EURECA-PRO

I&E 101: Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship 2025

Online course
Technical University of Crete, Greece | 19.01. – 22.02.2026

19 Jan, 2026

Get a hands-on intro to Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E)! In the I&E 101: Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship course, inspiring lecturers share their own startup stories on what sparked their ideas, what went right (and wrong), and what they learned along the way. You’ll connect with fellow students and entrepreneurs across EURECA-PRO and beyond, exchange ideas, and explore real I&E opportunities tied to big challenges like Clean Energy, Industry 4.0, Sustainable Health, the Circular Economy, and building a Sustainable & Just Society.

You’ll learn how to turn your own ideas into action, build practical skills, and discover ways to collaborate with industry partners to create real-world impact.

Free online course

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Winter Semester 2025 | 19.01. – 22.02.2026
Language: English

Registration deadlines:

  • ECTS and Certificate of Completion: Thursday, January 15th, 2026
  • Certificate of Attendance: Friday, January 23rd, 2026
  • Registration will remain open until the end of the course (i.e., Friday 20th, 2026), for participants interested in learning from the course material (i.e., lecture recordings) at their own pace. 

Course Syllabus: download file.
Instructors, Topics and Meetings: download file.
Schedule: download file.

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From Classroom to Startup: Voices of Innovation

Eleni Chatzi, Ph.D.

Full Professor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
ENHANCE European University Alliance
Read Bio

Panagiotis Martakis, Ph.D.

Founder and CEO - irmos technologies
Read Bio

Kyriakos Chondrogiannis, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & CEO - Builtstop

Introduction to Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship

Tuesday, January 20th, 11:00-12:00 (CET)

Leonidas Alexopoulos, Ph.D.

Professor
School of Mechanical Engineering,
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
EULiST European University Alliance
Read Bio

Translating Science into Solutions: The Entrepreneurial Path from Academia to the Clinic

Tuesday, January 27th, 15:00 - 16:00 (CET)

Panagiotis Partsinevelos, Ph.D.

Professor
School of Mineral Resources Engineering,
Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece<
EURECA-PRO European University Alliance
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Business Models for Sustainability

Wednesday, February 4th, 15:00-16:00 (CET)

Iordanis Kalaitzoglou, Ph.D.

Professor
Audencia Business School, Nantes, France
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Financing Green Ventures

TBD (9-13.02.2026)

George Arampatzis, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
School of Production Engineering and Management,
Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
EURECA-PRO European University Alliance
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The Future of Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship

Monday, February 16th, 15:00-16:00 (CET)

Honest Entrepreneur Testimonials

lianna Vrouvaki

Aura Kritis
Read Bio

Konstantinos Vassakis

Bizrupt
Read Bio

Konrad Tudyka

MiDOSE Solutions
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The topics covered in the I&E 101 Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship course include:    

  1. Week 1: Introduction to Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship 
  2. Week 2: Frameworks and Tools for Sustainable Innovation
  3. Week 3: Business Models for Sustainability
  4. Week 4: Financing and Managing Green Ventures  
  5. Week 5: The Future of Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship; Assignment due; Final Exam due
  6. Testimonials: From Idea to Company – personal experiences and testimonials by Innovators and Entrepreneurs on building a company

*Lectures (1–5) will be delivered synchronously via Zoom, while the I&E expert testimonials (6) will be available asynchronously in Moodle for self-paced access.

Workload: 25 hours total for the course (6 hours online synchronous lectures and asynchronous testimonials; 8 hours assignment work, including the 2-hour Final Exam; 11 hours individual study and homework)

Course Assignment: Critically compare the perspectives and insights of two expert entrepreneurs, based on their testimonials provided. The Assignment is due on Wednesday, February 18th, 2026.

Online Final Exam: The two-hour, multiple choice Final Exam will be accessible between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (CEST) on Friday, February 20th, 2026, either 11:00-13:00 CET OR 17:00-19:00 CET (choose one timeslot).

Why Attend?

REGISTER here!

Requirements for credit (Award & ECTS):

  1. To earn 1 ECTS (ECTS for EURECA-PRO students only) and the Certificate of Completion it is required to fulfil the following criteria:
    • ≥ 70% cumulative attendance in all five (5) synchronous lectures (50% of class grade)
    • ≥ 70% on the synchronous Final Exam (20% of class grade)
    • ≥ 70% in assignment (30% of class grade)
  2. Certificate of Attendance will be awarded to all participants with ≥ 70% cumulative attendance in all five (5) synchronous lectures. 
REGISTER here!
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Eleni Chatzi

Full Professor,
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
ENHANCE European University Alliance

Eleni Chatzi is currently a Full Professor, and the Chair of Structural Mechanics and Monitoring, at the Institute of Structural Engineering, of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (DBAUG), ETH Zürich. She has obtained her diploma (2004) and MSc (2006) in Civil Engineering, with honors, from the Department of Civil Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In June 2010 she obtained her PhD Degree with distinction from the Department of Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University. In 2010 she was hired as the youngest Assistant Professor in ETH. She was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2017 and to a Full Professor in 2024. She serves as current President of the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE) and the Chair of the Swiss Community for Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (SWICCOMAS).

