On the occasion of the completion of the project Innova-FI (Financial Instruments for Innovation) of the Programme INTERREG EUROPE, KEPA organized the 7th meeting with the stakeholders online, on Thursday February 23rd 2023. The aim of the meeting was to present the results of Innova-FI project and to share the plans of the participating organisations for the next period.

The stakeholder representatives listened with high interest the main achievements of the project from the members of the KEPA Team, particularly focusing on the lessons learned from the other countries’ good practices as well as on further exploiting the outcomes derived mainly from the implementation of KEPA’s Action plan.

An excellent discussion followed, about the possibilities to support regional but also interregional/cross-border/transnational financial instruments and to combine grants with financial instruments. Furthermore, the necessity to look at the general market and the other countries' ecosystems was also stressed. Each organization referred to the plans of developing new financial instruments, both more generic (investment and capital loans, with co-financing and guarantees) and also for covering more sectorial needs according to the European thematic priorities. Moreover, reference was made to the business innovation supporting actions of the Region of Central Macedonia addressed and to the framework of the new Operational Programme “Competitiveness 2021-2027”.

At the end, a flavour of the new premises of the Hellenic Design Centre (powered by KEPA), which will host the newly established Creative Hub “HUB IT SKG – Creativity Today by HDC”, was given.