Tech Talks Central

Dr Athanassios Ganas is the Research Director for Active Tectonics, GPS, Geological Remote Sensing at the Institute of Geodynamics of the National Observatory of Athens. His research is focused on earthquakes and in understanding patterns and behaviour of earth’s cluster based on recording signals from satellites.They have also developed an open-data web platform called GSAC where someone can access geological data from Greece and other countries in the nearby region. He also shares some surprising outcomes and discoveries of their research not only in Greece (Lefkada) but also from the US (California), Chile and Italy. Based on GNSS technology and real-time data, Dr Ganas and his research team are able to estimate accurately an earthquake’s magnitude (in just 2 minutes) and run predictive models for location and time of tsunami attacks. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Dimitrios Niarchos, Director of Research at NCSR Demokritos, talks about his specialty - magnetic materials; a multibillion dollar industry with a very bright future and the effort to get to new materials with better properties, that open the way for new markets in the coming Age of Magnetic Materials. Dr Niarchos tells us that his lab in NCSR produces innovative and novel materials like permanent magnets containing less or no rare (and expensive) earths, and has already several breakthroughs to be proud of. They are also working on recording media, passing -in a short of mini revolution- from 2D to 3D recording and, finally, they are putting a lot of research on transformers for mobile devices, having already increased their efficiency to over 95% meaning a longer life for batteries and many benefits for the environment. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Natalia Manola, Assoc. Researcher at Athens University and Athena Research Centre, guides us through the initiatives taken in the EU on open access for data, open source and facility sharing, that aim to ameliorate collaboration among scientists and researchers around the world, in spite of many and different faces of diversity. This initiative, through the Open Air e-infrastructure and other steps (including the implementation of a European open science cloud) funded by major European countries, is closely linked to innovation and it also offers much needed reach to industry and the public. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Alceste Bonanos, a passionate astronomer and Assoc. Researcher at the National Observatory of Athens talks about two very interesting research projects realised by her team: the goal of the first one is to identify over a period of three years all variable stars ever observed by Hubble telescope and make a catalog of them; while the second (which is called Neliota and it is actually an ESA activity taking place at NOA) has to do with the observation and detection of the impacts of really small (with a mass less than 10 grams) objects (eg. debris, meteorites, comets etc.) hitting the surface of the Moon. For the implementation of this project, a rather outdated 1,2 m. telescope near Kiato, Greece, was recently upgraded and special instruments had to be developed. This project -only the 3rd of its kind in the world- will last until Nov ‘18. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Dimitris Gavrilis, Senior Researcher at the Digital Curation Unit of the Institute of Information Systems at the Athena Research Centre, talks about digital libraries which is the design and development of knowledge management systems mostly for the humanities. Mopseus, their digital library software tool, which stores text, images, audio files etc. uses complex models with metadata to present information in a much smarter and useful way. Their MORe aggregator, is a flexible metadata aggregator that provides fast curation and enrichment services, like showing coordinates for a specific address or finding links to create semantic relations, amongst other things. The repository is constantly curated through automatic live services that run behind the scenes checking for data degradation, missing links, affiliations and other information. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Konstantinos Giannakopoulos is a Research Officer of the Laboratory of Electromicroscopy and Nanomaterials at the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”. He talks about how technology is now developing, by what he and his peers are doing at the nano and atom scale, where they manipulate matter. Using the information about the composition and properties of materials he says is what has lead to the advanced materials behind everyday things we all enjoy. The technology behind your microphone, your screen, the processors and other elements that interconnect devices, so that we can take and see pretty pictures on a variety of devices, talk to each other remotely or seamlessly, watch a movie, is all the result of working and changing materials at the smallest level. Konstantinos talks about their EU funded project www.materialsfuture.eu where information on materials is available for free in 23 languages as well as, short films, educational games, lesson plans for schools and other cool stuff. Intervi

