Drug n Drop with smart drug waste management system wins ‘JA StartUp 2022’ student competition

In an event full of inspiration and original ideas, the prizes of the Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition “JA StartUp 2022” were awarded for the 8th consecutive year, on Friday, June 3, at the “Hellenic World” Cultural Center.

All the student groups that reached the grand final were inspired by their ideas, which give answers and suggestions for solutions to key social issues of our time. The competitive part of the event was opened with a speech to the teams by Mrs. Sofia Kounenaki Efraimoglou, President of the National Chamber Network of Greek Women Entrepreneurs, Vice President of the Foundation for the Hellenic World and First Vice President of EVEA.

The first prize was won by the “Drug and Drop” team from the Department of Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of Economics and Business and the Department of Pharmacy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Alexia Vasilaki and brothers Nikolas and Giannis Spyrellis with responsible teacher Stavros Lounis created a smart system of pharmaceutical waste management with the aim of optimizing the route from the pharmaceutical industry to the consumer, so that no drugs are produced. The award to “DrugnDrop” was presented by the Deputy Minister of Education & Religions, Angelos Syrigos, while congratulating all the teams that took part in the competition. Mr. Syrigos stressed that the evolution of technology has catalytically changed the data in the acquisition of knowledge, stating that “I do not think that such a group would lag behind other groups abroad.” The 1st prize was awarded to the Vice President of JAGreece, CEO of Citi Greece, Malta and Cyprus Emilios Kyriakou who was also the chairman of the jury.

The winning team will represent Greece in the Student Competition of the Pan-European Festival of Youth Entrepreneurship Gen-E 2022 of JA Europe in Tallinn, Estonia on July 12-14. The preparation of the team for this important event has been undertaken by EY Greece.

The second prize was awarded to the “3Deal” team by the Department of Business Administration of the University of the Aegean, which created a marketplace with the aim of bridging the creators of 3D products with everyday customers, with the aim of making 3D more understandable and accessible to consumers. Team members: Irini Hiona, Marsinda Gozina, Myrsini Hadjikonstantinou. Responsible teacher: Ioannis Kinias. The 2nd prize was awarded by the CEO and Co-Founder of Ferryhopper Christos Spatharakis together with the CEO of the Hellenic Foundation Dimitris Efraimoglou.

The third prize was won by the “Bruise Down” team from the Department of Architectural Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, with an application dedicated to dealing with incidents of domestic and gender-based violence. Team members: Erikaiti Kounalaki, Paraskevi Zarbouti, Eleftheria Papadosifou. Volunteer / Consultant: Myron Flouris, Associate Director Business Development EY Greece. The 3rd prize was awarded by Rania Vlachou, CEO of the student startup “Swim.me” who won the “gold medal” in 2021 in the Pan-European Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition JA. It was the first Greek team that managed to win the first place in the history of Junior Achievement Greece.

The jury of “JA StartUp 2022” consisted of: Emilios Kyriakou, Vice President JA Greece – Citi Country Officer – Greece, Cyprus, Malta – Charalambos Kazantzidis, Managing Director of Manpower Group Greece, Leonidas Kanellopoulos, Member of the Board JA Greece -Chief Sustainability Officer TITAN CEMENT Group, Georgios Mitropoulos Head of Business Development Greece & southeast Europe EY Hellas and Ioannis Sotiropoulos, member of the Board JA Greece, Regional Director West Balkans & Caucasus Chipita Global.

Transferring his experience as a judge, Mr. Charalambos Kazantzidis, pointed out that “the vast majority” of women who participated, but also who emerged in the top positions, added that “this competition teaches you to work as a team, to overcome difficulties that you face, inspires you to innovate and create your own ideas “.

In order to provide further inspiration to the children, the event invited Christos Spatharakis, CEO & co-founder of Ferryhopper, a company that leads in the online ferry ticket market, to speak to the students. “We took some steps in the beginning as goals, we said that we will bring the Greek market on board, I think we are in a good place in this. The second goal was to expand to countries outside Greece, which day by day in Italy and Spain this is finally becoming a benchmark for coastal shipping at a pan-European level.This route, which is obviously a zigzag line, but has points where one can identify the next steps, was important to us because we were looking at each point how the long-term goal is connected with our daily work “noted Mr. Spatharakis as advice based on the experience of his company.

The head of the student program / competition “JA StartUp” of Junior Achievement Greece Ioanna Kyprioti said she was impressed by the business ideas and the ethos of the students, while warmly thanking the team of JA Greece and especially the Digital Marketing Specialist George Stefa Communications Specialist Fotini Kokkinaki for their substantial contribution to the success of the competition and the awards ceremony.

Many congratulations to the 10 teams that competed in the National Final and especially to the three that excelled in the first places!