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IQTaxi specializes in taxi software development in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and has already entered the US market.

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The roots of IQTaxi are located in another company in Thessaloniki, Compucon SA, which had previously undertaken the creation of taxi computing systems.

‘‘Considering that at some point the Compucon system was considered technologically obsolete, I was invited to modernize the specific system. In the meanwhile, Compucon changed its business activities, and so the department that was carrying out the taxi project withdrew from the company. This is how IQSystems was created, which was later renamed IQTaxi, and officially launched as of November 2014’’, says the head of business operations, KeramarisVassilios, at Voria.gr.

 

Founding members

Its founders are a team of technology specialists, VassilisKeramaris, the director of IQTaxi, Christos Iakovidis, the head of the company’s programmers, and Vassilis Karkabounas, the chief technology officer.

Its core is in Thessaloniki, where its management team and developers, consisted of 8 people in total, are based; the city that has been trying in recent years through the Alexander Innovation Zone to become the innovation centre of the country and the wider region. In Thessaloniki it cooperates with the Taxiway radio taxi company, which is also its most important customer with 1,100 cooperating vehicles. In Attica it collaborates with the taxi management companies, Kosmos, Taxiplon, Enotita, Parthenon, Ikaros, Ermis, Europe, GetNowTaxi, Capital. In the rest of Greece, IQTaxi currently operates in various cities, such as Komotini, Xanthi, Kavala, Volos, Larissa, Trikala, Karditsa, Corfu, Lefkada, Chalkida, Kalamata, Rethymno as well as radio taxis in Athens. It has moreover implemented through the 18300 system a Panhellenic taxi service programme, which is available in 27 cities, in cooperation with Taxiway and Kosmos.

 

How does it work

Its role is to supply the operating system to vehicle fleet management companies, such as radio taxi companies. It has created a platform, which is installed on the user’s computer, who receives calls from customers who order a taxi. Through the platform, it has the ability to watch via live stream the position of each car of the fleet in the geographical region covered by the taxi company. The IQTaxi operating system registers all incoming calls and automatically bids by selecting the driver that is most readily available to serve the customer.

In addition, it provides the option to call a taxi for the customers of a radio taxi company, through programmes for smart phones and web applications in the form of white label, i.e., they are applications, each of which carries the name of the IQTaxi customer.

As the company manager in Europe, Mr. Christakopoulos, explains, IQTaxi offers its software to taxi companies in the form of white label. ‘‘What we do is to create applications, each of which carries the name of our customer who orders it’’.

 

Presence in USA – Saudi Arabia – Next target Asia and the Balkans

IQTaxi specialises in taxi software development not only in Greece, but also in Cyprus and Bulgaria, and is also active in the United States. It already supports two companies in Bulgaria and another 15 in the USA, most of them based in New York, Connecticut and New Orleans. It has also created a project for the market of Saudi Arabia.

According to Mr. Keramaris, the company’s goal is to further grow in the USA and the Balkans and to expand to the market of Asia.

To the question of potential entry barriers in the US market, the IQTaxi manager replies that the most important difficulty encountered by the company is related to finding funding. ‘‘However, we have managed to cover the amount required to invest in the USA, through the European programme, JEREMIE, the Odyssey Venture Partners company with its head office in Silicon Valley, which funded us. The amount we received in this case amounted to $750,000. At the same time, we are preparing for our future participation in some European research programmes.’’

At the moment, all three New York taxi companies, UTOG, Athena and Olympic, that belong to expatriates, use the IQTaxi platform and programmes.

‘‘We pay particular attention to the United States’’, adds Mr. Keramaris. ‘‘We have already begun setting up a programme, which supports private companies that administer ambulances. This particular project is currently serving 200 ambulances’’.

 

Collaboration with Athena Vision with prospects for expansion in other states as well

‘‘Moreover, we have completed a new programme, which is to be launched immediately from August in New York. It is about the TaxiOS, which we created for the Athena Vision company through the acquisition, on their behalf, of Flywheel company, which will initially operate in the state with 2,000 yellow taxis, and will be extended to other US states. The programme is about the modernisation of taximeter and payment operation inside the taxi. Everything will be done electronically as the taximeter will be digital via tablet. Thus, the customer will be able to pay either by card or through other means of electronic payment. In addition, there will be an application via tablet at the back seat of the passengers, through which the passenger will be informed about the progress of his journey as well as about some points of interest during the journey, such as the available shops’’, Mr. Christakopoulos explains.

 

At the TIF with the honoured country USA

In autumn, along with other innovative companies from Thessaloniki and all over Greece, IQTaxi will participate in the Thessaloniki International Fair, where the honoured country is the United States of America.

