About Polymathia

The name

Polymathia (πολυμάθεια) is the Greek word for wide learning — knowledge gathered across many fields. Heraclitus famously warned that polymathy alone "does not teach understanding". We took the name as a reminder rather than a boast: collecting methods, tools and certificates is easy; turning them into a change your learners can feel is the actual work.

What we do

Polymathia is the education and training initiative of ΠΡΟΗΓΜΕΝΕΣ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΕΣ ΔΙΚΤΥΩΣΗΣ Ο.Ε. ("Advanced Networking Services"), a software and technology company based on Chios, in the North Aegean. The organisation works at the intersection of technology, education, social inclusion and local development.

Polymathia designs and delivers five structured courses for education staff. Subject to confirmed capacity and partner availability, it also supports job shadowing programmes, study visits, thematic workshops, peer-learning meetings and teaching assignments hosted on Chios. Where its organisational capacity and a project's design allow, Polymathia also takes part in European cooperation projects, as a partner or as a coordinating organisation.

Any accommodation, transport, cultural programme or other third-party service is described and priced separately from the educational content and the course fee.

Who we work with

Our activities address two distinct but complementary audiences.

Educators and education staff — primary and secondary school teachers, vocational education and training staff, adult educators and trainers, school leaders and education coordinators, library, cultural-centre and community-learning staff, and professionals supporting digital inclusion and lifelong learning.

Local and community learners — older adults at risk of digital exclusion, adults with limited digital confidence or formal qualifications, residents of rural, island and remote communities, young people participating as peer or intergenerational mentors, and community groups involved in environmental, civic or cultural initiatives.

Training for incoming European staff is designed as professional development. Local learners and community settings are involved only through demonstrations, observation, co-design or supervised learning activities, and only when this is appropriate, ethical and agreed in advance.

Team

Polymathia keeps a small coordination and management core, separate from course delivery, and engages subject trainers matched to the requirements of each course.

Dimitrios Karalis, Managing Partner and Legal Representative. In technology and business since 2000, and Managing Partner of Advanced Networking Services, the company behind Polymathia. Vice-President of the Chios Chamber of Commerce, and a former Deputy Mayor and City Councillor of the Municipality of Chios. At Polymathia he is responsible for organisational management, financial coordination, partnerships and dissemination.

Aleka Karkalou, Project Coordinator and Education Lead. An ICT educator with European and eTwinning school-partnership experience, and experience in coordinating transnational projects and mobility, working with visual programming, physical computing, simulation and app development within project-based, inclusive teaching. At Polymathia she is responsible for course design and delivery, learning materials, participant support and coordination.

Subject trainers are engaged per course, matched to the expertise each course requires. [TO CONFIRM: named trainers and short CVs]

How we teach

Course design starts from stated learning outcomes and practical transfer to participants' own organisations. Depending on the subject, this can include needs-based and competence-oriented design; workshops, demonstrations and guided practice; project- and problem-based learning; peer learning; case studies grounded in island, rural and community contexts; reflective practice; micro-teaching and peer feedback; and pre-course needs assessment with post-course evaluation.

The focus is not on promoting particular commercial products: tools may be demonstrated as examples, but learning outcomes are designed to stay technology-neutral, transferable and adaptable. Inclusive participation, accessibility, environmental responsibility, data protection and responsible digital practice run across the whole portfolio.

Where we work

Our base is Chios, an island at the eastern edge of the European Union, a short crossing from both the Greek mainland and the Turkish coast. Its island context is an authentic setting for challenges shared by many European rural, peripheral and island communities: demographic ageing, geographical isolation, uneven access to services, environmental pressures, and the risk of digital and social exclusion.

Field-based activities are run only when weather, accessibility, participant needs and local conditions make them suitable. Every course has an indoor or sheltered equivalent planned in advance, so delivery does not depend on the season.

Quality commitments

Polymathia applies twelve organisational quality commitments to its training and mobility activities.

1. Clear information before enrolment — target group, learning outcomes, trainer information, programme, language, level, group size, course fee, included services, accessibility information and cancellation terms, before registration.
2. Needs-based preparation — a pre-course questionnaire covering participant profiles, prior experience, professional needs, accessibility requirements and transfer objectives.
3. Active and relevant learning — practice, collaboration, reflection and application, rather than passive lecture-based delivery.
4. Weather-resilient design — no core learning outcome depends solely on outdoor activity; indoor or sheltered alternatives are prepared in advance.
5. Technology neutrality — transferable concepts and methods, not the promotion of a single commercial product.
6. Human-centred AI — human responsibility, appropriate oversight, data protection, verification and risk awareness in any AI-related activity.
7. Inclusion and accessibility — delivery adapted, where reasonably possible, to different learning needs, confidence levels and physical conditions.
8. Environmental responsibility — digital materials, local suppliers, reusable equipment and low-impact activity design, preferred where practical.
9. Recognition of learning — learning outcomes and participant outputs documented through appropriate certificates and, where relevant, European recognition tools.
10. Evaluation and improvement — participant feedback and trainer reflection used to improve future editions.
11. Transfer and dissemination — a realistic plan, prepared by each participant, for applying and sharing what they learned in their own organisation.
12. Transparent service provision — educational services and any optional travel-related services are described and priced separately, and clearly distinguishable from one another.

Organisation details

Organisation ID (OID)	E10438237
Full legal name (Greek)	ΠΡΟΗΓΜΕΝΕΣ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΕΣ ΔΙΚΤΥΩΣΗΣ Ο.Ε.
Full legal name (Latin, ELOT 743)	PROIGMENES YPIRESIES DIKTYOSIS O.E.
Business name	POLYMATHIA
VAT (ΑΦΜ)	EL801476978 (ΑΦΜ 801476978)
Commercial register (ΓΕΜΗ)	157642159000
Date of establishment	28/12/2020
Legal form	General Partnership (Ο.Ε.), private SME
Country	Greece
Region	North Aegean (EL41)
Address	Kanellou Styl. 1, 82132 Chios, Greece
Telephone	+30 697 626 4313
Website	www.polymathia.eu
Legal representative	Dimitrios Karalis
Contact person	Aleka Karkalou
Email	[TO CONFIRM: official mailbox on the polymathia.eu domain]

The postcode appears as 82132 in the Partner Identification Form and as 82100 on the AADE tax registration certificate. [TO CONFIRM]

These are the details you need for the partner section of a KA1 or KA2 application. We send them, together with a signed invitation letter, as soon as you ask.