1) Informatie over opleidings- en werkgelegenheidskansen
2) Crescere in Digitale: het Italiaanse programma voor jongvolwassenen
3) De overgang van school naar werk en de Italiaanse toestand

At the end of 2016 two youngs set up a company to launch their product called "HeroMask", a solution for children to learn languages through play.
The idea for the project comes from two Andalusian boys Carlos and Mario who, working as Spanish and English teacher in China, observed that they devoted more than half of the class to teach vocabulary to children, without playing. They came up with the need for a toy with which the children could learn vocabulary at home while they are playing.
This led them to attend the first "Google for Entrepeneurs Startup Weekend Education" organised in Spain in 2014.

Alberto Cabanes is founder and CEO of Adopta un abuelo (Adopt a grandparent), the social enterprise that has managed to put the emotional needs of the elderly on the board.
Since 2013, the project faces the dream to make the elderly feel heard, accompanied and loved. That dream became a reality and today it is a social enterprise that connects more than 3,800 volunteers with 2,800 grandparents.
60% of the elderly who live in homes do not receive visitors. Alberto, founder and CEO of Adopta un abuelo, thinks that the figure of the elderly is a great social asset in this country and, unfortunately, the most undervalued.

TENUTA CIRRINCIONE was established in 2012 by the Salvatore, Mariangela and Alfonsa Cirrincione, three siblings united in the decision to give a new course to their family company, each contributing with their own wealth of experience and knowledge:

• Salvatore, a skilled worker, is the pillar of the company, responsible for production where he makes use of years of experience in the sector, dealing with business planning, crop management, crop improvement and harvesting.
• Mariangela is a practicing lawyer in Palermo, the legal representative of the company and deals with finance and administration;
• Alfonsa, with years of experience in the news field is the head of communication and business.

A large part of the company deals with fruit, particular pears, while the rest concentrates on growing vegetables, almonds, prickly pears, aromatic herbs and some of the seasonal produce at the foundations of the Mediterranean diet.
Since 2020, thanks to supporto of specialised labs, the company has undergone a transformative processo from traditional to certified organic products, such as:

• Pears and wine, inspired by Italian regional traditios, but with all Mediterranean essences,
wrapped in a high quality Nero d'Avola,is an excellent appetiser or an after-hour dessert served cold or slightly heated for a mulled wine effect;
• Extra pear jam, rustic, but naturally delicate, very fragrant, i san excellent breakfast companion as well as ideal filling for cakes and croissants a base flavour for cream, ice cream or cheese;
• Pears in syrup, a full-bodied and fragrant fruit integration for every season;
• Datterino tomato sauce, from tomatoes grown in siccagno, as homemade, dense, full-bodied, ready to use;
• Home-made Siccagno Tomato sauce.

Having spent a decade in Venice for study and work-related reasons, the Cirrincione sisters have recently returned to their homeland where they to reinvest the skills set they learned in an industrious and prosperous land.

Tonino Rizzico is a rare farmer, one of those who look far beyond the crests of the Leonardo Sciascia's sealess Sicily , where his company is based.
In 2006, with a degree in Agronomy (University of Palermo) in his pocket, he went off to London together with his friend and brother-in-law, who also just graduated in Economics (Bocconi University-Milan). In the British capital, Tonino ended up holding the reins of the kitchen at a small restaurant in South Kensington's Fulham Road, The Aglio e Olio.
When asked what he recalls abouth the United Kingdom he says the bad food on the one hand, and “honesty in the workplace and the praise given to competence and merit, instead of name or origin. As Italians - he holds – we have a lot to learn from the British in terms of work ethics and management. And then there's the language, which is essential if you want to seriously grow internationally ".
This is perhaps the first stepping stone upon which Tonino built his own professional training path.
On returning to his Sican Peaks, he spent a decade managing relations with tour operators on behalf of Villa Giatra Hotel and restaurant .

