Transitioning to Impact Investing and Responsible Start-ups

Wednesday 31st January 2024 | 18:00-20:30

Thessaloniki Innovation Zone

A model for start-up responsibility

The workshop aims at presenting a newly introduced model for start-up responsibility, the Social Responsibility for Start-ups Model (SRSM). Participants will learn how SRSM framework can guide start-ups in fulfilling their social obligations while also achieving business success. The event will focus on understanding SRSM and demonstrating its practical application to start-ups. The workshop will be introduced by Professor Panayiotis Ketikidis, Chairperson of the Board – Thessaloniki Innovation Zone and Chairperson at South-East European Research Centre (SEERC).

SRSM was developed through the RRIstart EU project.
The event will take place in Greek.

Audience

The workshop is primarily intended for:

• Start-up entrepreneurs (founders/CEOs)
• Impact/angel investors
• Academics with an interest in responsible research and innovation.

Agenda

18:00 – 18:20 Welcome
Professor Panayiotis Ketikidis, Chairperson of the Board – Thessaloniki Innovation Zone and Chairperson at South-East European Research Centre (SEERC).

Introduction
Start-ups and impact investing: Aligning investment with ethical values

18:20 – 18:50 Understanding the SRSM

• Theoretical underpinnings
• The model’s indicators
• Application workbook
• Adoption guidelines
  
  

19:00 – 20:30 Hands-on Training

Participants will be given the opportunity to apply the SRSM indicators to real-world STEM start-up companies from the local ecosystem to:

• Assess the need for responsibility in the start-up innovation process.
• Determine the current status of responsibility in the start-up innovation process.

Obtain an idea on how to proceed with infusing responsibility into the startup innovation process.

20:30 –  Networking, Pizza & Drinks

What will I gain by attending?

• Start-up entrepreneurs will learn about a practical tool than can guide them in the process of mainstreaming responsibility in their start-ups, hence enhancing their position with respect to impact investing, and potentially expanding their customer bases.
• Impact/angel investors will learn about a practical tool that can assist them in socially responsible screening of start-ups.
• Academics will learn about a novel tool for measuring start-up responsibility.

Speaker Profile

Dr Simos Veloudis

Simos is an academic (Associate Professor) with a long track of experience in EC-funded research (FP-7, H2020, Horizon Europe). His research interests lie mainly in the realms of Computer Science and of Science and Technology studies. In particular, he is interested in modelling and infusing responsibility in innovation processes in the business world.

About RRIstart

RRIstart is an H2020 project that responds to EU’s efforts to foster socially responsible investment (SRI) –a type of investment that delivers social and environmental good alongside economic benefit– by developing a novel model, the Social Responsibility for Start-ups Model (SRSM), for measuring the responsibility orientation of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) start-ups.

The event will take place in Greek.