On May 28, 2025, George Kokkinos, President of NILEAS participated in EPI GIS V Conference “Sustainable Agriculture, Innovation and Entrepreneurship” organised by Olympia Forum, where the focus was on current challenges and opportunities in sustainable agriculture. The conference covered multiple thematic areas including digitalisation, circular economy, and climate-resilient farming practices. 

In the session “Plant Breeding for Resilience to Climate Change Challenges: Modern Approaches,” he emphasized that bioeconomy harnesses renewable biological resources (such as olive trees and their by-products) to build more sustainable and circular systems. Key strategies he highlighted included managing waste through composting or converting olive-mill by-products into energy or fertilizers, adopting sustainable farming practices such as agroforestry and organic farming, and developing drought-resistant olive varieties to increase resilience. He also noted that a bioeconomic approach can reduce production costs, achieve economies of scale, and yield products of higher environmental quality. 

He also presented AgriDataValue project, stressing the importance of knowledge transfer between researchers, farmers and other actors in the sector to encourage the adoption of innovative and sustainable practices in olive growing. He emphasised that while traditional systems remain valued for their cultural heritage and contribution to agricultural diversity, new farming models that incorporate innovative technologies and advanced practices can coexist with these systems. This coexistence should involve the selective adoption of these practices to improve both the productivity and sustainability of the traditional olive production. 

The event was attended by more than 300 participants, including representatives from local authorities and industry, farmers, advisors, members of the scientific community, and students.