Santa Chiesa was founded in the twenties of the twentieth, when three young people and entrepreneurs associated with Azione Cattolica gave life to a mill and then to the first oil mill of the area of Monte Cammarata, limestone offshoot in the constituting Parco dei Monti Sicani, away from major sources of pollution. After the death of the co-founder and director cav. Luigi Lupo, the activity was continued by his wife, initially within the city and subsequently outside, as required by Community legislation. The current management company was founded in 2000 by Marisa Russotto, daughter-in-law of Cav. Lupo, making use of the skills acquired as an accountant in a local construction company. "Twenty years ago" - she says - "an opportunity which couldn’t be missed arised" and so, looking at the third generation of the company, a 32-year-old daughter and a 28-year-old son, she confesses: "to continue what my father-in-law started was a truly fulfilling wish."

Giuseppe Burzotta came back to Lercara Friddi after a solid training obtained at the Liceo classico Garibaldi in Palermo and a three-year period at the Faculty of Law of Trento, the first university in Italy in terms of quality of the training offer, being also the only one university to have an authentic European orientation, thanks to its international panel of teachers. Passionate economist and marketing scholar, for five years he has been using his transversal skills in running the historic Columbia roasting company, founded in 1963. Burzotta took over the company from the previous owner, although he had never worked in the sector. Moreover, he has associated to the pre-existent business a new company branch named Coffer, a training platform for coffee connoisseurs and sommeliers with the purpose to satisfy the needs of the medium-high segment of customers within the coffee sector.

Fattoria dell'ArteRocca Reina – Teatro di Andromeda is a multifunctional ecosystem, built in the late 1980s by the will of its founder and sculptor Lorenzo Reina. It consists of a farmhouse, a donkey farm, some crops, a vegetable garden, and orchards gravitating around an outdoor stone theatre located at almost 1,000 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level, in the place where the creator wanted to concentrate positive energies, which he believes were revealed to him by his herd of sheep.
It is there that they would alway " linger to graze, seemingly caught by enchantment". The development of the complex was long and troubled, as his father wished the young Lorenzo to carry on being exclusively a shepherd. Lorenzo spent his amongst sheep, dogs, a single book. At night, he would carve alabaster into blocks, by the light of a torch in a stable.
One of those nights, he turned his eyes to heaven, to which he asked to make him "insatiable with his art " and his call was heard.
As to the origin of the theatre, Lorenzo quotes St John’s Gospel: "The Spirit, like the wind, blows where it wills" (Jn, 3.8). The 108 constituent blocks refer to the number of stars in the Constellation of Andromeda whose galaxy (M31) "will collide with ours in about two and a half billion years" while the orientation of the cavea points to the stretch of the Sicilian Channel from which the sun rises on the summer solstice.
This family business is made up of 3 partners and is aded by 2 seasonal collaborators.

Over the course of a degree in civil engineering, Toti Nigrelli acquired the digital marketing skills that would later benefit him and drive him into establishing etaPHARMA, a company aiming to provide holistic well-being, high quality of life and health, focusing on the environment and sustainability. Since 2016, etaPHARMA has poduced and distributed nutraceuticals and cosmoceuticals, employing 2 local members of staff and 1 developer supportino the founder and CEO.

Antica Trasversale Sicula is a 600-km long country trail cutting across Sicily from to the ancient Greek colony Kamarina in the South East to the Phoenician trading outpost on Mozia Island in the West.
Moved by an unconditional love for Sicily, the initiators designed a path through cultural traditions and natural monuments, allowing hikers to throw themselves into a maze of a history and passion, a spiritual journey along old abandoned railway lines, nature parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The idea is based upon Biagio Pace (1889-1955, an archaeologist and one of the founders of ancient Italian topography) and Giovanni Uggeri (a professor focusing focusing more specifically on Sicilian topograph ) who have identified a network of cross-country trails dating back to at least the Greek period the Eastern Hellenic to the Western Phoenician end of the Island. This was a thousand-years old road network connecting salt, wheat, oil, wine, honey and sulphur producers and users.
The network was reconstructed and walked by a group of archaeologists and passionate hikers who geo-referenced, with the support Sicilian Tourist Observatory GIS Lav, making this one of the few of its kind connecting so many sites of valuable sites: Kamarina, Pantalica, Akrai, Palikè, Morgantina, Lake Pergusa and the Rocca of Cerere, Grotte della Gurfa, Castronovo’s Kassar, Hippana, Entella, Mokarta, Segesta and Mozia. But not just that, Trasversale Sicula revealed to scholars and enthusiasts who have retraced all the complexities of its landscapes and the multiplicity of its dialects, languages and traditions, the latter beautifully expressed in the variety and quality of its crafts and local cuisine.

