Cities nurturing startups
New corporate ecosystems are popping up in cities thanks to young professionals who are driven by the desire to make money but also to offer something valuable to the community, Elias Spirtounias, executive director of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), said on Tuesday, opening the first Thessaloniki Future Thinking Dialogues hybrid conference.
Introducing the AmCham’s conference, titled “A hub of talent, innovation and technology in the making,” Spirtounias said that the northern port city is an an example of such an ecosystem. “We live in a drastically and rapidly changing world in which we all are called to adapt and operate faster and more efficiently,” he said. Science and technology, he added, can help in key ways to resolve challenges “and succeed in areas where other policies and actions have failed such as in confronting impoverishment, inequalities, health and others.” Such urban ecosystems are “providing the best shelter” for incubating such ideas and interacting with others, he noted.
AmCham helps educate young entrepreneurs about the business aspect of their projects, the right practices and the constraints of the real economy.