- Introduction
1.1 The Ministry of National Defense (Ministry of Defense) – hereinafter “Organizer” – organizes the 1st Innovation and Technology Competition – hereinafter “Competition” – with the aim of mobilizing the productive forces of the country by highlighting new, original and innovative ideas / to highlight innovation as a competitive advantage in the Defense Sector, supporting both the Armed Forces (EDF) and the Domestic Defense Industry (EAVI).
1.2 The Competition aims to highlight, promote and reward innovative ideas that may come from both individuals and groups of young scientists / researchers, scientific staff and students of Research Centers, Universities, ASEI and ASSY of the country, in action ED, as well as professional workers in small and medium-sized enterprises (start-ups), who believe that their innovative ideas can be a power multiplier for the Armed Forces of the country. In addition, the aim of the Competition is the osmosis between the Domestic Defense Industry and other researchers through communication, finding common points of interest, as well as the exchange and synthesis of ideas for the development of new products.
1.3 Detailed information about the Competition is provided on the website “https://defenceinnovation.gr”. - Theme of the Competition
2.1 The theme of the Competition is: “Situational Awareness Innovation”.
2.2 Awareness of the operational situation, both for friendly and hostile forces, is one of the most important parameters for the successful conduct of a military operation and the current practices with which it is achieved can be improved with ideas and solutions belonging to a wide range of research areas (eg software, sensors, surveillance systems, communication protocols, human resource management, business units and systems, information traffic security, etc.).Thus, in the context of this Competition there will be no restriction within a specific research area, in order to attract as many entries as possible and to express as many innovative ideas as possible. - Thematic Areas
3.1 The thematic areas – in which each proposal can be included – are divided, not on the basis of the research area, but on the basis of their scope of application in business. Thus, the thematic areas are the following:
a. Tactical level: It concerns planning and carrying out tactical military actions in order to achieve military objectives, by tactical Formations, Groups and Units. That is, the battle and the engagements between the opposing forces that make up a large-scale operation. This level includes innovation proposals concerning units or systems, such as shell firing optimisation system, methods of monitoring damage to a ship, flight countermeasures, methods of monitoring/safety of a unit, methods of monitoring the health of personnel during battle, etc.
b. Operational level: It concerns the level of war at which large-scale operations are planned (combining more than one military action).This level includes innovation proposals concerning the planning, organisation, consolidation and execution of operations, e.g. submarine detection system, communications encryption software, cyber warfare software, health loss management, marine surveillance system, game theory software, etc.
c. Strategic Level: At this level, the military strategy is formed, which is a component of the grand strategy. In other words, the way of deployment and engagement of the Armed Forces is planned in order to achieve the National Objectives. This level includes innovation proposals related to the preparation and planning of operations, e.g. human resource management system, migration flow monitoring system, decision making software, etc.
In the above thematic areas, the proposals can concern both the physical domain, which consists of the environment, the means, the physical objects, the physical actions and the results in the area of operations (land, sea, air and space), and the cybernetic domain, which includes the Command and Control systems in the area of operations, including their ability to collect, process and distribute information to make timely decisions, as well as to command and control operations. Operations carried out within cyberspace focus on prohibiting, interrupting or delaying the collection and exchange of information by the opposing force, achieving deception and infringing on their means of command and control.
3.1 Each innovation proposal per thematic unit can fall within the following categories:- Telecommunications
- Physical and digital security
- Software Development
- Hardware Development
- Defence Systems
The above categories of interest and topics can refer to the land, sea, air and space sectors, either individually or in combination.
4. Prizes
The prizes of the 1st Competition of Innovation and Technology of ED will be in two (2) levels:
a. Cash prizes
The total cash prizes are set at € 18,000, and will be distributed as follows:
- The proposal that will collect the highest score will receive a prize of € 7,000.
- The proposal with the second highest score will receive a prize of € 5,000.
- The proposal with the third highest score will receive a prize of € 3,500.
- The proposal and the team that will have human resources exclusively in the age range
- 18-23, will be awarded the Youth Innovation Award and will receive a prize of € 2,500.
b. Ethical rewards
(1) The ten (10) proposals with the highest score will be presented and will be awarded with a commemorative diploma by the Minister of National Defense (YETHA), in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of National Defense (GEETHA), Hellenic Industry (EABI) and the Academic – Research Community. The award and presentation will take place during an innovation conference, which will take place after the completion of the Competition.