Founded in 2004, Castellucci Miano’s roots lie under the shadow of the 2,000 metre-tall Madonie range, in Valle dell’Olmo district, were vines are continuously recorded since 1570.
Starting as social wine-making co-operative in the 1960s, Castellucci Miano is now a limited companys features organic wine from vineyards aged between 30 and 50 years, located at an altitude between 700 and 1050 metres above sea level, taking advantage of the strong day-night temperature variations in order to produce a crispy-tasting wined based on such native grapes as Perricone, Catarratto, Inzolia and Nero d'Avola.

“Nature has given us the earth, the sun and the wind. We have done nothing but support it " This is SiciliAromi’s company motto, a co-operative founded in 2011 by the initiative of a group of young people eager to dedicate themselves to growing natural and officinal herbs at an altitude of 900 metres (2,700 ft) above sea level, right in the centre of Mt Carcaci Natural Reserve and soon-to-be Sican Peaks Natural Park.

In 2017, the brothers José María and María Sancho launched OpenTherapi, a comprehensive service for the development of online psychological therapy. Both in their 30s, José María is an electronic engineer and María is a psychologist. Since 2016, they started working on this idea because many patients had the need of running online therapy. For that reason, they decided to design and implement something innovative guaranteeing security and privacy. The platform allows professionals to run their own virtual consultation with a single click. They have the possibility to access to a wide range of tools that facilitate the management and care of their patients online. "It is all encrypted and totally secure to guarantee privacy in the therapeutic relationship", as explained by Sanchos, who pointed out that “we offer the security of the video calls, a gateway so that payments can be made, a calendar for patients to fix appointments, as well as a virtual waiting room where the professional can put the contents necessary for the patient to view. All this is 100% online, without downloads or installation”.

You not be a cheesemaker by birth, but you can certainly become one out of passion.
This was Salvatore Passalacqua’s case, who came from a family bakers and later became a dairy researcher and later an entrepreneur for fun when, at the end of the 1980s, the results of his experiments gave rise to great interest amongst professionals.
Using exclusively milk from farms in the neighboring municipalities (Palazzo Adriano, Prizzi, Santo Stefano Quisquina, Bivona, Cammarata and Castronovo di Sicilia), Passalacqua transfers all the organoleptic properties, the identity-cultural value and the thousand-years old husbandryl and dairy practice to his cheese, which – he proudly says: “comes form the high pastures in the Sican Peaks, the home to the best quality milk in Sicily according to Regional Consortium for Dairy Supply Chain (CoRFiLaC).

At the source of the Platani River, there is a place wedged within the innermost reliefs where the last specimens of the oldest endemic Sicilian cattle continue to be raised, the Modican, characteristically red-coated cows, vinous to black shaded bulls. The warden of such biodiversity treasure is Domenico Mangiapane, CEO of Mangiapane Farm.
Post-war mechanization of agriculture, poor milk (3000 litres/year), low meat yield (less than 55%) and the thinning out of milk-to-cheese processing farms have jointly led to a decline in livestock from 25,000 to just 2,000 in just half a century and to a simultaneous increase in the Friesian breed, despite the Modican being considered one of best triple-aptitude cattle breeds and its rusticity allowing it to tolerate the torrid Mediterranean summers, feeding mainly on a mixture of pasture and stable hay.
These cows are reared in the a semi-wild state, providing the milk the very quality and aromas that lie at the base of one of the most representative traditional cheeses in Sicilian history, Caciocavallo, the descendant of the Kashkaval, which the Ottoman Turks absorbed from the Hebrew Kasher (pure) in the 15th century, when Jews were expelled from the Kingdom of Spain.

In the late 19th century Michele Perricone tended to his land in small villages of Contessa Entellina, Bisacquino and Chiusa Sclafani, where he produced oil, wheat, tomatoes, cherries, almonds and wine.
His company was then run by his son Nicola, between 1935 and 1985, and then Peppino, and until 2010 by Peppino, the father of today’s fourth managing generation.
The company produces, transforms, packages and markets the base products of the Mediterranean Diet, offering customers a feeling of rediscovery of values , tastes and ancient flavours of the landscape, a summary of a historical and culinary tradition that can be traced back to the eighth century BC, one that is now eriche by an organic-oriented philosophy.
So In 2015, the company led by Rosario, Domenico and Caterina built a plant for the production of jams, marmalades, sauces and for the bottling of extra virgin olive oil.
The company mission is to produce and market quality agro-food.