Drakoulis Yannoukakos, Director of Research at NCSR “Demokritos” and Director of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, talks about hereditary ovarian and breast cancer. Their research involves hereditary factors that lead to cancer in very young women, between the ages of 30-35 and even younger. By analysing the family genome they’re trying to discover the molecular mutations that are responsible for the early onset of cancer, which although it could be blamed on environmental issues is not that often a cause in so young ages. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Ioannis Raptis, Senior Researcher at NCSR “Demokritos”, discusses food safety. He starts out by mentioning several dangerous food scandals like the horse meat in over 10M burgers, the 3K patients fallen sick by e-coli in food, and the tainted baby milk in China. He continues by pointing out the disadvantages of the time consuming methodology used now to analyse food in the lab. The Food Sniffer (www.foodsniffer.eu), developed by his team as a prototype, consists of the sensing chip, the analysis reader and a computer which could mean a tablet or mobile. It’s advantages are it’s very small and can run with a single battery making it easy to use for analysis in the field. After producing the prototype they’re now planning to include the detection of more pathogens and even more miniaturization to make it even more portable. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Sakis Triantafyllakis interviews Dr. Elena Dascalaki, senior researcher at the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development of the National Observatory of Athens on the energy performance and environmental footprint of buildings. Dr. Dascalaki talks about her work at the Energy Conservation Group of the Institute where they study the behavior and energy performance of buildings, the challenges and the importance not only of developing new zero energy structures but also upgrading existing older buildings to have close to zero energy performance, a feat that is substantial especially considering the large amount of old structures all around Europe. Dr. Dascalaki tells us they were instrumental in helping develop the regulations for energy performance of buildings and says they are working on new strategies to upgrade and refurbish old buildings in Greece and Europe to meet the EU mandate that all residential buildings will have to be built or upgraded to be zero or near zero energy, relying

Evangelia Diapouli, Postdoc Researcher in the institute of Nuclear Technology & Radiation Protection at NCSR "Demokritos", talks about their international environmental project which involves linking research discoveries with decision makers ie. state authorities. Their ‘EU Life Program’ funded project offers quantitative assessment for air pollutants, helping officials make informed decisions when it comes to effectively controlling emissions. The team is now continuing their work by researching how these specific concentrations of air pollutants are affecting our lives outdoors and indoors, every day. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

We had the pleasure to interview Dr. Athanasios Dimoulas in the past and it seems that this interview is as interesting as the previous one. Athanasios Dimoulas is the head of Epitaxy and the Surface Science Laboratory at NCSR “Demokritos” and he gives us an update with the latest developments of new novel materials in nanoelectronics. The explosion of big data and IoT has resulted in a great need for energy efficient smart devices. Dr Dimoulas shares some of the problems and insights with their research on these hard to develop materials like graphene, Weyl fermions and others. He then reveals how crystals could simulate a “particle accelerator” and test some of the fundamental principles and assumptions in high energy, elementary particle physics and cosmology. This could result in discovering new interesting properties and being able to integrate them faster in electronic devices, capacitors and transistors, in the hope of impacting emerging Quantum Technologies. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Te

