SCIENCE FOR YOU NPC (EPISTIMI GIA SENA ASTIKI MH KERDOSKOPIKI ETAIRIA)
SciFY (http://www.scify.gr/site/en/) is an IT SME and a not-for-profit organization that develops cutting-edge information technology systems and freely offers them to all, including the design, the implementation details, and the support needed, in order to solve real-life problems.
We use our expertise in artificial intelligence and other technologies, and a strong network of collaborators (universities, research institutes, NGOs and companies) to bridge scientific innovation with society’s needs and collaboratively produce new solutions.
Founded in 2012, in crisis-stricken Greece, SciFY has already reached a personnel of 6, a volunteer base of more than 10 people, and some awards, including one from the President of the Hellenic Republic. SciFY has been evaluated to be in the top 5% of the NGOs in Greece (link in Greek) in terms of Transparency, Organization and Effectiveness by independent evaluators. In 2020 SciFY was awarded internationally for her work in supporting the disabled with innovative assistive technologies. Lastly SciFY co-forms the European Framework of Artificial Intelligence since it is chosen to contribute to the DIGITAL SME Focus Group on AI, an initiative of the European Commission (AI Watch) and the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, where they have set up an experts team which consisting of 40 Artificial Intelligence experts representing companies from all over Europe.
SciFY’s current Areas of Interest and expertise are:
Artificial intelligence
Skills development and Education
Supporting the civil society
eDemocracy
Entrepreneurship
Assistive technologies for people with disabilities
We bring about social change through successful technology transfer initiatives that stem from real societal needs.To do this, we combine four kinds of actions, we:
Create and freely share IT tools,
Mobilize ecosystems that jointly produce value,
Manage the innovation process and Disseminate knowledge to deliver results on the above impact areas, as described below.
SciFY creates and shares IT tools: by offering them for free, under open source licences. We employ agile development methodologies (scrum) to effectively produce results in a cost-effective manner.
It manages the innovation process and mobilizes ecosystems that co-create value: SciFY engages key stakeholders and interested parties in every project throughout the whole process (from needs analysis and design to dissemination and exploitation activities). All of SciFY’s projects are built around the creation of strong alliances with partners and stakeholders that have a mutual interest for solving social problems. This consistent practice has built skills within SciFY such as early definition and inclusion of interest groups, networking, mobilizing civil society organizations, creating win-win solutions, inclusive design, collaborative product development, remote collaboration etc. In this way, SciFY creates multiplier effects way beyond its organizational size.
It disseminates knowledge: Through SciFY Academy, a series of educational initiatives around the aforementioned impact areas, it spreads knowledge and creates networks of supporters. SciFY also creates support and educational material for all its projects, and continuously engages with the community on this field.
These actions are organized through the offer of 6 bundles of services:
1. Software and AI solutions creation
2. Communication and Networking
3. Innovation Management / Product development guidance
4. Gaming and Gamification
5. Innovative Education / Skills development
6. Fundraising support
SciFY has extensive experience in bridging a) research results b) technology, c) education and d) entrepreneurship. It has turned research results into products, and ignited further interest around them in all aspects of the knowledge triangle.
The impact achieved so far is twofold: SciFY’s direct impact has exceeded 100,000 beneficiaries. Yet, since we offer IT solutions, create networks and spread knowledge, the indirect impact is difficult to assess, but it is many times more than the direct impact, since usually a user of our solutions serves hundreds or even thousands of end users.
Social Entrepreneurship: All SciFY projects (described in detail at www.scify.org) are social entrepreneurship projects. SciFY has a range of numerous projects and products that started as ideas or research results and have been transformed into end products used by thousands of people and organizations and supported by a community of partners. They have a significant social impact and can be used over and over again, allowing others to create new tools and products based on them. Everything is offered for free under open source licenses, creating a base for other social entrepreneurs to use, either for free or on other business models (e.g. freemium models). In this way, organizations have already begun to reuse SciFY solutions to bring even more results to society. At the same time, in some cases SciFY uses its know-how to provide paid solutions to the community it serves.
However, apart from its direct involvement in Social Entrepreneurship projects, SciFY also supports other relevant initiatives and entities. Indicatively, SciFY:
- is a partner of the European project EnSoEd (Innovative Teacher Training in Social Entrepreneurship)
- collaborates with civil society initiatives to support their work
- organizes social innovation / entrepreneurship programs such as Fireathon (organizing and guiding citizen groups to create technology-based solutions to prevent and deal with wildfires and implement them in collaboration with local authorities and the business world).
- has developed IT tools (such as VoluntEasy – a volunteer management platform) to support NGOs (such as Job-Pairs and Vouliwatch).
Links:
https://www.scify.gr/site/en/
