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TheNational DocumentationCentreas the
GreekNational ContactPoint for theERC
, EKT, is the national institution for the aggregation, documentation and dis-
semination of scientific information. Founded in 1980, the organization serves the country’s research, education
and business communities and the wider public, enabling access to knowledge and facilitating research and
innovation.
Greece has a rich heritage and a growing wealth of scientific and cultural output that should be documented
and shared to empower citizens, educational institutions, research bodies and businesses. However, there is a
need for coordinated strategies to exploit the opportunities that the effective management of public knowledge
and digital content can create for societal progress and welfare. EKT relies on technical expertise, long-term
vision and effective planning to respond to the needs of an increasingly challenging international environment.
In a networked global environment, EKT acts as a strategic partner for the development of e-Science in Greece
and abroad. Within this frame, it focuses on expanding an already existing network of domestic and international
alliances – an essential building block for the European Research Area – and encourages investments – a basic
precondition for a viable and sustainable digital content policy which complies with European standards for
transparency in public information, preservation and interoperability.
At EKT, scientific content e-infrastructures embrace technological innovation to fulfill its main mission of aggre-
gating, documenting, storing and preserving digital content and disseminating it openly to the public in a way
that promotes growth, research and innovation. Placing emphasis on multi-directional content reuse, EKT devel-
ops enabling factors for the creation, use and growth of digital content in the entire lifecycle of digital content.
Access to knowledge lies at the heart of EKT’s activities. The organization is a strong supporter of open access
as a means for social and economic development and is at the forefront of national and international open ac-
cess initiatives that support the development and implementation of relevant policies for scientific and cultural
data.
Strategic priorities at EKT are structured around digital information: at the level of technological infrastructure
which lies at the heart of content creation, at the level of content development, and finally at the level of its dis-
semination and reuse according to the principles of open access.
Based on highly qualified staff and cutting-edge technology, EKT empowers access to and the growth of knowl-
edge through open content and related services, facilities, digital resources, software and collaboration tools.
Following global technological trends and advances, EKT continuously incorporates new flexible models for the
delivery of content and software systems as user-oriented services for research and innovation.
Open Content through Repositories, e-Journals & Digital Libraries:
Open access digital
repositories at EKT offer more than 4.500.000 pages of scientific information, which are continuously enriched to
cover all scientific disciplines. ΕΚΤ has the legal mandate to maintain the National Archive of PhD Theses, which
is available as an open access repository and provides access to the full text of over 18.500 doctoral theses. As
a result of strategic co-operations with scientific editors and cultural institutions, EKT’s ePublishing environment
is based on open source software. It integrates emerging technologies and applies international standards of
interoperability at all levels – data organization, preservation and services. Today, EKT seals its longstanding
co-operation with public libraries in Greece by organizing and making available online their rich archives in a
user-friendly digital repository environment with advanced navigation functions.
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EKT as the Greek NCP for the ERC