Coworking, Chemistry & Supporting Sustainabilty

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Behind The Scenes with AristEng

Every day, industries churn out massive amounts of waste: organic, chemical, and everything in between. AristEng, an engineering consulting firm, believes that this waste could become the starting point for something valuable.

Headquartered in Luxembourg, AristEng also operates from Stone Soup coworking in Athens. The company was founded in 2021 by Evangelos Delikonstantis and Stavros Theofanidis, two close friends and colleagues with a strong passion for research and dedication to chemical engineering.

team of chemical engineers coworking office

The company specializes in chemical process design, particularly within the framework of the circular economy, waste valorization, and sustainable product development. Their work spans a range of services, including environmental, techno-economic, and social impact assessments, as well as circularity analysis, market research, and business modeling.

“We try to come up with greener processes. Greener process steps that produce something in a more environmentally friendly and economically viable way.”


AristEng operates largely within the framework of European Union-funded projects, collaborating with a wide network of companies, universities, research institutes, and technology end users across Europe. They contribute their expertise through research partnerships in project consortia, proposal writing, and outsourced consultancy to those seeking specialized knowledge.

While the company might be small—currently a team of ten—its impact is growing. With offices already in Luxembourg, Athens, and Kozani. AristEng is scaling up sustainably, step by step, one project at a time.

Turning Waste Streams into Cleaner Energy Solutions

One of AristEng’s recent projects—led by Chemical Engineer Kostas Stergiou —involves forest biomass. Forest biomass, such as wood, enters a pyrolysis reactor to produce bio-oil and other valuable by-products. AristEng’s role is to analyze what should happen to the gas and liquid by-products generated during this process. Rather than letting those go to waste, the team investigates how to valorize them, transforming them into useful resources like electricity, methanol, or even hydrogen.

Of course, this kind of transformation isn’t simple. It requires heat, electricity, and carefully designed systems to ensure the environmental and financial benefits truly outweigh the costs. AristEng performs full life-cycle assessments, helping determine if each innovation is technically feasible, environmentally sound, and economically viable.

“Our job is to find out: Is it technically possible? Is it environmentally better than what we currently do? Is it financially viable?”

Spyros Kymiris from the team is evaluating a new configuration for cooling cycles (used in refrigeration and air conditioning) designed to use less energy and produce fewer emissions. Here again, AristEng provides the environmental, economic, and circularity assessments needed to determine whether the new system could compete with or even replace existing technologies.

Rebecca and Spyros discussing AristEng the sustainable startup

Greener Futures, Pushing Sustainability Forward

Through the team’s expertise and experience in multi-level chemical design and assessment, AristEng plays a crucial role in providing the EU and its partners with the scientific, technical, and business intelligence needed to drive energy transitions. The results of these research projects often feed into policy development, green infrastructure investments, and industrial-scale implementation.

In short, AristEng is helping Europe go green—not just ideologically, but strategically.

sustainable processes

How Coworking Supports Sustainability

We asked Spyros Kyrimis how being based at Stone Soup Coworking supports their work:

“The daily interaction with the welcoming Stone Soup team and fellow coworkers adds a unique energy to our workday. Combined with the comfortable setup and the inspiring view over Athens’ urban landscape, it creates an environment that truly fosters productivity and collaboration.”

One of the great strengths of coworking is its versatility. It’s not built for just one type of company, startup, or individual. Instead, it fosters a flexible, evolving community—making it an ideal environment for sustainability-focused teams like AristEng.

But coworking spaces don’t just support teams working on sustainability—they actively contribute to it. The connection between coworking and sustainability is increasingly clear, as shared workspaces help reduce overall resource consumption, minimize waste, and encourage more efficient use of energy and infrastructure.

coworking community


Zoe Fragou: Redefining Workplace Wellbeing and Culture

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What it means to be an organisational psychologist today


When we asked Zoe what she’s up to at Stone Soup, she opened up and shared the diverse roles an organisational psychologist plays. Her focus includes corporate training, team building, psychometric tests, and especially programs around culture change in the direction of equity, diversity, inclusion, and mental health. Now, her work has grown way beyond that.

Zoe Fragou is the founder of Fragoulous Minds, which she described as more of an ecosystem than a company. “Half the people I work with are artists,” she said, because apart from training, they also produce comics, videos, podcasts, and are even working on a board game about personal development. “Everyone expected me to write a book,” she laughed, “but I said, no—not yet. Let’s make a board game instead.”

Are people happy to be at work?

Zoe pointed out that workplace wellbeing, mental health, and inclusion are finally on the agenda for more and more businesses. But not all of them get it—some just want to “tick the box.” Still, she sees a shift, especially thanks to Gen Z. “They have boundaries,” she said. “They’ll just say, ‘this isn’t for me,’ and leave. And that’s pushed companies to change, because they can’t keep people anymore unless they do better.