(2) In addition, the Ministry of Defence is committed to the priority examination of these proposals, as well as to the examination of funding for their further development, in accordance with the procedures provided by law.The Organizer reserves the right to publish the details of the winners on the official websites of the Ministry of Defence and its bodies, as well as in press releases, printed or electronic.
In case of group participation award, the award will be received by the appointed coordinator / team representative.
The Organizer provides its consent to the ten (10) winners of the Competition to use the official logo of the Competition to communicate / announce the results of the Competition on the website and their social media under the following conditions:
a. Consent can be revoked at any time by the Organizer.
b. The logo can be used by the ten (10) winners exclusively for their communication, which will concern their award in the Competition. The winners will not acquire any right other than the specific right of use and for the specific purpose.
c. The ten (10) winners explicitly declare that they will protect the communication within the Competition on their website and social media from any offensivé, inappropriate, insulting, obscene or irrelevant content of the Competition, as well as from any threatening, slanderous, inaccurate, misleading, discriminatory, immoral, indecent, sexually explicit or pornographic or discriminatory content (gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, etc.), and any other content that could to damage the Organizer’s reputation, profile, principles and values.
5. Proccess of the Competition
Phase I
5.1 Phase I of the Competition includes the following actions:
a. The candidate or the coordinator of the proposal (see paragraph 7.4) completes and sends the electronic form for registration / participation in the Competition with his personal data and the proposal for participation [see section 5.1 (2)]. In case more than one natural person participates in a proposal, then they are registered as members of the group in the electronic participation form. A separate participation proposal must be submitted for each innovation proposal, even if the participants in it also participate in other proposals. The proposals for participation in the Competition, which will be submitted in the above electronic participation form will include the following:
(1) Proposal title (up to 20 words).
(2) Proposal description (up to 700 words), including:
(a) Purpose and use of the innovative idea / product (added value, competitive advantage, etc.).
(b) Innovation basics and brief market / competition description.
(c) Technical data of the proposal, if any, and initial and final implementation level (Technology Readiness Level – TRL Level).
(d) Benefits and brief technical and financial documentation of proposal viability.
The description of the proposal may be accompanied by audiovisual material (video), lasting no more than three (3) minutes.
b. The Organizer will confirm the successful registration of the proposal via automated email, which will contain the registration details of the proposal, including a unique description / reference code of the submitted proposal. The proposal from the moment of its registration will not be accessible by third parties, nor can its data be processed by the candidate.
5.2 The deadline for submission of proposals is August 15, 2021.
Phase II
5.3 The proposals, which meet the validity criteria, depending on the thematic unit to which they will be addressed, will be evaluated and graded by an independent 8-member Evaluation Committee, which will be formed with the care of the Organizer and will consist of:
a. One (1) Senior Officer as President
b. Four (4) senior Officers as members
c. Three (3) members of the Teaching and Research Staff (Faculty) of ASEI as members.
Based on the number and research area of the proposals, the Evaluation Committee may receive suggestions on the proposals from additional experts, who may be:
a. Executives of the Ministry of Defence (military and / or civilian personnel),
b. research staff from the country’s academic community,
c. research staff from research institutes in the country and
d. EABI executives, based on the criteria described below.
5.4 Each evaluator will rate the innovation proposals independently of the others. In the end, under the responsibility of the chairman of the Evaluation Committee, the proposals will be ranked in descending order.
5.5 In phase II, the Evaluation Committees will not know the details of those who submitted the proposals they will evaluate.
5.6 The total of thirty (30) best proposals will advance to phase III of the Competition. Upon completion of phase II, the Organizer has the right to publish the thirty (30) best proposals (title and short description) as well as the names of the participants in these proposals on the official websites of the Ministry of Education and its agencies, as well as in bulletins in print or electronic form.
