About

OPIX is a newly established AI driven consulting firm that provides advice for evidence-based policy design and evaluation using both classic quantitative and qualitative tools, as well as big data algorithms. The company aspires to change the paradigm of public policy formulation and business strategy consulting and modelling by using big data and AI technologies. Its vision is to take evidence-based policy making and strategy design to the next level, meeting emerging policy demands arising from highly increased (open and proprietary) data availability and computational affordance. The areas of expertise in OPIX include Science, Research & Innovation, Cohesion Policy, SMEs & Industrial Policy, Digital Transformation and Health. The company offers: a)tTraditional Consulting Services for studies, evaluations and other consulting works that are performed following conventional methodologies and using standard tools and processes independently of advanced AI/big data technologies. b)tAI-based Consulting Services for studies, evaluations and other consulting works that require (or significantly benefit from) AI-based data analytics for their underpinning. Several tools are already available with generic and specialised functionality in strategic domains (such as research & innovation, health, and the green economy).

Solution & Product

CREATING VALUE FROM DATA Whoever the client is, OPIX works together with it to identify the problem at hand, assists in formulating the right questions, scouts for the right data, whether it is inside the organization or open data outside, and transforms it to actionable processes. The OPIX AI-based technology and solutions include the following: Content Analysis: Analyzing big volumes of text, extracting (interrelated) keywords and concepts, identifying topics, interrelations, and analyzing attitudes (sentiment) and opinions. Content Classification: Given a text and a taxonomy/classification scheme, classifying documents and assigning a type according to the taxonomy/scheme. Network Analysis: Building networks of entities based on collaboration, neighbourhood, etc., and studying and analyzing these networks based on common patterns. OPIX PLATFORM The OPIX Platform is currently under development, to be offered as a service. The software and data will remain on OPIX grounds. In special enterprise deals, the platform itself may be offered as a product as well, licensed to a large corporation and installed on its premises.

Innovation & Scalability

The OPIX Platform will provide interdisciplinary, accountable policy advice by bringing together high-quality, sustainable and cost-efficient expertise in big data technologies, public policy, and business strategy formulation. This will be performed based on a combination of diverse advanced big data methods/techniques/technologies and profound thematic knowledge and policy understanding, The expert in the loop will then be acting as the catalyst for delivering an integrated corporate product/service, underpinned by big data The OPIX Platform offers specialised technology and technological resources in the focus areas of the company mentioned above. At the two platform ends, it offers mostly domain-specific resources: •tFront: models, measurements, visualizations, trends, and other value-added knowledge products •tBack: data lakes populated strategically or opportunistically. Also, at the platform core, it offers mostly generic technology and infrastructure: •tGeneral AI algorithmic tools •tData Science pipelines •tComputation orchestration The challenge for OPIX is to scale up fast in the growing big data/data analytics market that will allow it to become a competitive, resilient player. This depends on its ability to act and fund its relevant activities earlier than its competitors.

Traction & achievements

In the first 6 months since its creation, OPIX secured contracts worth in the order of 300.000€ and has made research and commercial proposals budgeted at over 600.000€, for the majority of which the results are still pending. Fund from the contracts that are being implemented are partially covering the initial cost of the platform development, with its first version expected to be fully operational within a year.

Team & Why Us

Jointly founded by a research center (as a spin-off of the Athena Research Center), a multinational consulting company (Technopolis Group), university professors and researchers, OPIX is in a position to offer unique interdisciplinary consulting services. It combines highly competent human capital with sophisticated machine learning and text mining tools, targeting the entire spectrum of policy consultancy, starting from the strategy/programme/policy design stage and continuing on all the way to the implementation, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment stages. The OPIX founders and leading initial hires bring years of experience on big data and artificial intelligence technologies, public policy, and private business strategy formulation. OPIX is already the first company in Greece and among the first in Europe to provide evidence-based public policy and business strategy consulting, using advanced BD/AI technologies.   The estimated growth strategy of OPIX is as follows (in ‘000€): Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Growth without AI 257 600 750 950 1100 1400 1450 Growth with AI 257 600 850 1550 2100 3000 4050

Funding Needs

The challenge for OPIX is to develop its platform and gain first-mover advantages at this early stage of the AI-based consulting market development. While there is well-founded confidence that OPIX will be able to fund the development of its platform from its own contracts, availability of potential external funding, in the form of State support or venture capital, would certainly speed up the growth of the company and will ensure that OPIX will outcompete incumbents and new entrants on time. Estimated needs at this stage are 180.000€ for the first year or 450.000€ for the first three years.