The impact of this type of work is measured with tools like pre- and post-intervention tests, retention rates, absenteeism, and how emotionally committed people are to their workplace. There are many ways to measure progress and the wellbeing of workers, but she stressed the importance of asking the simple question:  “Are people happy to be at work?” That feeling matters.

Zoe Fragou giving a talk on inclusion, diversity and mental health.

Zoe’s favorite sessions are the ones that focus on promoting inclusion, especially “because a lot of non-inclusive behavior comes from lack of awareness, not bad intentions.” Also, a growth mindset—helping people believe they can change, no matter where they’re starting from.

The trend she’s not a fan of? Resilience. Not because resilience is bad, but because too many companies use it as an excuse. “They say, ‘You’re not resilient enough,’ instead of taking responsibility for the toxic environment they’re creating,” she said. “It shouldn’t just fall on the employee.”

At the heart of Zoe’s work is the idea that empowerment isn’t a buzzword—it’s a mindset, and one that needs the right environment to grow.

Zoe Fragou's podcast which explores wellbeing, ethical change, inclusion, diversity and mental health.

Being Part of a Coworking Space 

For the team, choosing a private office within a coworking space was a conscious decision. A place like Stone Soup offers the best of both worlds—the privacy of your own space, along with the chance to connect with others and meet people working on a variety of projects.

When it comes to professional circles, Zoe pointed out an unexpected alignment, “I would say it sounds weird, but we vibe more with tech people and marketing people and not so much with people from the mental health sector, although that’s who we are technically, but the way we approach business is closer to tech companies and media companies.” 

Check out Fragoulous Minds work and projects here

Work Opportunities Today; the LoopCV Perspective

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From Frustration to Innovative Prospects

It all began four years ago, when one of the LoopCV co-founders struggled in an unfulfilling job. However, as he realized, in order to find the best work opportunities out there, he had to spend a disproportionate amount of time and effort in job applications. In other words, he experienced, firsthand, the need for a more efficient approach to job-seeking. Drawing on his programming expertise, he developed a rudimentary version of LoopCV, setting in motion a journey fueled by innovation and a deep desire for change.

community news; Loopcv platform; new job-seeking platform; find a job; work opportunities for coworkers
Check out the LoopCV community

A User-Centric Design

In a sea of job search platforms, LoopCV stands out by placing the needs of the job-seeker front and center, opening up the chances for a successful job match. Unlike traditional job boards, which often prioritize revenue generation from businesses, LoopCV takes a different approach. The platform is designed to make job-seeking smoother for the applicant, by offering a comprehensive solution that automates the entire search process – from job discovery to application submission, thus providing the user with a greater variety of professional prospects and opportunities.

Testimonials: More Job Options Available

Over the years, the growing LoopCV team has received numerous testimonials from users who have found job openings through their platform. Their stories serve as a testament to the impact they’ve made in transforming the job search experience. As they explain, they are thrilled with the feedback they have received, “from heartfelt emails expressing gratitude to word-of-mouth recommendations, our users’ success stories fuel our passion to continue innovating and improving providing them with career opportunities that are both qualitatively and quantitatively rewarding”.

Advice on work related matters, job opportunities, interviews in the LoopCV instagram account
Follow LoopCV on instagram for insightful advice on the job-seeking A-B

A Space of Support and Possibilities

LoopCV indicated that their journey as entrepreneurs has been enriched by their membership in coworking spaces like Stone Soup. The vibrant community and collaborative environment have provided them with invaluable support, networking as well as work a wide range of opportunities. Surrounded by like-minded individuals who often face similar challenges, they have found camaraderie and interactions that propel their growth. In this regard, they support that “as the landscape of remote work and coworking spaces continues to evolve, we envision a future where technology and community intersect to redefine the way we work and collaborate”. 

Work Advice for Aspiring Innovators

To fellow entrepreneurs venturing into the job search industry, LoopCV offer this valuable piece of advice: embrace experimentation and failure. Innovation thrives on the willingness to try new things and learn from setbacks and more opportunities appear once we are open to different and even seemingly strange prospects.

Conclusion: Shaping the Future of Work

In conclusion, LoopCV is not just a platform – it’s a testament to the power of innovation and perseverance. As they specifically explained: “while we continue on our journey to empower job seekers worldwide, we remain committed to our mission of revolutionizing the job search experience, one success story at a time”. So why not open up your vocational horizons too, by joining the Loopcv universe and shape the future of work, together.

LoopCV rooftop meetings; stone soup private office holders; rooftop meetings
LoopCV meetings on Stone Soup rooftop

Empowering women in tech and advocating for ethical AI

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Can AI create poetry? Will driverless cars navigate through Athens anytime soon? Will Facial Recognition Technologies be deployed in public places? One of our latest members can suggest many potential answers to these intriguing questions. Sacha analyses ethical guidelines and suggests policy frameworks on artificial intelligence (AI). She works for the nonprofit think-tank The Future Society that focuses on AI policy and ethics. We had the chance to speak with her about her research on AI and the role of women in tech, a field that she is motivated to promote. 

