κοινότητας)

Injuries and Persistent Pain in Elite Adolescent Archery Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Epidemiological Study

This cross-sectional epidemiological study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of injuries among young archers engaged in high-intensity training during the European Youth Championship. A total of 200 participants (104 males/96 females) from 34 countries were included, with a mean age of 16.9 years and average competitive experience of 6.5 years. Structured questionnaires, administered by four physiotherapist interviewers, gathered comprehensive data. Results revealed that 43.5% of participants experienced shoulder pain during training, highlighting the vulnerability of upper limbs in archers. Additionally, 30% required medications to facilitate training, underscoring the impact of injuries on continued participation. Physiotherapy was utilized by 52.3% of participants, emphasizing the need for therapeutic intervention. Furthermore, 31.8% had to cease training due to injuries, indicating a substantial hindrance to athletic progression. The mean pain duration was 3.9 months, with an average intensity of 5.94, and 8% exhibited symptoms of central sensitization. In conclusion, this study demonstrates a noteworthy prevalence of injuries, particularly in the upper limbs, among young archers undergoing intensive training. The findings underscore the importance of targeted injury prevention strategies and comprehensive rehabilitation approaches to ensure the well-being and sustained participation of young athletes in competitive archery