Most of the world do not pay attention to Greece right now. It can be a mistake. Greece, the best known as a wonderful island, a sunshine city, and deep historical roots, quietly places the unexpected basis as unexpected, such as a modern and elastic technology economy.
The international spotlight often misses it, but the actual work begins, as the editor discovered in dozens of dialogue this week. At one time, the country standing on the cliff of the collapse of the economic collapse did not simply change the brand to an “innovation state.” We are changing clever marketing into reality with a new sense of policy shift, investor interest and technology and entrepreneurship.
In fact, he sat with Prime Minister Greece Kiri Acos Mitsutsuti on Thursday, and he filed an incident in Techcrunch, which he would not be surprised, not to catch it. “There is an important space to grow,” he admitted, but he admitted, “The stars are aligned.”
It didn’t happen without effort. Misotaki explained that Greece made a “conscious decision” half a year ago, beyond traditional economic strengths such as tourism and hospitality. “Technology can be 10%of our economy. This is perfectly possible,” he said. He comes from his background for venture capital, which founded Greece’s first incubator in 2001.
Although Greece may have arrived late at a European technology party, the timing can be found to be really advantageous. Greece had no capital to bet on bad bets, so he avoided expanded evaluation and failed ventures that stretch more mature ecosystems. Through a relatively clean slate, the country is moving rapidly to quickly position on emerging technology, especially artificial intelligence.
In fact, thanks to AI, the prime minister has a chance to skip potential. “We want to take a leap using technology.” “It’s not only catching up, but it’s actually better than many European countries.” He pointed out Greece’s success in digitizing public services. In some aspects, even Germany pointed out programs such as Microsoft Support AI system, which has been much more excellent in Germany and reduced the government contract review time from several hours to several minutes.
The dual strategy of modernizing the government while modernizing the government forms the backbone of Greek AI ambition. MITSOTAKIS thinks Greece is a laboratory of responsible innovation in areas such as health, civil protection and defense. “We are not talking about what the startup community is doing. We are a customer of technology. And we want to have more startup spirit as a government.”
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The important factor of this change is talent. Greece is trying to reverse the brain drainage of thousands of skilled workers who leave thousands of skilled workers during the financial crisis. “There are tax benefits -50% discount on income tax for seven years.” But he also said, “People will not come back for tax reductions. If they have a good job opportunity, they will come back if they think they can do something worthwhile and actually grow in Greece.”
To this end, in our conversation, we talked about the recent changes in Greece’s “Golden Visa” program, which gives people permits to three countries who invest at least € 250,000 in the Greek startup registered in the Greek Startup Registry. We also talked about two new programs that were designed to bring experienced foreign workers and entrepreneurs nationwide last year. (The last initiative is still in the pipeline, but it seems to reflect a wide range of devotion to openness.) “This is a global war for talented people.” “We must easily make people who can easily live in a place where Greek talent can come back or where to work here.”
MITSOTAKIS also emphasized the importance of expanding Athens, where herbs appear in Tesaloniki, Hera Clion and other university cities. “This should also be a story about regional development.”
Nevertheless, the prime minister acknowledged a continuous challenge, including the speed of legal reform, the need for late capital, and the complexity of carrying out business throughout the European market. But unlike the depth of the crisis, what Greece provides is predictability, stability and momentum. “Is this country moving in the right direction?” He asked investigatively. “The answer is right.”
For Mitsotakis, the ultimate goal is to make Greek progress a “irreversible”. He said that Legacy Building is not his focus, but those who have returned to Greece in both Bay, Bay, London and other places, who are both gathered for Mitsutaki and our founders who gathered for our sitting, want to continue the progress of the country.
Mitsotakis said, “We cannot perform miracles.” We cannot create lost land for several years. But we think we have been out of the malicious cycle of the past, and I think technology is a great opportunity for both private sectors and governments. “
You can interview with Mitsotakis below.