diaNEOsis Presentation: Innovation in Greece today
Private sector investment in research and innovation remains quite low, according to the Dianeosis’ survey. The data, presented by the Director of Dianeosis, Thodoris Georgakopoulos, shows that private sector spending on research and development stands at 0.59%of GDP compared to 1.42% in the EU. Between 2011 and 2013, only one in seven Greek companies had some form of cooperation with a university or research centre and only one in four companies had a research and development department. On the other hand, public spending on research is approaching the EU average and today stands at 0.68% GDP compared to 0.7% in the EU. The research also shows that although Greek researchers are active participants in EU research programs, they develop very few patents. In his message to the conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Costas Fragogiannis pointed out that at his Ministry, innovation is at a high level in what they think and what they do. He referred in particular to the program to transforming Astypalea into a green island and to the introduction of scientific diplomats served by a funding bill aiming to bring the academic community closer to the professional community.
Fireside chat with the Minister of Digital Government Kyriakos Pierrakakis and Michael Kratsios
Summary Looking to top examples like Israel and Estonia, Greece and the US now both find themselves at their own respective stages in pursuing digitalization within the public sector. On this occasion, Marcos Veremis of Upstream moderated the fireside chat between Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Greece’s Minister of Digital Governance and Michael Kratsios, 4th Chief Technology Officer of the United States, to learn more about how they are infusing tech into citizens’ interaction with their government.
Quotes •
Marcos Veremis: [Young start-uppers may] have this impression that the government or the state, and technology and entrepreneurship and innovation don't really mix. Now, I keep telling them that [in] places like Silicon Valley, [...] , Israel, or even the Nordics, these ecosystems were largely born out of precisely this kind of collaboration between the government or the state, and private enterprise, and young people, researchers, etc.
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