The ETIA project officially began on 22–23 September 2026 with a two-day kick-off meeting at the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete. The meeting brought the project team together to align around ETIA’s scientific direction, product vision and implementation priorities.

The first day opened with a welcome from Prof. Ioannis Tsamardinos, followed by team introductions, an overview and Q&A on the ETIA project, and a session on the longer-term vision for ETIA as a product and future company. The programme also covered project administration, financial and HR matters, as well as robustness, quality assurance, validation, use cases, marketing, communication and dissemination.

The second day shifted towards execution, with sessions on project organisation, ways of working, knowledge management and company culture, followed by product management, business development, investment readiness and legal considerations. Pavlos Charonyktakis also presented on product development, IT infrastructure and the role of AI in accelerating company processes.

The meeting concluded with a working session led by Ioannis Tsamardinos and Giorgos Papoutsoglou, focused on Q4 priorities, next-month tasks and team assignments, setting the first concrete steps for the months ahead.