 

IQTaxi in numbers

 

  • Installed in more than 10,000 vehicles

 

  • It has served over 20 million calls worldwide

 

  • 30% increase in customer service calls per year

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION OF THE ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI (AUTH) FOR ENERGY FROM WINE INDUSTRY RESIDUES AND NOT ONLY

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An innovative technological solution for the utilization of unprocessed residual biomass for energy purposes, on a local scale, was developed by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). The 10-year survey was conducted at the Foundation’s Applied Thermodynamics Laboratory (LAT).

This solution will be aimed at Mediterranean wineries for a start. At a later stage, the technology will also be aimed at other markets, such as breweries, olive oil mills, rice processing industries, poultry farms, biological cleaning and so on. The first data has showed that units of 20 kWel can lead to very significant reductions in both energy costs and waste management costs as well as repayment periods of less than 3-4 years.

Since 2012, the laboratory has implemented the development of a prototype power unit of 5 kW (+ 12kW heat) within the framework of the LIFE08/ENV/GR/000576 SMARt-CHP (SMARt-CHP) research programme.

The prototype unit has the potential to utilize unprocessed residual biomass by combining fluidized bed gasification technology with a cogeneration system suitably modified to utilize the gas produced, while anti-fouling vehicle technology was applied for the purification of the gas produced which was studied in previous years in the Laboratory of Applied Thermodynamics (LAT), a world-class laboratory on this research field.

The original unit has operated for more than 3,000 hours, utilizing residues (pits, shells and so on) from grapes, olives, peaches, almonds, etc., while the research work has been awarded as one of the best LIFE projects, receiving the ”2013 Best LIFE Environment Projects Award”.

BIO2CHP: Spin-off company for the implementation of innovation

Modern agri-food industries consume high amounts of energy, while at the same time they produce a large quantity of organic residues, which they currently manage as waste. Available technologies for the energy recovery of organic residues are either economically viable only on large scale facilities, thus they are not suitable for the needs of individual industries, or require high levels of pretreatment of the fuel, increasing in this way the operating costs of any solution dramatically.

The team of scientists (Dimitris Mertzis, Dr. Mechanical Engineer AUTh, Stefanos Tsiakmakis, Dr. Mechanical Engineer AUTh, Professor Zissis Samaras, Department of Mechanical Engineering AUTh), has proceeded with the foundation of BIO2CHP, a spin-off company of AUTH.

BIO2CHP aims to develop and commercialize power plants that use non-pretreated residual biomass for the co-generation of electricity and heat, on a small scale and locally.

KSA: From Thessaloniki to the heart of the cement industry

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A series of new collaborations is being added to the long list of KSA Superalloys Engineering, the innovative company of Thessaloniki, which takes on work at the heart of the cement industries (and not only) around the world.

KSA, which specializes in the production of industrial components from wear resistant materials as well as in-situ mechanical upgrades and super-hard surface coatings, is now entering the Turkish market starting a partnership with Akcansa Cimento, while a new round of partnerships has opened with the Dutch company WIVE which produces components for the end user environmental industry and the energy producer Engie.

 

The mechanical engineering company of Vassilis and Loizos Kehayas has had recently significant contacts with Nesher Cement in Israel, while its next mission is at the plant of the multinational company CEMEX in the Philippines in August.

 

As Mr. Kehayas says, it is not only the Greek agro-food industry that has growth-potential; an industry which has undoubtedly great potential and promising prospects. Mr. Kehayas has claimed that Greece has the technical know-how and also innovates in specialized fields that produce products, machines and precision equipment to support the heavy industry, that is the cement, mining, metallurgy, energy industries but also the medical device manufacturing industry, the shipbuilding industry as well as the food and packaging industries.

 

KSA’s list includes big company names such as the German company Loesche, the leading mills manufacturer for cement and mining industries, the Swiss firm Sulzer, the Dutch company Wive, which manufactures components for the waste recycling industry, the American multinational CEMEX, Nesher Cement, BMIC, TITAN, Lafarge, Hellenic Petroleum S.A. (ELPE), vtti, vttv, Vassiliko Cement, Hellenic Public Power Corporation S.A. (DEI).

 

KSA Superalloys Engineering O.E. was founded in 2003. Since 2009 it has focused on two directions of R&D (Research and Development) – on the machine coatings made of powder metallised ceramics and carbides and on the use of extremely durable superalloys as well as on the manufacture of machines for cutting, shaping and processing of special materials. A powerful comparative advantage of the innovative company is the in-situ performance of tasks combined with real-time measurements that the D.O.M.D. device has developed and with which axial oscillations are measured.

 

Mr. Vassilis Kehayas was a member of the Board of Directors of the Alexander Innovation Zone as a representative of the Exporters’ Association of Northern Greece.