Colletti Bottega Organaria has been restoring and manufacturing pipe organs in 1952. Giuliano, today’s owner and soul of the company, learned the trade from his father Michele, the founder of the company, who started the business in the 1950s by learning the trade from a German officer during the 2nd World War.
Since childhood, Giuliano was passionate about the organ and its sound world, dedicating his free time to learning the secrets of the trade. After graduating, in 1994 he trained in the Organ Culture and Art at Crema Professional Training Centre, in Lombardy. Today he is a member of the National Register of Cultural Heritage Professionals.
His workshop carries out 4 are main activities:

• Historical research precede restoration so whatever the instrument full respect is paid to save all the recoverable material and the reconstructions of the missing pieces takes place with materials and processing techniques in the same way as when they were built.
• Restoration has a privileged place in the process. Organs from various eras are restored, tank to the collaboration with the Heritage board.
• The construction of the new musical organs is carried out by seeking the best balance between craftmanship, aesthetic and functional modernity. Particular attention is paid to the elegance of all the details that must be simple in use and understanding, because we must not forget that the organ is used not only at mass, but also for concerts.
• The ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of all types of musical organs is the most important and vital activity to ensure functionality and durability over time.

In 1863 the first Sicilian railway line connecting Palermo to Bagheria (13 km) was launched. Three lines were completed along the coastline between 1874 and 1884. Then came the many lines connecting the mineral- and agricultural-rich outback with the harbours, whence raw materials and goods were exported.
One of the narrow-gauge inner lines was the one cutting across some epic stretches between in a southernly direction from Palermo to the small hamlet of San Carlo, layered with citrus groves by the sea, all types orchards inland as well as the ancient oak wood at Ficuzza, the seat of King Ferdinand IV’s namesake beloved hunting mansion, a reduced replica of the much grander palace in Caserta.
The line was engineerd by British engineering virtuoso Robert Trewhella, director of The Sicilian Railways Company Limited of London, between 1884 and 1886, the same designer of Circle linearound Mount Etna and of the Trans-Appennine connecting Emilia to Toscana.
Though only 112 km long, at the start journey time end to end was up to 6 hours as a result of the single track, the many stops and the average speed of the coal-powered service (30 km/h), reaching 50 km/h only in the early 1950s when the first diesel locomotives where introduced. Indeed, so slow were the train in the stretch cutting across Ficuzza wood that those who had the privilege to take it, recall being able to hop off and on it, while gathering wild berries in between!
With the advent of post-war mass motorisation, the line became unsustainable at once and discontinued in 1959. That was when Ficuzza Wood Station premises started to decay.

INTRODUCTION
Cooperativa Nuovo Orizzonte was established in 1988 years ago to produce seed wheat for local farmers. Then Vallolmo Ltd was set up in order to market the local wheat and later processi t into pasta factory. The last business branch in the group is Molinoro (est. 2020) which Tommaso Miceli CEO gave the goal to mill the wheat and, thus, complete the supply chain.

Tommaso believes there are three reasons wht Valledolmo is more business-vibrant than the neighbouirng towns:

• it is historically a dynamic community;
• the entrepreneurial fabric is stimulated by the distance from the major centres;
• the population is not obsessed by public employment prospects as elsewhere.

