Elevate Greece
“Elevate Greece" is an initiative of the Greek Government, intended to support promising startups. Pfizer Hellas and the Center for Digital Innovation (CDI) in Thessaloniki collaborated with the Ministry of Development & Investments and the Greek Patient’s Association to organize a patient-centric competition. The competition sought the most innovative digital solution to support, empower and educate patients about their health, improve their communication with healthcare professionals and other patient groups, and better manage their health at home, in the community and in their work.
To determine the priorities of the patient community and their expectations from the digital sector, we organized a workshop with the Center of Digital Innovation in Thessaloniki and the Greek Patients’ Association. Health literacy was identified as a top priority and became the focus of the competition.
The winner of the competition was the startup "Medoid AI I.K.E.". It presented an innovative solution that uses artificial intelligence to simplify scientific texts without reducing their validity and accuracy. The winners of “Elevate Greece” were awarded their prizes by Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister of Development and Investments and Lidia Fonseca, Executive Vice President, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Pfizer, during the opening event of Pfizer site in Thessaloniki, with the presence of the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Pfizer's CEO Dr Albert Bourla.
We are particularly pleased to have the opportunity to be part of such an important initiative because we truly believe in the value of an inclusive process, where patients as experts are shaping today's challenges for more Health for All."
Photo: Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister of Development and Investments of the Greek Government and Lidia Fonsceca, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Executive Vice President of Pfizer present the award to the startup Medoid AI I.K.E. and Dr. Anestis Fachantidis, Co-Founder and CEO and Prof. Grigorios Tsoumakas, Co-Founder.
A health literate world is a world where all people have equal access to high quality health information and where they are empowered to use that information to participate in decisions about their healthcare, use their medications more safely and appropriately and ultimately have better patient outcomes. This initiative will strengthen patients not only to better understand their health status, but also to use health information to act.
People benefit from health literacy in several ways. They are more likely to ask their healthcare provider questions, they know how to find trustworthy sources and they can play an active role in their health decisions and treatment plans. This initiative will contribute to the communication of scientific information to the public, at the same time assisting Pfizer’s scientists in writing easy-to-read and understandable content.
The initiative was based on the Greek state's intention to support innovative startups, seizing the opportunity to harness the skills of young scientists and researchers on digital technology for the benefit of patients.
