The first step toward the redevelopment of the disused XRO.PEI industrial plant to create the first Greek “Innovation Polity” – or innovation hub – was taken on Wednesday in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, ANA reports.
“All major capitals have a similar innovation hub and space here lends itself for this, both due to its history and due to its geography and due to its position. I believe that in some years when we compare what there was and what is going to be created, we will have every reason to be satisfied that we pressed ahead so quickly with this flagship effort in the area of innovation, which is essentially the bridge that our country must cross in order to conquer the future,” Mitsotakis noted.
The fact that this space in the heart of Athens had remained essentially abandoned for the past 40 years was a reflection of the Greek state’s inability to manage its property assets, he added and congratulated the development ministry and especially the deputy minister and general secretary for the speed in getting the project underway.
The process began on Wednesday with the publication of the first volume of the tender and the start of the procedure to select a contractor, for the conversion of the old plant via a Public and Private-Sector Partnership (PPP) into a space that will house research centres and start-ups, enabling an “unobstructed osmosis” of ideas between science and innovative firms.
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