What happened 32 years ago when Tommaso’s father and uncle started the cooperative is repeating itself although marketing and the fiscal and financial situation have changed dramatically

In 1989 in my last year in high school, I didn’t want to study any longer or go to work.
So I took the latter choice.
I took courses in Rome and Northern Italy and I ended up training other employees.
Shopping mall job in Hong Kong, I went out for the big bucks (Italian businesman Algalite)
The Hong Kong contractor there offered me another opportunity
I had 2 skills: English and I was a trainer.
So I went from a 2 month contract to a 1 year contract. That was 2004.
Then I was given a 4-year contract till the crisis ended. Got an apartment there.
A good friend of my mine in Singapore was developing a Marina.
Then I invented my own line with my own products selling in South East Asia , Australia, USA. Not Europe yet, even tough I have a Showroom in Palermo.
My dad was a farmer emigrant to St Louis, and so was my mum.
I came back aged 15, having gone through kinder-garten, junior high and the first year of high school.
I got married in 1996 and didn’t have money to pay rent.
My daughter is a designer student, my son is in high school.
Asia is the land of opportunity, they the money and also the knowledge and skills.
Service culture is Asia’s religion, and that’s what missing.

Giuseppe Sparacello’s Dolce Tentazione is based in Castronovo di Sicilia, an ancient Byzantine town origin, perched on a rock above 700 metre above sea level, halfway between Palermo and Agrigento.
Giuseppe started practicing confectionery when he was in high school. In the days when his classmates skipped school and wandered around town, he would go back to his father's biscuit factory. He was 16 then and already falling in love with the art thanks to master confectioner who came all the way from Palermo to support his father’s lab. Standing side by side to him made Giuseppe’s vision about his professional future ever clearer.
Once he finished school, Giuseppe served in the National service for a year. Even in that case, he did not lose the desire to return to Castronovo and experiment in his lab. By the time he was 18 and had left the army he asked his father to track down that old master who’d instructed him on the basics and proposed himself as an apprentice. Thus, every week from Monday to Thursday for a year, Giuseppe trained in Palermo, floodinghis mentor with questions for 10 hours straight, absorbing his teachings like a sponge and trying to apply them on his return to town.
Through him, Giuseppe was able to become familiar with the associations that animated the sector at the metropolitan and regional level. Thus, after completing his apprenticeship, he took on further courses and masters to refine his skills in the art of chocolate and ice cream with the biggest names nationally and internationally over the next 5-6 years, including a period of training. in Turin.
"What I do is almost spontaneous, the inspiration comes naturally because I feel it from within. I happen to create by looking at the sky ”he admits over the phone.
A concrete case of applied inspiration is his Torta del Pellegrino, the Pilgrim’s Cake. Reflecting on the first tasters, the hikers of the Via Francigena, he asked himself “what they would have seen along the way: almonds, ricotta, lemons, oranges, honey”. That is what he assembled into the cake. So when, a pilgrim asks him what ingredients he uses, Giuseppe replies: "just close your eyes and try to remember what you saw during your journey".

Jeroen and Lien, the founders of Aspyro, come from Belgium. They founded Aspyro because they saw the burden of oxygen therapy and in particular of the nasal cannula. Not only do people stare at the nasal cannula, it also causes irritation on the ears, leaves red marks on the cheeks and easily slips out of the nose. That's why they came up with the Oxy-glasses. These are glasses especially for oxygen users that allow them to breathe better, despite suffering from a respiratory disease like COPD. With the Oxy-glasses, our ambition is to let oxygen users live happier lives.

Let’s dive into our eco-friendly story. It’s the personal mission of Gaëlle Codron, the founder of Become OFFICIAL, to make eco-friendly shopping an affordable experience, without sacrificing style or convenience. Creating high-quality & stylish eco-friendly apparel and accessories is what drives Become OFFICIAL. They want you to feel comfortable & confident. They want to raise awareness regarding sustainability, in a joyful and cheerful way. That’s why they try to add, whenever possible, a subtle hint to the environmental issues in the designs.

The company delivers products in and around Brussels on electric cargo bikes, shortly after harvesting and straight from our farms to your plate. Fewer traffic jams, faster deliveries and lower CO2 emissions. In short: a short chain promotes a sustainable city.

The company Crowdselling is founded by Lukas Van Orshoven and Nelly Verbestel as an all-in-one fundraising platform for clubs and schools. It can start a ready-made webshop with products from local suppliers. It can boost the revenue with a scoreboard, home delivery, personalised mail and more.

In 2017, after many conversations with pedagogical people, Maryia Hurkova and Steffen Luypaert came up with the idea of the practical language task game "Language Hero" in which a student literally talks to a virtual character and gradually receives feedback on the use of the language he or she learns. That was the kickoff of the development of a unique chatbot platform and unique speech technology, which form the basis of the company. The company does it’s own research and strongly believe in collaboration with universities. They want to use the knowledge that is available as much as possible to make better applications.

