Funded Research

Since its creation, the Lab constantly strives to participate in projects funded from the European Commission, National Funding Agencies, and the corporate sector. This assures that the Lab remains at the fore front of scientific research and relevant knowledge. It also guarantees the Lab’s important role in cultivating and shaping state of the art trends in the area of business communication.

The Lab has participated in a significant number of projects funded from the European Commission and National Agencies. A partial list of relevant projects follows:

European Grants

National Grants

CREATURES (PROMOTING CREATIVE TOURISM THROUGH NEW EXPERIENTIAL AND SUSTAINABLE ROUTES)

The project "Promoting Creative Tourism through new Experiential and Sustainable Routes (CREATURES)" (2020-2023) is funded by the European interregional cooperation programme Interreg ADRION through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and national funds. CREATURES aims to strengthen the link between Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) and the tourism industry in the participating regions and to increase their contribution to the regions’ sustainable development by developing new tourist routes that incorporate the regions’ cultural heritage and promoting them with the use of new technologies.

The project is coordinated by the Metropolitan City of Bologna (Italy) with the participation of: Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region (Italy), Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenia), Patras Science Park (Greece), Regional Development Agency Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Croatia), Regional Directorate of Cultural Heritage – Vlora (Albania) and School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo, University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Scientific Responsible of CREATURES for the Athens University of Economics and Business is Eleni Apospori, Associate Professor of the Department of Marketing and Communication.

The project achieves its goals through the following activities:

Pilot actions for the development and promotion of new tourist routes in the participating regions. The new tourist routes incorporate and highlight elements of the regional cultural heritage and/or natural environment. To promote the new tourist routes, CREATURES develops a smartphone app and multimedia installations. The use of new technologies for the promotion of the CREATURES routes will offer tourists an alternative cultural and tourist experience, highlighting the sustainable characteristics of these new offerings.
Policy recommendations for the development and sustainability of CCI in the participating regions. These recommendations are addressed to the organisations responsible for the development and implementation of policies on regional development and sustainability.
Support to companies operating in the CCI sector to strengthen their capabilities. The participating regions developed and implemented training and mentoring programs for CCI companies, which aimed to increase their capacity on topics related to the development of business plans, marketing and promotion of CCI products and services, and promotion of business ideas for securing funding (pitching, fundraising). Mentoring activities involved the provision of personalised support to the CCI companies by experts in the respective fields.

In the framework of CREATURES, the Athens University of Economics and Business team developed the project methodology. The goal of the methodology is to assist partners in mapping the current situation of CCI in their regions and identifying existing opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses for the CCI sector, identifying and collecting Good Practices in the promotion of cultural heritage and development of tourist products that partner regions have developed and implemented, developing policy recommendations for the support and strengthening of CCI in the regions, and evaluating the quality of the training and mentoring programmes offered by the regions to CCI companies.

Website: https://creatures.adrioninterreg.eu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CreaturesProject
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreaturesProje2
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatures_project/

FEMINA (Female Participation in High-Tech Enterprises)

The project FEMINA is funded by the European interregional cooperation program Interreg Europe through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and national resources. Scientific Project Manager for the Athens University of Economics and Business is Associate Professor Eleni Apostori.

The aim of FEMINA project is the cooperation between regional partners to integrate into regional economic development policies measures to promote female entrepreneurship and women's participation in high-tech sectrors, in the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) of each region.

Website: https://www.interregeurope.eu/femina/
Facebook: FEMINA-Interreg project

MARIE (Mainstreaming Responsible Innovation in European S3)

The aim of the MARIE project is to introduce the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) into regional policy measures that enhance the innovative economic development of the regions within the framework of the Smart Specialization Strategy pillars S3) of each region. The RRI concept encourages the cooperation of social, academic, business and partner and policy actors to better connect and align business innovation and research activity and its outcomes with the needs, values and expectations of the society it affects.

Website: https://www.interregeurope.eu/marie/
Twitter: @MARIEinterreg
Facebook: MARIEinterreg

COGITA (Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility through Public Policy)

The COGITA project intends to identify and implement tools that public authorities and other public stakeholders can adopt in their regional economic policy, in order to promote an approach that combines social and environmental responsibility in SME support. Within this integrated concept, COGITA considers 5 sub-themes: raising CSR awareness and capacity; CSR in public procurement; CSR criteria in public funding; inter-firm collaboration and local supply chains; communication/ branding.

COGITA will combine interregional exchange with local stakeholder involvement, in order to ensure that the project is in line with local priorities. The project will support regional development with tools that promote CSR as a tool for competitiveness, growth and more and better jobs in our SMEs. The COGITA project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme.

Press Release
COGITA Brochure
COGITA Newsletter

Responsible ICT Network (R-ICT)

Funded by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) (2014-2016).

The objective of the R-ICT project is to develop a thematic network to coordinate CSR in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the European Union in order to encourage the relevant enterprises to implement and promote CSR through strategic partnerships with relevant stakeholders on the basis of relevant good practices. The R-ICT project is relevant to the European Union ICT Policy Support Program (ICT-PSP) and contributes to the implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) through the promotion of digital technologies in CSR, the implementation of CSR practices in the area of ICT, tackling the barriers to the spread of CSR in the ICT sector and the active participation of SMEs.