5.7 Phase II is estimated to last about thirty (30) business days.
Phase III
5.8 Depending on the maturity of the thirty (30) proposals submitted from phase II, an action of quality reinforcement and redefinition of the innovation proposals will be organized called Bootcamp. During this action, participants will have the opportunity to work with specialized mentors, such as e.g. executives from the General Staffs, executives from EABI, business executives, etc., in order to optimize and make their proposal more attractive with the help of modern development methodologies (lean, design thinking, agile, etc).In addition to improving innovation proposals, the action aims to bring participants into contact with experienced Defense and non-industry executives, familiarize them with new collaborative methodologies and understand modern business model and product development methodologies, which promote .
5.9 The above action will take place in two (2) weekends, depending on the ability of the mentors for their presence in the process.
5.10 The thirty (30) proposals after the completion of Bootcamp, will be resubmitted by the candidates for evaluation in a more extensive form of text (up to 2,500 words) accompanied by a presentation lasting up to five (5) minutes (in video format or with MS-PowerPoint file or similar software).
5.11 Phase III is estimated to last fifteen (15) working days.
Phase IV
5.12 Phase IV of the Competition concerns the final evaluation of the thirty (30) proposals, as they were formed after the Bootcamp process, from which the ten (10) most prevalent by the Evaluation Committee will be selected. The latter will be awarded and presented at the 1st Innovation Conference of the Ministry of Education, which will follow, in the presence of Mr. YETHA, representatives of ED, the academic community and EABI.
5.13 Phase IV is estimated to last fifteen (15) working days.
Schedule – Time Milestones
| 15th May 2021 | Website publishing |
| till 15th Aug 2021 | Submission of ideas – proposals for innovation |
| Sep 2021 | Initial evaluation and selection of thirty (30) proposals that will participate in Bootcamp |
| Oct 2021 | Conducting Defencetech Bootcamp |
| Nov 2021 | Final evaluation of ideas – innovation proposals |
| Nov 2021 | Innovation Conference – Announcement of Winners |
6. Selection Criteria and Evaluation of Proposals
6.1 During phases II and IV, each proposal will be graded up to 100 points. These units will be allocated to the following selection criteria:
a. Proposal innovation degree (up to 40 points)
b. Cost-benefit ratio (eg implementation feasibility, growth risk, etc.) (up to 20 units)
c. Expected benefits from the implementation of the proposal in ED (up to 20 points)
d. Completeness and clarity of proposal (up to 20 points for the evaluation in phase II and up to 10 points for the evaluation in phase IV)
e. Quality of presentation (up to 10 points in the evaluation in phase IV)
6.2 The Evaluation Committee is responsible for evaluating proposals for innovative ideas. Due to the large scope of the competition, the members of the committee will have the opportunity to receive suggestions from experienced executives (faculty members from universities and researchers from the country’s research centers, experts, business / industry executives, ED executives, etc.) in order to to support the most objective scoring of proposals.
7. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
7.1 Each participant must carefully read the terms of this before registering for the Competition and submitting its proposal.
7.2 Participation in the Competition implies the unconditional acceptance of all without exception the terms of the Competition and the relevant commitment of the participants.
7.3 The competition is open to any natural person of Greek Citizenship, eighteen (18) years and over on the due date of the deadline for submission of proposals, who is a legal and permanent resident of Greece and is:
– Permanent military and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces.
– Scientific staff / students of the highest academic (AEI, ASEI, ASSY) institutions and research institutes of the country.
– Staff of small, medium and start-up companies based in Greece and activity in the field of technology and innovation.
– The academic and research institutions of the country.The small and medium enterprises of the country with activity in technology and innovation.
– Those interested can participate in the Competition individually or in groups, with one or more proposals, which are included in one of the Thematic Units of the Competition. In case of group participation, a natural person should be declared as a representative of the group, who will be the coordinator of the proposal and the person in charge of communication with the Organizer. After the deadline for submission of proposals, it is not allowed to add additional people to the proposal, nor to change the participation from individual to group.
7.4 Proposals are written in Greek and submitted electronically.
7.5 The participants in the Competition bear the full and exclusive responsibility of securing or any other protection of their submitted proposals, as well as of the rights deriving from them.