Prof. Chatzi’s research couples novel simulation tools with state-of the-art monitoring methodologies for intelligent and data-driven assessment and diagnostics of engineered systems, with the goal of providing actionable tools able to guide operators and engineers in the management of their assets. A key aspect of her research lies in extraction of quantifiable metrics that are indicative of structural performance across the component, system and network levels. Her expertise lies in the area of Structural Health Monitoring, with a strong focus on problems lying beyond the commonly adopted assumption of linear time invariant systems. Her research spans a broad range of topics, including applications on emerging sensor technologies and structural control, methods for curbing uncertainties in structural diagnostics and life-cycle assessment, as well as advanced schemes for nonlinear/nonstationary dynamics simulations.

Prof. Chatzi serves as editor for numerous peer-reviewed international journals with particular focus on system identification methods and topics relating to SHM. From 2016-2023 she coordinated the joint ETH Zürich & University of Zurich PhD Programme in Computational Science. Since 2022, she has been engaged in teaching in the joint Masters Program between ETH Zurich and Ashesi University in Ghana, where she contributes with lectures in the domain of Dynamics. Her work in the domain of self-aware infrastructure was recognized with a 2015 ERC Starting Grant award, with the 2020 Walter L. Huber Research prize, awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). She is further recipient of the 2020 EASD Junior Research Prize in the area of Computational Structural Dynamics, awarded by the European Association of Structural Dynamics (EASD), the 2023 J.M. Ko Award for excellence in Structural Engineering, and the recipient of the 2024 SHM Person of the Year award, selected by the editors of Structural Health Monitoring: An International Journal.

Panagiotis Martakis

Founder and CEO - irmos technologies

Dr. Panagiotis Martakis is the Founder and CEO of irmos technologies, a cutting-edge spin-off from ETH Zurich. His company is dedicated to extending the safe operational life of aging infrastructure through advanced algorithms and cost-effective sensors. Irmos technologies counts 15 employees, experts in hardware software and structural engineering and serve clients in Switzerland, Germany, Greece and the US.

Panagiotis earned his PhD at ETH Zurich, specializing in AI-driven structural assessment for existing buildings and bridges. He has authored over 30 scientific publications in this field, presented at numerous international conferences, and has been invited as an expert lecturer at leading academic institutions such as ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne, and UPC Barcelona.  

Panagiotis is an active member of multiple engineering associations and has received numerous scholarships and awards, including the Telford Premium Prize from the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, the Onassis Foundation Scholarship, the BRIDGE PoC SNF grant, and third place in the 1st Global Competition on Structural Health Monitoring, among others.

Leonidas Alexopoulos, Ph.D.

Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering,
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
EULiST European University Alliance

Dr. Leonidas Alexopoulos is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and co-founder of Protavio, a biotechnology company specializing in multiplex proteomics and the development of advanced in-vitro diagnostic solutions. His work lies at the intersection of systems biology, biomedical data science, and translational innovation, aiming to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and clinical impact. He received his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2004. He subsequently completed postdoctoral research in Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and in Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2008, he returned to Greece as a faculty member in NTUA’s School of Mechanical Engineering, where he currently directs the Biomedical Systems Laboratory (BioSys Lab). His research has been supported by numerous national and European grants. 

Dr. Alexopoulos is strongly engaged in innovation, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship. He is a founding member of the MIT Enterprise Forum (Greek chapter), advisor to several startups and innovation programs, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Bioclusters. He also serves on the Sectoral Scientific Council of Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property (TES/ESETEK), contributing to national policy for spin-off creation and development. At NTUA, he teaches in the graduate program “Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine,” where he has introduced courses on biotechnology entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation. Through his combined academic, scientific, and entrepreneurial experience, Dr. Alexopoulos remains committed to advancing biomedical research toward real-world clinical and societal benefit.

Panagiotis Partsinevelos, Ph.D.

Professor, School of Mineral Resources Engineering,
Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
EURECA-PRO European University Alliance

Dr. Partsinevelos is a Professor in the areas of Space Informatics including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Satellite Remote Sensing and Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAVs) in the Technical University of Crete. 

He received his PhD in Spatial Information Science & Engineering from the University of Maine, part of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) of USA and in a NASA sponsored center of excellence Remote Sensing Laboratory. He holds a Dipl. Eng. degree in Surveying Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and has worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Academic and Research Computer Technology Institute in Greece and as a GIS expert in the public sector.

Besides his scientific publications, editorial positions and research projects as a coordinator, Dr. Partsinevelos has contributed significantly to the fields of innovation and technology transfer. Notably, he has served as the national representative of the Galileo and Copernicus Masters competitions in the realm of space innovation. Dr. Partsinevelos directs the Space Informatics Research Team, SenseLab, comprising of more than 30 multi-disciplinary researchers.

