Aiming at strengthening and developing the Greek start-up ecosystem, the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation participated in the second National Awards for Young Entrepreneurs in December 2022, awarding the “Social Contribution” Prize to Docandu, an innovative startup in the field of digital health, which combines first-rate traditional medicine with the latest and most user-friendly digital technologies. Through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and telemedical consultation services, the goal of Docandu is to offer digital health services connecting users with reliable medical information, their healthcare data and doctors at any time. Through Greece’s National Start-up Registry, the Greek State now has access to a clear mapping of the innovation ecosystem, being for the first time able to draw policies tailored to the specific needs of the start-up ecosystem. Elevate Greece has now become a substantial tool and point of reference for the targeted support of start-ups and their promotion at national and international level.

• To date, 744 start-ups, employing over 7,260 individuals, have successfully registered with the Start-up Registry.
• The top 5 areas of activity of start-up members of Elevate Greece are Biotechnology, Environment-Energy, Advertising-Marketing, Tourism-Hospitality Services, and Agri-Food.
• The 10 winning start-ups were awarded cash prizes totalling €208,000, as well as services worth more than €200,000.

“The grant given by the Foundation played a significant role in the development of Docandu’s services. It helped us strengthen our position in the digital health sector, allowing us to delve deeper into applied research to improve the services we have developed and offer them to the public free of charge. In particular, we have optimised the Dermacare platform by introducing a more user-friendly process for dermatological screening. Additionally, we are currently developing a pilot version utilising image recognition technology to assist our dermatology team in providing an even safer and more reliable assessment of dermatological issues.”

Dr Petros Pandis
Founder and CEO, Docandu 

“Elevate Greece has come to be an essential tool connecting the different pieces of the ecosystem with the aim of continuously providing further incentives to young scientists and talented entrepreneurs in order to create and become increasingly competitive at international level. The Elevate Greece Start-up Awards are already an established institution aiming to reward start-ups, innovation and creativity in general.”

Christos Dimas
Deputy Minister of Development and Investments