The new Open Business platform replaces the one created in 2017, Notify Business, is finally launched almost nine years after its creation and almost seven years after the call for tender. It is noted that the Open Business platform can be accessed via https://openbusiness.mindev.gov.gr/. The sectors to which the activities that will be licensed through the platform belong are the following: 1.Manufacturing - Logistics - Environment - Information Technology. 2.Mining. 3. 4.Livestock - Aquaculture - Veterinary activities. 5. Vehicle service facilities. 6. Food and beverage services. 7.Education-Training. 8.Social care. In addition to the notification process, OpenBusiness also supports the process of approval of the establishment or operation of an activity, from the submission of the application to the final decision. Through the new information system, amendments, posting and updating of supporting documents, submission of other requests related to licensing, transfer of the activity and declaration of cessation of operation are also supported. In OpenBusiness, a digital locker is created for each economic operator, where all its establishments, the activities carried out in each establishment and the full licensing history are registered. Thus, the public administration bodies involved in the relevant procedures, totalling 1,336, will be able to refer to the digital locker of each economic operator (business), thus replacing traditional filing folders and, of course, to search for any information through the portal.

The Greek islands and the mainland are served during the summer by 155 ferries which travel daily to 115 ports, either connecting them with the mainland or with each other. These ships are owned by 33 companies. Those companies that can bear the burden of the investments required for the green transition and the increased fuel costs can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And so begins a round of mergers and acquisitions of companies and even ships, as some medium-sized companies try to gain the scale and corporate structure that will give them access to public and bank financing. In other words, to become what is known in the banking market as bankable; companies that can attract bank interest by having the solvency and credibility that bankers are looking for.

The very high demand for student accommodation in various cities of the country, alongside Athens and Thessaloniki, is exploited by private investors who are undertaking significant renovation of existing buildings, e.g. old hotels, in order to offer modern accommodation at competitive costs. It is already estimated that there are more than 500 student apartments operation nationwide in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and Xanthi, and new ones are being launched. The cost of renting these properties is estimated to be 20% to 40% higher than a conventional residence in the same area or city and ranges from 300 to 700 euros, depending on location and surface area. However, these apartments are fully furnished and equipped with all appliances required for the student's stay (e.g. kitchen, fridge, TV, etc.), while the price also includes utility bills, i.e. the cost of electricity, water and Internet access. When all of the above is taken into account, the prices are directly competitive with a conventional apartment. At the same time, the private apartments are of modern standards, as they are located in fully renovated buildings and house other students, with all that this implies for the socialisation and freedom that the student tenants have. This is why these properties record occupancy rates of over 95%. Rental costs range from 450 euros for apartments of 20 sqm - 25 sqm, to 650 euros for properties of 60 sqm - 65 sqm. However, these prices do not include the associated utility and internet bills, and also include houses without furniture and appliances.

In recent years, mainly technology companies but also businesses from other sectors have been engaged in a race to attract new talent, expanding the field of search to the cities of the region. Under the motto "We go to the talent instead of waiting for it to find us" they are creating innovation centres in various regions of Greece, with Patras emerging as a focal point of this strategy. The latest arrival in Patras is software developer Profile, which recently opened a new office that will serve as a research and development (R&D) centre. This is not the listed company's only hub, as it was preceded in 2020 by the creation of a subsidiary in Thessaloniki, which employs specialist IT engineers for Profile's new digital banking platforms. With the target for the Patras hub reaching 40-50 people over time, Angelidis acknowledges the intense competition. It should be noted that Uni Systems together with Knowledge, a Patras-based company, proceeded in 2023 to create a technology hub with the aim of developing a specialized team of executives to qualitatively and quantitatively meet the growing digital needs of modern businesses. "Currently, the hub employs around 20 people in software development cycle specialties, while the Pleiades IoT innovation incubator, a spin-off of Uni Systems, has created a regional subsidiary in Patras, within the Patras Science Park, where it develops various activities both in the development of the local ecosystem and in the implementation of projects."

The US company Danjaq, which manages the multi-billion dollar "James Bond" trademark, is in a battle to retain control of it with Austrian real estate tycoon Joseph Kleidinst, based in Dubai. According to an exclusive report in the Guardian, the latter has filed "applications to cancel" the trademarks in both the UK and the EU, claiming they are not being used commercially in certain categories of products and services. Under the relevant legislation in place in the UK and the EU, if a name is trademarked against certain goods and services, but the owner has not used it commercially in those areas for at least five years, then proceedings can be initiated to cancel ownership. Joseph Clydynst, who is building a $5 billion luxury resort called "Heart of Europe" on six islands off the coast of Dubai, has filed a series of "cancellation actions" targeting the James Bond brand. The categories that have been challenged include a wide range of goods and services, such as "model vehicles", "electronic comics", "electronic publishing", but also more unexpected uses such as restaurants, cocktail lounges and hotel services.

