The Chamber of Aetoloakarnania organized the 19th & 20th training workshops: “Creation, Design and Internationalization of Products from Raw Materials” & “Agri-food – Gastronomy – Cultural Tourism. Sustainable Economy Model and Entrepreneurship Development Triptych” within Creative@Hubs project. The first seminar, held in the “DEZAART” premises on July 4th and the 6 key-note speakers (Thanasis Athanasiou, George Athanasiou, Dimos Xiros, Christos Kavalaris,, Thrasivoulos Vitoratos & Alexia Katsila from Dezaart Group) were referred to the field of processing and production of cultural industry products, suggesting solutions to the difficulties related to long working hours, lack of funds, lack of experience, the need to constantly modernize the mechanical and building equipment in production, finding the most suitable raw materials, inexperience in terms of organization, the immaturity of decisions. They analyzed the topic of the Internationalization of entrepreneurship through the presence on international digital platforms but also the usage of the social media. The workshop was attended by 51 people with much interesting in the internationalization of cultural industry products.
The second workshop, held during the “RIVER VIEW FESTIVAL” in Matsouki – Agrinio, on July 7th, attended by 42 people and focused on the triptych of: Agri-food – Gastronomy – Cultural Tourism as a Sustainable Economy Model and Entrepreneurship Development. Mr. Lampros Dimitrogiannis (Deputy Regional Governor for Sustainable Development, Energy and Environment of the Region of Western Greece) was mentioned the field of agri-food, how it is connected to the gastronomy of the region and how it is an important part for the development of entrepreneurship, cultural tourism and the economy of the area. Mrs. Katerina Kalantzi (Deputy Regional Governor of Mountain-Forestry Policy and Animal Husbandry of the Region of Central Greece) was referred to the marketing, branding and labeling of agri-food products, in short, the conditions that a product must meet in order to be competitive and successful, the necessity of extroversion.
Last but not least, the 2 key-note speakers: Mrs. Akrivi Kouki, Food Technologist and Director of the olive factory of the Agricultural Cooperative “Agrinio Union”, was made a reference to the organoleptic characteristics through which the evaluation and quality classification of a product has been done and analyzed the part of the goodwill of a premium product. Mr. Ioannis Balomenos, was followed, Chef and member of the Board of Directors of the Chefs Club of Greece, who spoke about local gastronomy and how it is connected to cultural tourism, among others.