Interviews with technologists, business professionals, startupers, scientists, researchers and eHealth stakeholders

Interviews Abrupt

Shock, happiness, ecstasy, pure adrenaline and tiredness – those were the feelings moments after the announcement of the coveted victory… Shai Mishali, the global winner of BattleHack Competition Finals (https://2014.battlehack.org) in November 2014 (along with Pavel Kaminsky, as representatives of vibrant start-up city Tel Aviv, where they had won in the local competition), remembers the hot atmosphere, the VIP treatment and the unique experience of holding the Axe of Victory at San Jose, CA. He insists that he will take part again in the competition and urges every serious developer to join. Find him on Twitter under twitter.com/freak4pc. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #175  The winner of the BattleHack 2014 Axe speaks out, Shai Mishali

Dr. Aristotelis Chatziioannou, Electrical & Computer Engineer, Dr. Lefteris Pilalis, Biochemist and Dr. Ioannis Valavanis, Computer Engineer, all with a degree in Bioinformatics present http://e-nios.com, a spin-off they created from the National Hellenic Research Foundation. They talk about the solutions e-nios offers for analysing and interpreting data derived from modern high throughput Genomics technologies and the opportunities that open up for them in the future. They mention what it means to be a researcher and a startup founder; what kind of support they have received through mentoring and funding; whether they would prefer to be in some other country outside Greece and  how they see their startup growing. They touch on the subject of data ethics and the future of medicine and patient care due to supporting technologies like theirs. Follow them on http://twitter.com/e_nios or sign up on their newsletter http://eepurl.com/bn1c8j. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #176 Analysing the Genome, e-nios

PhotOral is the first intra-oral blue light wellness device, suitable for controlling your mouth’s microbiome. Stamatis Astra, CEO at PhotOral, life science startup based in Boston, explains how the product stemmed from biomedical research conducted within the Forsyth Institute; and how they plan to have it in the market by the end of 2016. He also talks about product development costs, investor backup, dental studies and what led them in the development of a new product, this time for pet hygiene. Pantelis Angelidis, founder and president of Vidavo, an mHealth company based in Greece, explains their incentives behind their investment in PhotOral and how they’re contributing to the company’s growth with expertise knowledge derived from their own specialisation in the eHealth domain. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #262 Bringing Oral Hygiene A Step Further Into The Future

As a Lord of the Rings fan... Netbeast fits the“One platform to control them all” description, meaning that Netbeast will be able to control all your smart and connected devices through one app. Co-founders Jon Senra Dearle, CEO & Jesus Dario Rivera, CTO at Netbeast share their story and the startup’s journey up to now. You will listen to what IoT challenges they are tackling and a brief concern about privacy and security. One of the highlights of the interview is when they explain how one can actually create an ideal wake up morning call thanks to Netbeast and smart devices. They discuss the similarities, the differences and the progress of the startup ecosystems in Spain and Germany. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #264 A Javascript Framework For All Your Smart Devices

Dr. Michail Bletsas, Research Scientist & the Director of Computing at MIT’s Media Lab was one of the founding members of the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ initiative, in 2005. He is a strong proponent of Connectivity, as he considers it is as necessary as our water supply; it provides the basis for communication, which he firmly believes distinguishes us humans from other complex species on this planet; it acted as the primary catalyst to help us “invent” social networking, law, religion, democracy and currency. He talks about the emerging, telephony and mobile, convergence; the EU and USA research environments versus that of China’s, and how the latter’s lack of institutions may prove critical in the failure or success equation.  Finally, he discusses the OLPC legacy, as the result of an elaborate demo, conducted by MIT, ever. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

TTC #265  Connectivity Is Important As Water

When he was only 12, Dimitri Chatzis built his own large 3D printer that he consequently used to build, two years later, a big humanoid and highly sophisticated talking robot. “Troopy” is one of the only six similar robots -based on the InMoov ecosystem- in the world. Dimitri is from the northern Greek town of Kavala and still a freshman in High School. He travelled to Athens, along with his robot “Troopy”, in order to take part in the Athens Science Festival during 2016 and found the time to talk to us about his passion for robotics, his love for research and his plans for the future. We’re pleased to say that “Troopy” contributed to the interview with a few words of his own.  Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #266 The Youngest Humanoid Robot Maker In The World

Their “love story” started back in the 90s, when Angelos Vourlidas went to the States initially to study black holes - he chose the Sun, instead, fascinated by the only source of heat and light for our planet. Angelos talks about his job and explains the grave consequences of solar activity and “winds” in our daily life; he asserts that the Sun hides a lot of secrets from us and never stops changing. He says that there is still a long way for the prediction of solar weather and shares with us the news that, in about two years from now, a special spacecraft will be sent for the first time inside the atmosphere of the Sun to record and send back valuable data. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #267 The Solar Weather Seeker

Having an interview with a London-based VC was pretty exciting as for the European startup ecosystem London is the closest thing to Silicon Valley. Axel Wehr who is Partner at Firestartr and previously an Associate in Bain Capital’s private equity group introduced us to Firestartr and to which verticals and regions they focus in. He mentions some factors of their investment strategy and why they believe that there is room for European unicorns. Apart from the capital, a VC should help and support its startups and Axel explains how they do that. Compared to the US startup ecosystem, Europe is showing progress but lacks of experienced capital, meaning teams and people that have successfully done that before. Closing he talks about some promising startups that are funded and supported by Firestartr. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #268  What A UK-based VC Can Offer A Promising Startup?

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