The Rector of the University of Piraeus, Professor Michael Sfakianakis, welcomed the participants noting how well the concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation fit the soul of the Greeks. For centuries now, our people have been expanding far beyond the confines of a small land, armed with this appeal to create opportunities that spring from crises. Even now that the crises we face are on a global scale (pandemic, wars, climate change) we stand out internationally. The competition "Entrepreneurship & Innovation UNIPI" and the set of supporting actions, which were created, motivated the students of the University to unfold their talents in an arena that touches current entrepreneurship and innovates towards the future.

Ms. Athina Babakou, Director of Strategic Planning of the Ministry of Tourism, as a representative of the Ministry and on behalf of the Secretary General of Tourism Policy & Development, Mr. Myron Flouris, stressed the importance of tourism for the university community, both for students and future employees directly or indirectly in the tourism sector, as well as for professors and researchers who systematically engage in cutting-edge research on tourism subjects and can contribute significantly in tourism policy planning and propose new directions. She then analyzed the strategy and individual projects the Ministry of Tourism undertakes to achieve its strategic goals, with an emphasis on those related to innovation, strengthening the diversification and competitiveness of the country's tourism product portfolio, the promotion of tourism education and training and the coordinated communication promotion of Greece's image abroad with modern tools.

Professor Grigorios Chondrokoukis of the Department of Industrial Management & Technology, and Scientific Manager of the project emphasized that with a vision of expanding the ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship and connecting the University with production, in the framework of the Entrepreneurship & Development Actions an invitation was made to students and faculty members to submit their innovative proposals. For the groups that responded, through seminars and coaching, collaborative ideas were developed and, in this way, the entrepreneurship culture of a University, which carries out its academic work by embracing people, was cultivated.
The former Rector of the University of Piraeus, Professor Angelos Kotios, Dimitrios Mathios, President of SVAP, Yiannis Hatzitheodosiou, President of E.E.A., Professor Vassilios Zeibekis, Assistant Professor of the Department of Engineering, Economics and Management of the University of the Aegean, attended the conference with speeches, followed by a panel with organizations and businesses that support entrepreneurship actions at HEIs and coordinator Symeon Retali, Professor of the Department of Digital Systems at the University of Piraeus.

This was followed by the awarding ceremony of the winners of the "UNIPI Entrepreneurship & Innovation" competition, from the teams that advanced to the final round and created successful business models in shipping, agritourism, e-learning and other fields, by the Professor of the Department of Informatics of the University of Piraeus, Christos Douligeris.

In the category Sustainable tourism development in 1st place "Greece Undiscovered", an Online Travel Agent with activity packages in undiscovered destinations that strengthens local communities".

In the Supply Chain category, Dynamic Transfers, 1st place went to a platform for exploiting unexploited space in transportation.
In the General Category / Innovation in 1st place CardGuru, a fitech company with the aim of optimal management of bank and corporate cards through targeted information and the utilization of points from reward programs".

In the category Research teams/faculty members in the 1st place “Blind Route Vision” where innovative MANTO applications enable efficient autonomous city and indoor smartphone navigation for people with vision loss.