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A trivial, every-day life problem sparks an innovative idea. You try it out. It really works! For your friends as well! Then, the world is the limit… That’s how you embark on your own journey in innovation. From early on in the sail, you encounter rough seas and face wreckages, until you finally reach steady ground in the entrepreneurial world. Is there a more efficient way to sail? Are failures unavoidable? Can failures help you succeed? These and more questions will be addressed and personal experiences shared by our invited speakers, who have themselves turned failure to a successful journey in innovation.

EURECA-PRO (The European University on Responsible Consumption and Production) organizes the InnoForum 2023 workshop on

Tuesday 6 June 2023 at 09:30
in "Manousos Manousakis" Amphitheater

under the title

"Unlocking the Potential of Failure in Innovation"

The event aims to focus on the thematic area of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), to highlight how mistakes in innovation can ultimately lead to business success, as well as to exchange ideas and experiences between established as well as new ones, aspiring, innovative entrepreneurs from EURECA-PRO partners and the local community.

The hybrid conference will feature two speaker panels.

The first panel (10:00-12:30) moderated by Prof. Panagiotis Partsinevelos of the School of Mineral Resources Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, will have as its main theme "From the… lightbulb to specs creation: what to keep and what to let go". The panel will host the following speakers:

• Ernesto G. Castañon, M.Sc. TEDxLeón Organizer, Universidad de León, Spain, talking about "The Flavor of Failure"
• Konstantinos Vassakis, Ph.D. Bizrupt, Co-founder, Greece, talking about "Failing Forward"
• Lionel Bertrand, Ph.D. ENEREX President, Université de Lorraine, France, talking about "Enerex: Innovative Methodology for Underground Exploration: from Concept to Market"
• Ilianna Vrouvaki, M.Sc. Aura Kritis, Founder & Lead Scientist, Greece, talking about "Success is Walking from Failure to Failure with no Loss of Enthusiasm"

The second panel (14:00-16:30) moderated by Prof. Evangelos Grigoroudis of the School of Production and Management Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, will have as its main theme "Materializing and testing an idea: a practical road map". The speakers of this panel will be the following:

• Eri Pavlaki, M.Sc. Women do business, Co-founder & Director, Greece, talking about "Fail Fast to Succeed"
• Ries Bouwman, Ph.D. KNAPP.com, Product Manager, MontanUniversit ät Leoben, Austria, talking about "To Prototype or not to Prototype: a Greek Drama in 3 Acts"
• Kostas Chartzoulakis, Ph.D. ZenAgroPC, Scientific Consultant, Greece, talking about "Improving the Farmer's Acceptance of Zen-Irriware Precision Irrigation Software at Farm Level"
• Manolis Lerakis, M. Sc. Avoel, Founder & CEO, Greece, talking about "Learning from our Mistakes"

The event will be held in a hybrid format, in the English language, with the invited speakers presenting in person, in front of a live audience at TUC, while the partners from EURECA-PRO and all remotely interested parties will participate via teleconference. The Rector of the Technical University of Crete, Prof. Michael Zervakis, will open the event.

The related exhibition InnoExpo 2023, which will close the event, will be the real, hands-on platform, where innovative entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to exhibit and discuss their innovative ideas, approaches and applications.

The researchers and entrepreneurs who will exhibit their innovative ideas and products will be the following:

• Eri Pavlaki, “Starsleep” – Experience Luxury Nights in Nature
• Eri Pavlaki and Chrysoula Dospra, “Women Do Business” – Promoting Female Entrepreneurship
• Maria Palla, “Pallas” – Sustainable Fashion
• Ilianna Vrouvaki, “Aura Kritis” – Natural Cosmetics from Cretan Land
• Giannis Gouzionis, “Aisthesis Medical” – Innovation in Perioperative Care
• Lionel Bertrand “Enerex” – Solutions for your underground exploration projects
• Konstantinos Vassakis, “Bizrupt” – Innovation Catalyst
• Manolis Lerakis, “Avoel” – Innovative Avocado Products
• Prof. Michael Konsolakis, “MSLPL-IEESL” – Research Results of High Technological Maturity
• Prof. Michael Galetakis, “Durecobel” – Research Unit of Quality Control, Health and Safety in Mineral Industry
• Prof. Katerina Mania, “Surreal” – Sustainable Education: Visual Reconstruction of Ancient Sites
• Assist. Prof. Manolis Varouchakis, “Environmental Mining and Sustainable Development Research Unit” – Creation of a single open source SQL database for the management of hydrological data from the region of Crete, alongside the creation of infrastructure with a user interface
• Assoc. Prof. Giorgos Arabatzis, “Indigo-TUC” – Industrial and Digital Innovation Research Group
• Prof. Konstantinos-Alketas Ouggrinis, “TIE Lab” – Transformable Intelligent Environments Laboratory
• Assist. Prof. Maria Mandalaki, “BioClima” – Bioclimatic Design and Earthen Laboratory

By attending the events, the participant will have the opportunity to learn how to:

• Manage failure in I&E and then undertake the necessary steps to finally reach success.
• Pivot around obstacles in I&E.
• Exchange failure and success stories with peers in I&E.
• Get exposed to innovative approaches, methodologies and applications for I&E.

Target group: Academics; Staff; Senior Students; Established and aspiring Innovators & Entrepreneurs; General Public

Date: Tuesday, June 6th, 2023

Times: InnoForum: 10:00-12:30 and 14:00-16:30, InnoExpo: 17:00-19:00

Official Event Sponsor: SYN.KA. Super Markets

Register by June 5th, 2023 using the general registration form
for the EURECA-PRO Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programme.

All actual participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

The event will be broadcast live through the official EURECA-PRO facebook page.

Events will be recorded and photographs will be taken. The digital material will be shown on the website and on the official channel of the Technical University of Crete (TUC) and EURECA-PRO. Your photo may be included in press releases issued by TUC for this event. TUC will also publicize the event on social media and in newsletters. For any matter related to your personal data or for the withdrawal of your consent, you can be informed through TUC's personal data protection policy page.