Iordanis Kalaitzoglou, Ph.D.

Professor,
Audencia Business School, Nantes, France

Dr Iordanis Kalaitzoglou is currently a Professor in Finance at Audencia Business School, as well as a visiting Professor in Finance in SOAS University of London and University of Wolverhampton. His research focuses on Market Microstructure and Energy Finance and he has published in international journals and he is also an active member of the European Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre and of the Hellenic Association of Energy Economics (a member of the International Association of Energy Economics).

He is also (co-)supervising 5 PhD candidates on Intraday Risk, Behavioral Finance, Energy markets and International Energy Relations.

George Arampatzis, Ph.D.

Associate Professor,
School of Production Engineering and Management,
Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
EURECA-PRO European University Alliance

George Arampatxis is an Associate Professor at the School of Production Engineering and Management (PEM) of the Technical University of Crete (TUC), teaching “Rational Energy Management in Production Systems”, “Heat Transfer” and “Fluid Mechanics”. He received his Diploma in Chemical Engineering in 1991 and his PhD in 2000 from the National Technical University of Athens. His interests focus on the Green, Digital and Social Transition of key community systems and his research framework is structured around four pillars, which are drivers of sustainable and resilient development: Circular Economy, Process Engineering, Energy and Environmental Systems Management and Intelligent Digital Technologies. He is the founder and scientific coordinator of the Digital and Industrial Innovations Research Group (indigo) of the Technical University of Crete, involving more than 20 researchers (faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates and students). 

He is the founder, representative and General Manager of the spin-off company Viridiance Insights. He is a founding member and Coordinator of the “In-Crete” Innovation Alliance, bringing together all academic/research institutions of Crete and private enterprises, with the aim of promoting circular economy actions in Crete. He is the founder and the mentor of the “InnoGo” Student Group, which consists of ten students and is active at the Technical University of Crete. The group participates in national and European competitions with significant distinctions. He is Principal Investigator of 17 Research Projects, mainly funded by the European Commission, with a total budget for the indigo group of €6.4 million to date. Of these, he is Coordinator of 3 projects and Technical and Scientific Manager of 2 projects. 

His research activities to date have resulted in 62 publications in peer-reviewed international journals (39 in the last 5 years), 97 papers in scientific conference proceedings (58 in the last 5 years), 6 educational books (2 in the last 5 years) and 5 chapters in edited volumes (2 in the last 5 years). His published work has received 2380 citations (1611 in the last 5 years) with h-index 22 (18 in the last 5 years) and i10-index 44 (35 in the last 5 years) (Google Scholar 20/07/2025). He is a member and active participant in several European networks, such as ICT4Water, BRIDGE, CCRI, ECOSYSTEX and SUSAN. He is responsible for the Lighthouse Mission Process Automation and Industry 4.0 of EURECA-PRO (a partnership of 7 European Universities for responsible consumption and production). 

lianna Vrouvaki

Aura Kritis

Ilianna Vrouvaki is the Founder and Principal Scientist of Aura Kritis, a natural cosmetics company driven by scientific integrity, Cretan botanicals, and a commitment to supporting people in achieving healthy, radiant skin. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Crete, where she graduated top of her class, and a Master’s degree in Industrial Pharmacy – Cosmetic Technology from the University of Patras. With a background that combines academic research, cosmetic formulation expertise, and hands-on industry experience, Ilianna established Aura Kritis in 2020. She has since been officially appointed by the Greek National Organization for Medicines as the Principal Scientist responsible for supervising all cosmetic manufacturing processes. 

Her work has been recognized with multiple distinctions, including two awards at the Aesthetic Awards 2025 for product efficacy and natural formulation, as well as a Gold Award at the Best in Pharmacy Awards 2025 for Best Research & Development for the company’s innovative Vitamin C serum. At the heart of Aura Kritis lies a clear vision: to create high-quality natural cosmetics that harness the power of organic olive oil and the unique flora of Crete, while genuinely helping people succeed in their skincare goals. Ilianna continues to lead the company with a strong focus on scientific excellence, sustainability, and the promotion of natural beauty.

Konstantinos Vassakis

Bizrupt

Dr. Konstantinos Vassakis is the Co-founder of Bizrupt, an initiative dedicated to cultivating an innovative and entrepreneurial culture in Crete, with a strong focus on youth entrepreneurship and sustainable development. 

Through Bizrupt, he contributes to community-building efforts, supports early-stage teams, and promotes activities that strengthen the local innovation ecosystem. He is also an Assistant Professor in Business Strategy and Innovation at the Department of Management Science and Technology of the Hellenic Mediterranean University (HMU). His academic work centers on innovation management, entrepreneurship, and data-informed strategic decision-making.