Combining elements from Internet of Things and social media, the Greek startup company Bioassist offers services that will bring mobile health in the life of every elderly and chronic patient who desires to live independently. Petrina Smirli, the CEO of Bioassist and her team of five, talks about their mobile app called “Πάντα μαζί” (in Greek) or “Heart around” (in English). It bundles homecare and services with social networking, using easy, secure and user-friendly technology. All that is needed, is just an internet connection and a tablet - the app helps the users stay in touch with loved ones while, at the same time, offers real time monitoring of their vital signs and 24/7 support from a dedicated Help Desk; SOS button included. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Humane is a Greek social enterprise, a network empowering people with chronic diseases and disabilities; they believe in these people’s abilities, potentials for work and their power to change society by being an active participant. Ariadne Kosmadaki, herself a pharmacist and a member of the Humane team of ten, describes how they’re developing “reaction products” like T-shirts with messages on them in support of patients with different disabilities and diseases. Their motto is think - care - empower and their goal is to launch a multi-platform for all needs, sell their Humane products in special boutiques in Athens and then expand in different regions, within the EU. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Insybio (from Intelligent Systems Biology) is a bioinformatics company focusing on biomarker discovery while their main product is a software platform to analyze biological data. Christos Alexakos, COO of Insybio, explains that -with the aid of their platform- they research the cause of diseases, not the results, and that’s the first step towards personalised medicine. Meaning, that if we find the right biomarker, we can make drugs adapted to each organism or therapies best suited for each case and the biology of each person. The same platform may be also used for nutrition issues and Insybio has already started a project with international giant Nestle trying to discover biomarkers that can be used to produce nutrition products for personalized diets. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Bloode is a social enterprise aiming to change the perception we have for blood donors in Greece (and not only…), where less than 1% of the population are blood donors. As a consequence, donations cover only half of the blood units needed every year. So, a group of friends created a few years ago a platform matching people in need of blood with donors. Alex Sotiropoulos, a member of the Bloode team, describes what they have done up to now, the actions they have taken and -more specifically- how they try to educate young people and their teachers, so they will become volunteers. He also tells us about the awards they have won and their effort to “export” their solution internationally, as more than 40 countries all over the world face the same problem. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Anni Pakarinen, project researcher at the University of Turku and coordinator of the WellWe project, explains how their platform promotes a family’s healthy nutrition choices, physical activity and wellbeing, utilising available resources in their everyday life. She talks about how the platform takes into consideration the research outcomes they collected from pre-school kids, their families and healthcare professionals from children's centres and health clinics. Their approach includes gamification elements which could potentially make healthy development choices much easier for professionals working in health or social services and children's’ support centres. Last, Anni reveals the next steps and how they are thinking of broadening the scope of the project. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Mobiltron is developing an app called WOVER that uses Artificial Intelligence algorithms and your smartphone sensors to better understand your activities, predict or detect if you are in danger. It all started when a good friend of Stavros lost his life. It motivated Stavros Schizas, CTO & Co-Founder of Mobiltron, to find a solution to prevent such incidents from happening. Stavros explains how their private beta app works, how they fine tune their algorithms and how they transform all the data into insights. He also analyses their business strategy, how they will try to scale their service to more users and which monetisation business models are being explored at the moment. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Everyone has come across the need to get a second or third medical opinion, from a top doctor abroad, only to find it comes at a high cost and it’s difficult to find the right lead. Sorin Dragomir, CEO of Healthcare Software Alliance, explains how Webhippocrates connects patients with top doctors from all over the world on a reasonable fee. He goes on to talk about the story behind the platform and why he personally experienced the need for such a solution. Webhippocrates is in private beta and has already been involved in 40 serious cases in Romania. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Medicine waste is a big issue worldwide. Only in Greece, over 14 tons of medicinal drugs are thrown away while more than 2 million people live under the poverty line. Teti Psarrou, Head of Marketing at GIVMED explains how they’ve managed to create a community of users who donate their redundant medicines to those who need them, but can’t purchase them. They have partnered with several organisations and NGOs in order to make the matchmaking process more efficient. What is remarkable is that the community within the last 4 months has donated drugs valued at 10.000 euros. They are already looking to expand their network outside of Athens and other countries. GIVMED was recently awarded the 2016 judges’ Social Impact Award. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.

Thanos Stavropoulos, CEO & Co-Founder at Carealia, a spinoff of Dem@Care, a FP7 European funded project. Thanos explains how they worked together with IBM, Philips and several European clinics to build a smart home monitoring system to assist in the care of dementia. Interconnected devices such as retail wearables, ambient sensors and security solutions installed in a smart home, are combined with intelligent algorithms and clinical knowledge to produce insights and support doctors to assess efficiently and remotely patients’ symptoms and behavioural patterns. They are actively looking for early adopters and customers to deploy their smart monitoring system thus they are focusing on nursing homes. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central during the eHealth Forum Festival in Technopolis, October 2016.