Markitect can help organisations to optimize their marketing by making the most of every customer interaction both online & offline throughout their buyer and customer journey(s) as well as by building a solid marketing foundation (strategy, technology, processes and data).

Noman Technics is focused on delivering high-quality disinfection devices, services and solutions to its customers. They offer a complete line of disinfection equipment. They work in close contact with their customers to obtain tailor-made solutions for a clean culture working environment. Creating a healthier working and living environment is their priority!

Your trip, your choice. Poppy is a mobility sharing service in Belgium. Choose from 500 shared cars, 400 e-scooters or 400 kickscooters in Antwerp and Brussels.

In the Sint-Godelievestraat in Kortrijk there was a lemonade and water factory, which first bottled table water and lemonade under the name Sint-Godelieve. Later it was very successful under the name Puck en Puckolo with lemonade and fruit juice. The firm Herman N.V. was started in 1919 in Heule by M. Herman. Production included "Samson lemonade" and iced tea from "The Simpsons". However, this success did not last and the company could no longer compete with the rise of sports drinks, among other things. In 2006 the company was declared bankrupt and in 2011 it was announced that they would tear down the factory. In 2019 bryonist Bram Algoet brings his grandfather's lemonade back to life with Puckolo!

In 2020, 4 passionate entrepreneurs – each broadly experience in their specific field – joined forces. Together they hold 1 straightforward objective: increase safety and efficiency in the industry. Teamwork and partnership are the central pillars in this success story.
A total concept. You might see many small independent drone pilots coming your way, but they are often unable to offer the desired quality level. By carefully training and guiding the Skye pilots in accordance with industrial standards, we can offer our clientele exactly what they need. In addition to inspection, SkyeBase has a separate branch that focuses on innovation. By sharing practical experiences with research partners, new products are developed to help the industry in their desire and need for innovation. Within SkyeBase they have our own staff that engages in software and hardware innovations. Since they are specialised in both innovation and inspection, they are able to work out custom drone inspections along with our customer.

Since he was a child, Panagiotis Passas (32 years old, from Agaliada, rural Greece) was playing in the fields next to his father. He studied economics at the University of Athens, but the lights of the city did not catch him at all. With a degree in hand, he decided to try to make use of his father's land and property. Thus, with methodical and decisive steps, Panagiotis made extended his father's 300 acres into 1,100 acres, investing deeply into product standardization lines. The main product of the family business is watermelon, the production of which reaches 5,500 tons per year, being 100% vertical. Panagiotis, along with his brother, takes care of 200 acres of potatoes with a production of 1,200 tons per year, while reinvesting since 2015 in innovative greenhouses, in which they grow both watermelons and lettuce. The immediate goals of the company are the further increase of the land and its products, along with the construction of more greenhouses, with the aim of increasing their market in the domestic area, but also in those abroad, such as Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. For this reason, the two businessmen, who will soon become three, once the third brother graduates in agronomy, plan meticulously every single investment during every production cycle, with a minimum of 250,000 euros per year.

In western Phthiotis of Central Greece, in the valley of Sperchios River, lies a small village named Ptelea. Both the hometown and the business’s location of the founders. Back in 1970 Konstantinos Stefanis, a carpenter, and his wife Katina, in their many visits to the local forests, quite often came across natural beehives in tree trunks. This was enough to intrigue them to further engage themselves with beekeeping and to have the first beehives on their own. The third of their children, fascinated by beekeeping, stayed in the village and helped his father, especially with the task of carrying the beehives to nearby locations in order to achieve better honey varieties and quality. It was finally in 1980 when the young son started his small beekeeping business. Today, he owns more than 1000 beehives, which he carries throughout the country, all year long. In that, he benefits for the rich and different varieties of honey offered by the landscapes, with authentic flavors and an outstanding variety of colors and scents. As the years passed, a new generation of the family now runs the business and leads the company to the 21st century, respecting the traditional methods in combination with a modern know-how, in order to produce and package the beekeeping products exactly as nature offers them.

