Support to venture capitals
A strategy being drafted by the Development Ministry to promote innovative entrepreneurship includes joint investments by the New Economy Development Fund (TANEO) with business holdings funds, as well as tax incentives to attract foreign investments to newborn enterprises.
For investments in venture capitals, the ministry is planning for the use of 500 million euros from European Commission subsidies, while some 1.17 billion euros will be required for the general target of boosting innovation in the next seven years, i.e. the next EU funding period.
“We are not reinventing the wheel. These are tools tried and tested in Europe and throughout the world,” a market professional working with the ministry on the scheme has told Kathimerini. Such tools have been successfully applied in Israel by the Yozma corporation, which the ministry approached a few months ago in order to glean some of its know-how. The Yozma report recommends the creation of new business capital firms with the participation of TANEO, the investment of TANEO in two to four existing venture capitals and direct investments by the state fund for the attraction of foreign investors.
