Due to the increased interest that has been expressed, the tender notice of b cycle is considered: more than 1,100 enterprises from all over Greece utilize in their productive operation, IT equipment and application with the aim to improve their productivity; the supply of this equipment and application has been supported by the “METECHO” action of the Information Society (“Small Enterprises and Technological Boosting”).

Referring to the large progress of METECHO, the Secretary Special of the Information Society, prof. Vas. Assimakopoulos underlined: “the businessmen and in particular the businessmen from small enterprises of the Region responded positively to this initiative. The Greek enterprise has understood and wants to utilize the benefits of new information technologies. To contribute to this effort, we adopt new, more efficient and user-friendly electronic processes”.

Due to the increased participation interest expressed by businessmen, Mr. Assimakopoulos said that the possibility of inviting to tender a second cycle of the METECHO action within the first half of 2006 is examined.

The action has been invited to tender in July 2005 with an initial budget of € 26 million which was then increased to € 33.8 million, due to the increased interest expressed by enterprises.

The action is co-financed by 75% by the European Fund of Regional Development (EFRD) and by 25% by national resources.

More than 3,700 enterprises from all over Greece participated in the first cycle of METECHO and in less than five months 30% of those enterprises acquired the relevant equipment and certifications. The equipment regards Information Technology systems and applications which contribute to the simplification of every-day business processes (financial – commercial management, warehouse management, payroll management, etc.), time and cost saving and promotion of their products and services (i.e. client list management applications, etc.) through their connection to the Internet.

The participation of enterprises from the Region is significant since 73% of the expenses comes from the supply of information systems to enterprises that are located throughout Greece, except for the Region of Attica and Central Macedonia.

The wide participation and fast completion of the procedures are due to a great extent to the management innovations that have been adopted. The “METECHO” action was based on the electronic submission of proposals, facilitating in this way the participation of small enterprises.

Electronic processes were also applied during the proposals’ evaluation procedure, rendering the action a complete model of best practices. The innovations that were applied resulted in the fact that the average time needed by an enterprise to reimburse the portion of the foreseen expenditure is less than 10 days upon submission of the correct documentation of the equipment’s purchase.

Read more at the website: http://www.metexo.gr