Disrupt Cyprus
“Game Changers, Generation We” is the main event of GEW Cyprus that brings together three generations of entrepreneurs: the ‘Big Boys’, the ‘Upcoming’ and the ‘Start-ups’ along with key stakeholders and business leaders, engaging them in a fruitful dialogue on the challenges and opportunities leading to the creation of a sustainable startup/ entrepreneurial ecosystem.
An interactive event that aims to inspire and motivate young people to explore their potential as self-starters and innovators, designate best practices and promote youth entrepreneurship by altering the existing mindsets towards a new entrepreneurial culture.
Disrupt Cyprus Cup
Among the highlights, the entrepreneurship competition “Disrupt Cyprus Cup” offered the opportunity to the most innovative startups to discover their utmost potential by giving them a podium to pitch their idea in front of experienced judges, entrepreneurs and a live audience, while claiming cash prizes and services tailored to the needs of a startup business.
Find out about the winners here.
Speakers attending the event
Nanxi Liu ,
Co-Founder and CEO of Enplug
Founder of Nanoly Bioscience
Nanxi Liu, 24, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Enplug, a Los Angeles company that builds the industry-leading software for digital displays in malls, restaurants, and retail stores. 350+ companies use Enplug’s software to display interactive and realtime content including live social media feeds, product videos, news feeds, weather, and more. Enplug was named Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 30 Startups to Watch and Inc. Magazine’s Top 5 Women-Led Startups to Watch. In college, Nanxi founded Nanoly Bioscience, which develops polymers that enable vaccines to survive without refrigeration. It was awarded Top Research at the World Biomaterials Congress, named NASA’s Top 10 New Tech Companies, and won Intel’s Top Social Innovation Award. Nanxi is a current board member. Nanxi is on the advisory board of UNICEF’s Chinese Children’s Initiative and Lady Gaga’s Foundation.
Jetse Goris,
Educational consultant at the University Medical Center of Groningen.
Jetse Goris is passionate about using and building innovative technologies to enhance medical teacher and student learning and performance.
Dr. Ciarán mac an Bhaird,
Lecturer of Business and Management at Fiontar (Enterprise) in Dublin City University, Ireland
Dr. Ciarán mac an Bhaird is founding Director of UStart, the first start-up accelerator in an Irish university. He is academic champion for Entrepreneurship at Dublin City University, through which he inculcates a passion for innovation and enterprise in students across all faculties. He publishes in leading international peer-reviewed academic journals on the subjects of finance and Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), and is the author of ‘Resourcing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises’ (Springer-Verlag, Berlin). He is board member of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and has recently assisted a business angel network in establishing a €1m seed investment fund.
Elena Panaritis,
Social Entrepreneur, Founder of Thought for Action, Founder of Panel Group
Elena Panaritis has revolutionized policy application in economics and changed the way people and policy makers think about property rights and institutional reforms. As an economist and a pioneer social entrepreneur, she has proven that economic growth happens through institutional reforms. The key to her work’s success hinges on rebuilding trust.
Vassilis Nikolopoulos,
CEO and Co-founder of Intelen
Vassilis is the CEO and co-founder of Intelen Inc, a New York based intelligent data & software company in the domain of energy efficiency analytics and customer engagement with the use of advanced behavioral data science. Intelen is currently under high growth, expanding in USA and in many European countries. Vassilis has global recognitions with his start-up, in top innovation and entrepreneurship contests (US Red herring global, SVASE Silicon Valley Launch, Siemens global smartgrid innovation award, CeBIT Cleantech, OECD cleantech). He is a valedictorian Electrical Engineer from Dundee University, Scotland with postgraduate studies at Imperial College, LSE, Cambridge, Ecole Polytechnique and a PhD from NTUA, focused on real-time big data decision making.
Andreas L. Papadopoulos,
Chairman of Junior Achievement Cyprus
Andreas Papadopoulos studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge where he earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree (First Class Honours). Subsequently, he worked for several years in the United Stated in the food industry for Unilever where he specialised in food starch technology and developed a related patent. While in the States, Andreas attended the Executive Programme at the Wharton Business School graduating with Distinction and a specialisation in Finance. Shortly thereafter, Andreas relocated to Germany as Brand Manager for a line of food ingredients with responsibility across several countries in Europe. In 2002 Andreas relocated to Cyprus and joined Hellenic Bank and today he is heading the Bank’s Strategy and Economic Studies unit. Andreas has a keen interest in education and in entrepreneurship. He is a member of various boards related to education and the Chairman of Junior Achievement Cyprus, which focuses on teaching entrepreneurship at schools.