Cycling from Thessaloniki to the whole world

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What has BrainBox SA done – What are the next steps

Using a bicycle for transportation is gaining more and more fans in the European cities both among the residents and the visitors. Thessaloniki is no exception and this has allowed BrainBox SA to deal with the specific market in the last decade, innovate and eventually expand its activity across other Greek cities as well. In 2008 the company successfully launched the EasyBike system and is now taking the next step. From sharing classic-style bikes with automated rental, it goes to the electrically-assisted e-bike, which is self-contained and completely controlled by a smartphone, as long as the user has downloaded the application and has registered for easybike. BrainBox has already placed 900 e-bikes in total by the end of the first half of 2018 in Thessaloniki, Athens and Rethymno, 300 in each city. The goal is that by the end of the year these new electrically-assisted bikes will have reached the number of 3,000.

Brainbox’s new proposal for the development of sustainable mobility with the use of the greenest mode of transportation, the bicycle, and the use of GPS (tracking) and GPRS (security) systems and also the e-bike itself were presented at CERTH (Centre for Research and Technology Hellas) at a special event for the promotion of technologies that contribute to the development of the tourism product.
The white-yellow bike is designed and controlled under BrainBox’s software and systems and it is manufactured in China. E-bike is locked and unlocked via the smartphone, and it is secure once the payment is made by the user electronically, so it is protected against theft. For this reason, it is not necessary to park bicycles in a controlled area, and because it is equipped with a tracking system, the user can either collect it or leave it wherever it is convenient for him in the city or the area where it was rented, and not necessarily at a bicycle parking station. The e-bike, which easily climbs an uphill slope, carries a battery with a lifespan of 100 km and the capacity for 140 loads. The user of the bicycle or the administrator does not have to charge the battery as the company promotes a battery exchange system, which means that exhausted batteries are exchanged with charged ones. Moreover, with the e-bike, the cyclist will not worry about a flat tyre or the tyre pressure, as the tyres are solid with no tubes. According to the administration of BrainBox, the communal e-bike is ideal for municipalities near the coast and hotels that want to offer their customers a friendly and enjoyable way of travelling, combining exercise with relaxing transportation.
It is worth noting that BrainBox has up to now 3,500 classic-style bicycles in the EasyBike system in 36 cities in Greece and 6 abroad. The company, which first launched with the EasyBike system in 2008, has exported its system to Eindhoven, Nicosia, Montpellier, Krakow, Levanger (Norway) and Istanbul.
Brainbox, with EasyBike, has entered successfully markets where cycling and eco-friendly modes of transport have a lot of punch, as do the systems that support them, something that is expected to happen with the e-bike as well.

Thessaloniki as an ideal innovation friendly destination to live and invest.

Learn more about Thessaloniki business success stories here

MLS

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A leader in the development and implementation of interactive media technology.

  • Founded October 1989 in Thessaloniki
  • Awarded with the European Information Technology Grand Prize 2001
  • July 2016 Greek share reached 6.8% (versus 3.2% last year) surpassing Sony, LG, Microsoft-Nokia approaching Apple
  • Intertwined with a wide variety of innovative, cutting edge technology products, ranging in application from the automotive and education markets to office and entertainment
  • Continuously offer more advanced and useful products to its’ current markets, while expanding into new sectors that promote technology
  • 2017 prepares entrance -to begin with-in a European market

 

 
Location: Pilea, Thessaloniki @TIZ

Kleemann

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One of the largest lift companies offering products in the global market

  • 30 successful years of experience
  • Presence with subsidiaries and sales offices in 15 countries
  • Exports to 100 countries worldwide
  • 61 testing towers, cover a total vertical distance of 52m.m
  • Wide product range, 24-hour service, premium pre- and after- sales support, customization expertise and state-of-the-art manufacturing
  • Innovative e-services offering the option of testing or designing a lift and the option of getting an immediate quote

 

 

Ergon

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Promoting unique Greek products.

  • 300 outlets in Greece and Europe
  • 11 ERGON DELIS & RESTAURANTS in Europe and USA
  • 1200+ Greek artisanal products from Crete and other Greek islands  to Thrace in shops all over the world
  • 150+ GREEK FARMERS network of partner suppliers in Greece
  • Constant education and experimentation with new  recipes and techniques
  • Available in the Greek Duty Free Shops

Infalia

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Turn data of social media into awareness for customers.

  • Spin-off company Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)
  • Provision of Web/ mobile app solutions & tools / analytics solutions focus on social media data and content
  • FastAR Prototype short-listed for the Innovation Radar Prize 2016
  • Delivers apps that enhance the entertainment and urban experience
  • Provides location-aware and aesthetically pleasing interfaces in the attendees’ smartphones
  • Leverages big data and social media analytics to capture the pulse of large events

 

 
Location: Thessaloniki @TIZ

SentiGeek

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A new perspective on text analytics!

  • Exploits market domain-specific and deep linguistic data to provide business strategic insights
  • Answer to cost and money saving questions
  • Business-wise
  • Human & customer-centered
  • Deep linguistic
  • Specialized in market domains

 

 
Location: Thessaloniki @TIZ