Europe's richest family pockets another €5 billion as the French house of Hermès completes four years of record profitability, allowing even higher dividends to be distributed to the 100 or so heirs of this luxury empire. The Birkin bag company posted sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, at a time when its rivals such as LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Gucci's parent Kering recorded a decline as demand in the luxury sector is weak. Against this backdrop, Hermès plans to distribute a dividend of 26 euros per share for 2024, the largest in its history. This will be an increase from the previous year's 25 euros but also double the dividend for 2022, which was still two-thirds higher than in 2021. With the company's sales setting a new record every year, both shareholders and employees benefit. The company announced a €4,500 bonus for all employees for last year's results. And based on Bloomberg's calculations, the 100 heirs of the family behind Hermès, who control just over two-thirds of the company's shares, have received a total dividend of 5.1 billion euros for the past four years. The Hermès family's wealth is estimated at $2138 billion, as the company's stock has more than tripled in value on the Paris stock exchange since the beginning of 2021.

Some 14 months from December 2023, when her fortune reached $100 billion, making her the richest woman in the world, Françoise Betancourt, heiress to the L'Oreal empire that fifteen years ago experienced bombastic negative publicity, will soon leave position as vice president of the company and delegate more responsibilities to the younger generation. She will be replaced by her 38-year-old son, Jean Victor Meyers, already a director at the company, and his younger brother, Nicolas, while her place on the board will be taken by Alexandre Bennet, head of the group's investment arm, Tethys Invest. The changing of the guard by the younger generation of the family that controls about 35% of L'Oreal comes after the wealth of the Betancourt-Myers, as Françoise's husband is known, fell to $76 billion in the last 12 months, following a sharp drop in global demand for cosmetics, particularly from the hugely important Chinese market.

2024 was the year when concerns about over-tourism touched a large portion of residents in popular destinations, sparking protests from Amsterdam to the Canary Islands and bringing new regulations from Iceland to Indonesia. This year, more destinations worldwide will implement measures to restrict tourists, but it is still doubtful whether they will have an effect. Some believe that the situation can no longer be reversed. After all, economic interests are hampering efforts against overtourismThe most prominent examples of measures that will be tested this year are the regulations on short-term rentals in France, the Czech Republic and Greece. Also, ports in Ibiza and Juneau in Alaska will limit the number of ships and, in the case of Juneau, the number of passengers. In Bruges, construction of new hotels has been halted, while Amsterdam has imposed similar measures. Pompeii will allow up to 20,000 tourists a day, in New Zealand the tourist tax will rise to around $57, in Japan popular destinations will have a limit on the number of tourists and a curfew is being imposed in a historic neighbourhood in Seoul.

Leveraging a business model based on both scarcity and the absolute loyalty of its customers, Ferrari, the Italian giant of high-performance sports car manufacturing, is experiencing a new golden age. Having increased its share price tenfold since its IPO, Ferrari is now worth $90 billion and is the most valuable automaker in Europe, despite the fact that last year delivered just 13,752 vehicles. The new Ferrari's $37 million "supercar" was unveiled to the public in October, but with a twist: it was not available for sale. All 799 units of the low-powered F80 model, the most expensive car in the company's history, had been given to top customers like Luc Poirot. The Montreal real estate entrepreneur already owns 42 Ferraris and said "lucky" to have been given the opportunity to buy another one. After all, it's not to have money to buy a top-of-the-line Ferrari; you need to have a long-term relationship with the company. Ferrari earned its European leadership thanks to a reliable group: the French luxury handbag consumers.

The electric truck company Nikola once had a larger market capitalization than Ford. Then, its founder was accused of fraud, while the electric vehicle industry's promise of more environmentally friendly transportation "stumbled on rising production costs, slowing demand and the changing political landscape. Nikola was founded by Trevor Milton in the basement of his home in 2015. In 2016 he claimed to have built a fully functional hydrogen electric truck, raising billions of dollars in funding from big banks and industries such as General Motors and Bosch, as well as from small investors.