"Technology Group for the Child" The biggest technology companies and institutions of Greece next to every child through the services they provide to "The Smile of the Child"

PRESS RELEASE

Athens, 24 February 2023

"Technology Group for the Child"

The biggest technology companies and institutions of Greece next to every child through the services they provide to "The Smile of the Child"

“If we all unite, we will succeed!” This phrase from the diary of 10-year-old Andreas Yannopoulos is the driving force for all people and companies who participate in and support "The Smile of the Child", and through it, children and their families in our country.

The Technology Group for Children, which since its creation in 2007 its members have undertaken, on an entirely pro bono basis, the consistent technological upgrading of the networks and services of the Organization in order for it to support even more effectively each and every child in need and danger in our country. Thanks to the Technology Group for Children, the ability for “The Smile of the Child” to perform its work across the country, in the best possible and most technologically efficient way, is guaranteed.

All of the above are now validated by “The Smile of the Child” with its decision to upgrade the Group, giving it the status of a unique entity in the Organizational chart and the Statute of the Organization, along with its own logo.

The Technology Group for Children operates under the coordination of the IT & Systems General Directorate of the National Bank of Greece, with the participation of business giants and institutions from the field of Information Technology (IT) (in alphabetical order) ACCENTURE, CISCO, COSMOTE, DELL, DIGITAL REALTY, KOTSOVOLOS - DIXONS SOUTH EAST EUROPE, EPSON, ESET, FACEBOOK, FAIRY NETWORK, GOOGLE, HP, HPΕ, IBM, LG, MICROSOFT, NOKIA, NOVA, ORACLE, PHILIPS, PROTONYX, SOFT1, SPACE HELLAS, SYMANTEC, VIBER, VISA, VODAFONE, WIND, XEROX, YUBOTO, DEMOKRITOS, ATHENS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, PLAISIO.

The importance of the Technology Group for the Child for the operation of the Organization is critical and tangible, as it ensures its immediate response to the calls it receives at the four hot/helplines of the Organization (National Helpline for Children SOS 1056, European Hotline for Missing Children 116000, European Helpline for Children and Adolescents 116111, National Hotline for Missing Adults 1017) and the Chat 1056 application for issues faced by children in direct danger, who go missing, who express suicidal ideation, who face serious health problems, who need the immediate transportation to hospitals, and many other emergency cases daily, 365 days per year, 24 hours per day.

Meanwhile, due to the technologically infrastructure that the Organization has -once again, thanks to the Group- it provides complete and holistic services, such as the activation of Amber and Missing Alert Hellas, the EMAAS system (formerly ECAAS, the European technological tool for managing cases of missing children and coordinating the necessary, case-by-case, transnational cooperation), the system of the Search and Rescue Team for Missing Children “Thanasis Makris”, the free, easy-to-use and designed for the "Smile" specifically mobile phone application Missing Alert App, the Viber chatbot, the implementation of critical programs such as Pediatric Home Treatment, and many more.

Lastly, via multiple and thorough checks the Group provides the Organization with a level of data management security level equal to that of its members.

The value of the Group and its positive impact on children is reflected over time in the many awards its member-companies have received, most recently the Impact BITE Awards 2022, where members of the Group, and their executives, received a total of five (5) Awards for the technological upgrades of the infrastructure and services they provide pro bono to the Organization for the most immediate and effective support and rescue of children in danger.

More in detail:

• 2008: "Contribution to the Use of Technology for the Benefit of Children" Award from WITSA (Global Alliance for Innovation, Technology and Services) in Kuala Lumpur. WITSA is a consortium of 80 IT associations from around the world, which today represent more than 90% of the global technology market, and the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards program aims to highlight the most important users of information and communication technologies worldwide.
• 2015: "Special Social Contribution Award" at the Annual Infocom World Technology Conference for the 1st Mobile Lab of Information, Education and Technology "Odysseus"
• 2021: Gold Award at the Impact BITE Awards for the Missing Alert App designed by COSMOTE on behalf of the Organization "The Smile of a Child"
• 2022: 1 Platinum, 3 Gold, and 1 Silver Awards at the Impact BITE Awards for: "Technology Infrastructure & Information Resource Management", Technology Group for Children "Technology at the Service of Children", WAN LAN Modernization of Infrastructure, Interconnection of all points of the Organization and ensuring data protection, Chat 1056 -Extension of the National Helpline for Children SOS 1056.

More information:
"The Smile of the Child"
Press Office
press@hamogelo.gr