Integrate Media is a company from Granada that was founded in 2018 to promote self-employment, creating its own way of personal and professional development based on its training and experience in the world of communication.
Integrate Media offers comprehensive services for the public and private sector, covering all their needs in audiovisual production and traditional photography. As a creative audiovisual agency, it takes another step forward in the sector by betting on innovation through the production and realization of photography and video in 360º, being the 360º Virtual Tour its biggest bet.

Convert Art is the first upcycling company in Greece, manufacturing handmade handbags, jewelry, accessories and other products for the everyday use, made exclusively from used inner tubes, tires, electrical materials and recycled aluminium.
The company moved its first steps in 2012, when the creator Marina Griponisioti found herself in a car garage. There were many fallen tires there, so she thought to experiment with one of them. She borrowed the garage tools and made her first belt. In the same period, she began to process an old portable speaker, the parts of which turned out as a colourful and fantastic jewel.
This was how it started, by collecting inner tubes, tires and electrical equipment. As for now, Convert Art has 60 different types of products and over 400 different designs.
Convert Art products have been exhibited at various exhibitions and markets, often receiving relevant awards, such as: Papastratos StartUp Awards (2017), Athens Safary Start Up (2017), Athens Fashion Trade Show (2016), Modern Creations (2016), The Fashion Room service (2015).

DIOPAS SA is a company specialized in the production of nets. In detail, it produces fish farming nets, fishing nets, nets for sports venues, nets for playgrounds, shading nets and any special construction based on the nets.
In the early ‘60 the nets used cotton yarn, resulting in great inconvenience for the fishermen: they had to wash and dry their nets every day after the fishing session. However, with the invention of nylon, thanks to the Japanese expertise, the fishermen could stop worry about their expensive nets. That was an opportunity for the father of the current owner to introduce in Greece the nylon nets from Japan. After the death of the father in 1982, their children continued selling fishing nets and created a new company which grew significantly over the years. In 1993 the company began manufacturing net cages for fish farming. In 2013 the company expanded its activity by being involved in the construction of protection nets and shading nets. Moreover, the company started to participate in several research programs that are often aimed at promoting sustainable aquaculture in the country. The Company invested in a special software through which it is possible to analyse, design and simulate the behaviour of trawl nets in the sea with the ultimate aim of reducing the consumption of fuel by 20%.

Calpak is a company originally founded in 1976 but nowadays, after a long process of innovation, specialized in the field of renewable energy. Although the headquarters are located in Athens, Calpak’s plants are located in several Greek rural areas. The company has made a major investment in the application of “smart’ processing in the recent years, with the partial introduction of new “smart” technologies which are integrated into the existing infrastructure. For example, the gradual introduction of robotics arms for individual stages of the production process result in the complete automation of the production line (construction, configuration, assembly handling).
The introduction of “smart” manufacturing processing has significantly contributed to the optimisation of the company’s production process, as well as to increasing productivity, reducing workload, improving working conditions, the flexibility of the production process, and even improving the promotion actions of products.

This small company was founded in a rural area of Greece and is currently harnessing quantities of seaweed washed along the coastlines, producing daily products such as mobile cases, boxes, clothing and single rackets. The one and only resource used is seagrass. A new raw material is developed by restoring the natural balance through innovation, promoting the principles of “green” entrepreneurship and upcycling natural resources. This seaweed, Posidonia Oceanica, is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth and is annually washed up in abundance on the Mediterranean shores and is disposed as waste. The company’s goal is to expand the use to more products such as office supplies, agendas, wallets, jewellery and to further promote environmental and social responsibility throughout its value chain.

Anassa, “queen” in ancient Greek, was also the title bestowed upon someone unique, a title of great honor. Anassa Organics selects several Greek products of fine quality, always coming from organic farming, using traditional farming practices with the utmost respect to the land. The business deals with organic products in order to produce mainly teas and infusions which are distributed in Greece and in Europe.
A group of young entrepreneurs had the idea to offer organic herbs to various consumers: their purpose was to ensure product quality at all stages, from proper cultivation of herbs to the final result in the cup. Growing conditions, harvesting methods, and product quality are also taken into meticulous account while granting respect to the environment and to the land.

