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[ LOCAL NEWS] Greece |
| 1 · Online youth entrepreneurship platform focuses on community building and knowledge sharing |
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In what is considered a first for the Greek public administration, digital information, networking functions, as well as all the required material for anyone currently doing business in Greece or wishing to do so, are being incorporated into the information, networking and collaboration platform 'Startup Greece'.
Startup Greece is aimed at creating a new generation of entrepreneurs in Greece, bringing together people and ideas and changing the country's perception of doing business and entrepreneurship. It combines an online entrepreneurship community with a knowledge and information database specialised in the field of doing business.
Startup Greece targets the following stakeholders: entrepreneurs and young people interested in starting a business; business experts; private investors and business angels; financial organisation executives; public administration officials; executives working for business and/or innovation-related bodies; and interested lay persons. |
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| 2 · Greece becomes the first EU Member State to use Open e-PRIOR |
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The European Commission's Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) presented a workshop at the University of Piraeus (Athens), the outcome of which was the successful set-up of Open e-PRIOR, as a test implementation, on a Linux Server hosted in Piraeus, making Greece the first European Country to use Open e-PRIOR since 8 March 2011.
Open e-PRIOR is the open-source version of the European Commission eProcurement platform e-PRIOR. It was developed by the Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) in the scope of the ISA programme to provide a ready-to-use and production-quality electronic procurement middleware solution to Member States. It allows public authorities to exchange eProcurement documents with their suppliers, using European standards (CEN/ISSS Business Interoperability Interfaces for Public procurement in Europe (CENBII) business profiles and UBL2.0 data model).
In the scope of the PEPPOL (Pan European Public Procurement on Line) initiative, the Greek government mandated the University of Piraeus to set up a common electronic procurement platform for the Greek contracting authorities with the requirement that this platform should be able to connect to the PEPPOL network. In the scope of their mandate, the University of Piraeus contacted DIGIT to receive support for the deployment of Open e-PRIOR. As an open-source platform with an embedded PEPPOL Access Point, Open e-PRIOR was a good candidate to become the future Greek e-procurement platform. |
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| 3 · European Parliamentarians participate in Document Freedom Day 2011 |
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Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and their assistants participated in this year's Document Freedom Day that took place on 30 March 2011 in the Paul-Henri Spaak building of the European Parliament in Brussels, in a general effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards.
Similar Free Document Day events were organised by organisations advocating open standards from EU member states including The Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Greece and Italy. For instance, for students and schools in Spoleto, Italy a series of talks were organised on 2 April 2011 on the importance of using Open Document Format. A speech about Open Document Format and the value of its use in the public sector also took place in the GNU/Linux Lab in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 31 March 2011 while in Portugal several organisations joined forces to organise, on 30 March 2011, a number of talks and presentations, including speakers from Portuguese political parties. |
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| 4 · First migration of a Greek Public Organization to Free Software |
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The Musical Studies Department (MSD) of the Ionian University in Corfu has recently taken the initiative to become the first ever Public Organization and educational institution in Greece that officially embraces Free and Open Source Software in its infrastructure.
The project of migration of the MSD to open software applications was run after a decision of the Department's General Assembly and consists of three levels:
- The use of Free and Open Source applications at the department and the use of Open Document Formats as the official type of documents,
- The migration of the operating system of the department's personal computers to Ubuntu Linux, and
- Educational seminars for the scientific personnel.
The action is taking place with the support of the Association of Greek Users and Friends of Free Software / Open Source Software, which is an Affiliate Organisation of the Free Software Foundation, Europe and Master Affiliate of the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) in Greece.
The Association, known also as Greek Linux User Group, runs a variety of educational activities which include co-operation with academic institutions, schools but also the donation of hardware to non-profit organisations such as orphanages and unions of disabled persons. Founded in 2009, it has successful presence all over Greece and is on the front line of the advocacy for Free Software and Open Standards.
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| 5 · ePrescriptions begins for doctors affiliated with farmer's pension fund |
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2 546 private doctors throughout Greece who collaborate with the state-run Farmer's Pension Fund (OGA) have joined the Electronic Prescription System (Σύστημα Ηλεκτρονικής Συνταγογράφησης - Σ.Η.Σ., in Greek) of the Insurance Organisation of the Self-Employed (OAEE).
As from 21 February 2011, these affiliated doctors have been able to carry out ePrescriptions for insured members of OGA.
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| 6 · The fourth phase of Labs.OpenGov focused on improving public eServices |
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The fourth phase of Labs.OpenGov.gr aims to improve and continue to develop existing electronic public services (eServices). Proposals emphasizing health, social insurance and financial transactions have been submitted.
The current phase involves stakeholders, citizens, senior officials and professionals from the ICT industry. Stakeholders can present a roadmap for improving existing eServices, while citizens can suggest ways to upgrade and improve the services they use. ICT professionals can put forward ways of exploiting existing infrastructure so as to provide enhanced services in the future.
The scientific committee will select proposals that merit the most consideration and present them at an open event. The services that are being recommended for enhancement involve the General Secretariat of Information Systems (GSIS), the Social Security Organisation (IKA), the Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED), the eGovernment Centre for Social Security (IDIKA) and electronic urban planning.
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