7.6 The Organizer may at any stage of the Competition, request the relevant documents (identity card, passport, residence permit, etc.) to cross-check or identify the details of the participants in accordance with the above terms. 7.7 In case of submission of a false declaration, the Organizer bears no responsibility and reserves the right to refuse participation in any phase of the Competition.
7.8 Proposals that contain illegal or immoral content are excluded from the Competition. Proposals that are not related to any of the thematic sections of the Competition are also excluded.
7.9 Those who participate in the evaluation process of the proposals can not participate in the Competition either as members of the Evaluation Committee of the Competition, or as rapporteurs of the Evaluation Committee, as well as their spouses and relatives up to the 2nd degree.
7.10 Any printed or other material – part of the proposal that will be submitted in the context of the Competition, will not be returned to the participants.
7.11 By submitting its proposal, each participant declares responsibly and guarantees that the proposal submitted in the Competition:
a. It is submitted legally and in accordance with the terms of the Competition.
b. Produced by himself (or the team he coordinates).
c. It does not infringe copyright or other rights of any natural or legal person in Greece or abroad, otherwise that it is a beneficiary and / or that it has legally acquired all kinds of rights, such as, indicatively, third party intellectual property rights and all legal licenses connected or used for its production.
7.12 Each participant assumes all responsibility for any claim made against the Organizer by third parties and relieves the Organizer, its employees and representatives, as well as the members of the Evaluation Committee from any liability for compensation, any costs and expenses or claims result from violations of the terms of the Competition or the rights of third parties, such as, for example, intellectual property rights.
7.13 Each participant bears the exclusive and full responsibility towards the Organizer and all third parties for the proposal he submits and for the accuracy of the information he states.
7.14 The Organizer has the right without prior notice, to modify the terms of the Competition or to postpone the procedure in each phase or to cancel the Competition, making ex-post announcements on the website of the Ministry of the Interior and without any liability to the participants in the Competition. or any third party.
8. Private Data
8.1 In the context of this Competition, the Organizer may collect, as the Processor, personal data of the participants, such as their identification and contact information, which are necessary for the purpose of processing and only to the extent that they themselves disclose them. The Organizer takes all the necessary measures and takes care of the lawful and legal collection and processing of personal data as well as their safe keeping in accordance with the provisions of the General Regulation for Data Protection (Law 4624/19 “GKPD – GDPR” ) and in the specific regulatory framework for its implementation, safeguarding the confidentiality and confidentiality of any information known to it.
8.2 The Organizer may use the personal data to communicate with the participants in the Competition and inform them about issues related to it, as well as to submit any proposals for cooperation to them.
In case of “group participation”, the coordinator of the proposal declares responsibly and guarantees that he has received the previous order and authorization of each member of the team, to provide the Organizer with their explicit consent regarding the registration, processing and publication of the above their data for the purpose of the Competition as defined above, which will be made available to the Organizer whenever requested.
8.3 The Organizer processes the personal data of the participants throughout the Competition and after its completion for as long as defined by the applicable legal and regulatory framework.
8.4 The participants in the Competition state that they were informed about the registration of their personal data, the summary-material to be published, as well as the short biography of the candidates in Phase IV in a relevant file that will be kept by the Organizer. In addition, they have been informed of the processing of this information, in accordance with the provisions of the applicable legal and regulatory framework regarding the protection of personal data, by the Organizer and / or by third parties cooperating with him for the conduct of the Competition, exclusively and only for this purpose, as well as their publication in case they qualify for Phase IV on the official websites of the Ministry of the Interior and its bodies, as well as in press releases or entries in printed or electronic form. 8.5 Also, the participants in the Competition consent to the publication of any of their photos or video material, in case of their award or participation in a draw, on the official websites of the Ministry of the Interior and its bodies, in press releases or print or electronic entries, as well as in advertising screenings for a period of up to five (5) years from the date of their publication. In this case, the participants have the right to withdraw their consent at any time, without prejudice to the legality of the processing based on the consent before its withdrawal.
9. Dispute Resolution
The Competition and the terms of the Competition are governed by, interpreted and supplemented by the Greek Legislation. Any dispute arising from the Competition between the Organizer and the participants in the Competition will be resolved by the competent courts of Athens, after the parties have made an effort to resolve it amicably based on good faith, transactional manners and applicable practices.
Edit