Sacha on the coworking rooftop

Getting into the tech industry and AI policy

Sacha is Franco-Chilean. She was raised in Paris and studied politics, philosophy, and economics in the UK, France, and the US.  During her Master’s studies in International Affairs in Paris, she participated in an exchange program in Boston. This decision was a turning point for her career in AI policy. It is during this exchange program that she met the co-founder and president of The Future Society, Nicolas Miailhe. While in Boston she became accustomed to AI and digital innovation, but also to the lack of women and minorities present in this field. 

She is an inspiring example to everyone who loves traveling and experiencing new ways of working with others. Furthermore, she did research about the lack of women in the tech sector: the gap is huge for reasons that are both social and economic. Her studies led her to argue that diversity (ethnic, gender, socio-economic, political) is an important factor to boost productivity and creativity in the workplace. 

Sacha on the rooftop

From theory to practice: working on responsible AI adoption  

Once back in Paris, Sacha was able to reconnect with The Future Society’s co-founder and evolve in an innovative, rapidly changing field. The Future Society specializes in the ethics and governance of AI while advancing its responsible adoption for the benefit of humanity. At the same time, they support the empowerment and active voice of women in tech. In the upcoming month, Sacha will work on Tunisia’s AI National Strategy.

She has also conducted research on different relative topics. These include the ethical challenges for the adoption of contact tracing apps, and the use of AI to fight against the pandemic (with the Global Partnership for AI). As a side project, she built a whole digital community of Affiliates, coming from 20 countries, to advance responsible AI adoption globally and support the organization’s workstreams. They share their views and experiences through a Slack group while using the Signal app for chatting.

Sacha and colleagues

Digital innovation & AI policy for a sustainable society

Sacha’s research on AI policy is about finding the right balance between capturing the upsides of AI and limiting its risks.

AI development can lead to curated educational programs and healthcare self-diagnosis on one hand, and online surveillance and political disinformation on the other. 
For example, Sacha notes that digital contact tracing apps used during the pandemic may be very helpful to identify clusters and limit the spread of the virus. But on the other hand, citizens may not use these apps, even when the design achieves high levels of data privacy, as they have lost trust in governmental authorities and are suspicious of technology using sensitive data! 
Moreover, Sacha underlined the example of automatization of work. Automatization done correctly can bring work-life balance with less working hours, more free time, and same or higher salary. We must change the way we think about labor values and measurements of productivity, she adds. Lifelong learning can help prepare workers for upskilling and repurposing of work goals and practices. 

Sacha and colleagues in Athens

“It is important to remember  that we are still at the dawn of AI adoption, so many paths are possible. We tend to think that the course of technology is linear, when actually we can collectively decide upon its trajectory.”

How does AI relate to remote work?

Digital innovation and AI policy are definitely related to coworking practices! So we asked Sacha to suggest tips and apps we can use while working remotely to keep our private data safe:

  • Using a Protonmail
  • Trying the Signal app
  • Connecting to a VPN
  • Installing an Adblocker is such a relief!
  • Checking the cookies on a website is truly crucial too! Let’s learn to avoid the “accept all” option!

The EU currently has one of the most regulated frameworks in the world (GDPR) so it takes two seconds to check your cookies!

The pandemic is an awakening call that teaches us to be able to organize ourselves in distance and work remotely. This can happen on a personal level. We learned from Sacha that Greece kickstarted the process to draft its AI strategy last summer. This builds on other local ongoing initiatives, such as the “AI and Rule of Law” Roundtable, which happens every October. According to the Chair Of the AI and Rule Law initiative, Nicolas Economou, who organized the second annual Athens Roundtable on  “AI and the rule of law” last October, this is a very promising initiative that will also help Greece digitize its public sector. 

Sacha in AI civic forum

Advocating for more women in tech

During her exchange in Boston, Sacha researched the reasons behind the lack of women and minorities in the tech sector. She shared some shocking numbers! According to a report published in 2019, there are only 18% of women researchers in the field of AI.  This inspired her to build curriculums and mentorship programs in AI policy and ethics to train more women in this field. And we might get a taste because we discussed planning an AI policy and ethics discussion group at Stone Soup too (of course we’ll let you know)!

Sacha coworker on rooftop

Working on digital innovation from Athens

Do you know what else boosts Sacha’s creativity? Athens itself! She ended up here during the pandemic when she realized that she doesn’t have to stay in a specific place to work. She admits that the sun makes her more productive. Athens is an underrated city in her opinion, still unnoticed by many apart on their way to the Cyclades, and she characterized it as the Berlin of the Mediterranean! She loves how the city flourishes artistically while conserving its original vibes. Because of her work,  Sacha is often thinking about the future, and in Athens, she finds the perfect balance to live in the present as well. And we are happy to add her ingredients to our pot!