Fishing has been the lifeblood of many a Greek family for generations. By embracing the values of sustainability, quality and great taste, KONVA’s line of products have been a staple of the country’s seafood diet for almost a century. With its extensive coastline and numerous islands, Greece’s geography has allowed it to support intensive fishing activity for hundreds of years. Located in Kilkis, Northern Greece, KONVA’s factory comprises of a large production unit, storage, packaging and technical facilities, and a quality control division. It is from this location that the company also houses its accounting, procurement, marketing and export departments, while its sales department operates out of its Athens office, which also boasts a second storage unit to provide faster service to customers located in the region.

In 1980, three siblings opened a small factory for plastic components for irrigation systems in the northern rural area of Greece. Years later they began to produce pipes and irrigation fittings, expanding the original business into the industries of water supply, heating and fiber optic cable protection, always aiming at offering customers a complete and customized solution of irrigation, water supply and heating. The technological development and the integration of innovative production methods contribute to PALAPLAST’s green entrepreneurship. Palaplast's productive activity is dedicated to the development of applications for sustainable water use. The company seeks to offer solutions for the conservation, treatment and use of water.

“Little Rocks” is an ecological brand active since 2013 technically based in Athens, Greece, although operating online, both in Greece and in Europe. The eco-brand was founded by Petroula Krigkou, illustrator, thanks to a detailed desire: to create something new and unusual, yet competitive in the local clothing industry, also working around the following keywords: reduce, reuse, recycle. Petroula, along with her sister Mari and their partners Dimitri and Reamonn, founded a renewed and “traditional” family business.

RestaurarMuebles.com' is a web platform created by the company 8W to help a traditional sector, such as furniture restoration, to benefit from new technologies, and at the same time to facilitate the access to this service to potential users to access a quality restorer.
The project, 100% digital focused on new technologies and forms of communication, is navigable from a computer and telephone from which to offer the options of restoration, purchase and sale of antique furniture.
Its creators, Miguel Ángel García and Viviana Muci Torres, two entrepreneurs from Granada, launched it in October 2017 as the reference website where people looking for restoration services can get in touch with furniture restorers. Later, in March 2018, they enabled the option of buying and selling furniture for both users and professionals.

Check-In Scan, founded in Andalucía less than four years ago (2017). It is a mobile application that instantly facilitates, in just 30 seconds, the compliance of hostels for tourist accommodation. Not only hostels could benefit from this app but also hotels, holiday rentals, campsites and cottages.
It sends the traveler's registration automatically to the police and get the "Traveller's Report" signed easily, quickly and securely to meet the legal requirements.
Not only for hotel, hostel, holiday rental but also rural accommodation (far from police station) and campsite.

"Turismo Rural Torrecampo" is a company located in a rural and small town in the province of Cordoba, which offers accommodation services in rural houses such as shared accommodation, complementary food and drink services, celebration of social events (weddings, baptisms, communions, congresses, company meetings, ...) and activities in nature, such as hunting, fishing, trekking, cycling, ecological routes.

The project Agrosecurity responds to the desire to produce and market a safety device for agricultural use, based on a lure that incorporates an element of identification by radio frequency so that, through a corresponding detector/reader, it is possible to identify both the product and the owner of the crop. With the system, and through a software hosted in cloud, it will be possible to collect enough information to detect fruit theft, product identification with traceability analysis utility, accreditation of designations of origin and ease in the control of fruit traceability.

Integreellence develops technical activities that provide solutions to social and environmental problems in accordance with the great challenges we face as a society. The purpose of our startup is to use product engineering and new technologies to design products and services that can become ecological alternatives to existing ones.
The creator of the project is a female 32-year-old entrepreneur who, from Zalamea de la Serena (Extremadura), is carrying out this green and circular economy project.
With her project INTEGREELLENCE she has designed and developed a system that, by separating waste at source, transforms organic waste into high quality compost that she will sell to farmers to fertilise their fields in an ecological way.

An initiative of two young sisters from Castiglia-La Mancia which helps to make livestock activity profitable of beef cattle in the southwest of the Province of Ciudad Real.
They created an online platform and a mobile application (app) that allows farmers to collect and manage data on their livestock and coordinate the various vaccinations imposed by the local Administration. This will help farmers to have more control, be more agile in sending information to vets or cowboys and comply with regulations if an inspection arrives.