The 1st Retail Innovation Hub Summit was successfully completed
Press Release
June 22nd 2023
The 1st Retail Innovation Hub Summit was successfully completed
Cardlink, member of Worldline (Euronext:WLN), the European leader in payments services, is proud to announce the successful completion of the 1st Retail Innovation Hub Summit, which took place on Wednesday, June 14th at Atraktos, with the presence of valuable partners of the company and representatives of leading businesses from the retail industry.
Retail Innovation Hub Summit was held as part of the Retail Innovation Hub (RIH), the open innovation program implemented by Cardlink with Found.ation as its strategic partner. The aim of the RIH is for retail experts, startups, and technology companies to meet and shape together the future of retail in the digital era.
The event was warmly welcomed by Cardlink’s CEO, Antigonos Papadopoulos, who highlighted the company’s long-standing commitment to stand by its customers, helping them to develop their business. As he stated, “We stand by our customers. We learn from them and evolve with them. Our goal is to provide them with integrated solutions that meet their needs and add value to their businesses.”
This was followed by an inspiring speech by Found.ation’s Managing Partner, Philip Zakopoulos, who gave an in-depth analysis of the impact of digital transformation, current innovation trends worldwide, and the impact that new technologies will bring on everyday life.
Cardlink’s Solutions & Innovation Manager, Yannis Kordonis, then took the stage to present and describe the initiatives implemented by RIH. Among other things, he referred to the role of these initiatives as opportunities to receive feedback from the market for the creation of solutions that respond significantly to the modern requirements of retailers, while he underlined the role of the Business Factory in effectively connecting the retail sector with an ecosystem of innovation. “The Business Factory is not an ordinary accelerator. It is an innovative initiative that aims to connect startup solutions with the retail industry in a tangible and meaningful way,” he said.
Currently, Business Factory is developing 12 new solutions for innovative products that are expected to be launched on the market in the upcoming period, contributing to the evolution of the industry as a whole. The startup companies that collaborate with Cardlink within the context of the Business Factory, for the development of these solutions were also present at the event.
During the Business Factory Fireside Chat, moderated by Konstantinos Geros, Head of Business Development of Found.ation, the representatives these companies, George Augenakis, Co-founder & CEO at Shiplemon, Alex Kyriakopoulos, Co-founder & COO at Simpler, and Sotiris Syrmakezis, Co-founder & CEO at Throo, underlined the importance of initiatives such as RIH’s Business Factory for the development of innovative products and services, while they pointed out that Cardlink is a leader in its sector and has the expertise and experience to ensure that the proposals of startups reach the market as integrated solutions.
George Zacharopoulos and Angeliki Ntzari, Product Managers at Cardlink, who participated in the discussion, among others, referred to the importance of collaboration between startups and businesses for the successful development of an open innovation ecosystem and the creation of value for all parties.
Executives from Cardlink’s leading partner companies also attended the event. Andreas Perris, Retail Operations Supervisor at Vodafone, Stelios Panaretos, IT Retail Manager at Motor Oil (Hellas) Korinthos Refineries S.A., Vassilis Magoulas, Head of Payments & Credit at Dixons South-East Europe and Marios Petrou, Commercial Manager Key Clients at Cardlink participated in an interesting open discussion, moderated by Neofytos Kolokotronis, Head of Products & Services of Found.ation, on the innovative strategies and latest tech trends that are shaping the future of their industries.
The 1st Retail Innovation Hub Summit concluded with the presentation of the annual survey “The State of Innovation in Retail 2023” of the Retail Innovation Hub, by Anthi Boudouri, Senior Content Marketing Officer at Cardlink, who noted: “RIH’s vision is not only to be a meeting point for startups and businesses but also to provide deep market insights. This knowledge is power, but it becomes even more valuable when shared. So, the combination of Found.ation’s expertise in creating such reports with insights from RIH provided a valuable knowledge tool for understanding the changes taking place in the retail industry.”
More details about the Retail Innovation Hub can be found here.
The “State of Innovation in Retail 2023” report is available free of charge here.
About Cardlink
Cardlink was founded in 2004 and is the largest payment service provider in Greece with more than 290,000 POS, 25,000 e-Commerce stores and 400 million transactions per year. Cardlink helps businesses with their day-to-day transactions with quality, security and speed. The Cardlink team monitors developments in the field of electronic payments and adopts the latest technologies and services that continuously improve the trading experience in physical and electronic commerce. Since September 2021, Cardlink has been member of Worldline (Euronext:WLN), the European leader in the payments services.
www.cardlink.gr
About Worldline
Worldline [Euronext: WLN] helps businesses of all shapes and sizes to accelerate their growth journey – quickly, simply, and securely. With advanced payments technology, local expertise and solutions customised for hundreds of markets and industries, Worldline powers the growth of over one million businesses around the world. Worldline generated a 4.4 billion euros revenue in 2022.
www.worldline.com
Read our 2022 Integrated Report.
Contact
Cardlink: Margarita Rosmari, tel. +30 210 6100674, email: pr@cardlink.gr
Aia Relate: Katerina Kaskouti, tel. +30 210 7418908, email: kaskouti@aea.gr
