Prof. Ketikidis at the European Angel Investment Summit in Brussels

Prof. Panayiotis Ketikidis, Vice Principal for Research and Innovation at CITY College and Co-founder of the Hellenic Business Angels Network participated in the European Angel Investment Summit in Brussels and moderated an excellent session about ‘Private and Public Investors Working Together’. The event took place at the European Commission on 26^th of November 2019.

Prof. Ketikidis moderated a group of amazing panelists who shared their views on the topic:

• Ivar Siimar, Co-founder and Partner at Trind Ventures, EstBAN President Emeritus;
• Janne Jormalainen, Chairman of Finnish Business Angels Network, EBAN Board Member;
• Rudy Aernoudt, Senior Economist at the European Commission;
• Marc D’Hooge, Head of EIB Thematic Finance Advisory Unit;
• Oscar Farres, Head of Unit – Investments in Technology and Innovation at European Investment Fund (EIF);
• Karen Grant, Chair of Professional Development Committee at NACO Canada

The panel discussed ways in which public and private investors can work together towards achieving inclusion and environmental sustainability in the EU startups/scale-ups scene. Key outcomes of the session suggested that wealth creation and enterprise are drivers of development and free enterprise capitalism is good, but profit maximisation is not the solution. The panel agreed that in Europe there are many good ideas but the problem is in their implementation, it has many startups but not scaleups while at the same time all panelists agreed that Europe’s challenges are green, aging, digital and learning skills.

The event attracted approximately 300 business angels, innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers and presented participants with great networking opportunities. The event emphasized the potential in collaboration for solving major challenges like tech transfer, climate change, gender inequality, and scaling up of startups.