‘Knowledge & Partnership Bridges’ in Thessaloniki

A meeting focusing on the networking benefits for Greeks around the world, entrepreneurship and the aspects of the brain drain, is being organised by the National Documentation Centre (EKT), the General Secretariat for Strategic and Private Investment of Ministry of Economics and Development and the Municipality of Thessaloniki on Monday 10 September 2018.

The goal of the meeting, which will be held in the Municipal Council Hall Thessaloniki (17:00), under the auspices of the national initiative ‘Knowledge and Partnership Bridges’, is to showcase real experiences of innovative enterprises and Greeks operating internationally.

During the first session of the meeting, the various aspects of the brain drain will be considered, and the General Secretary for Strategic and Private Investment, Professor Lois Lambrianidis will interpret the first results of the initiative and explain the goals of the next stage. Others taking part in the conference will be Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Kostas Douzinas, Professor at Birkbeck College, London and the President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on National Defence & Foreign Affairs.

They will be followed by four executives of companies developed by returning Greeks (Beetroot-  Vangelis Liakos, BETA CAE Systems- Panayiotis Kouvrakis,  Veltio- Maria Rammou, SoftConf- Patroclos Papapetrou), a self-employed entrepreneur who returned during the crisis operating in Greece and benefited from the initiative (Manolis Babatsikos), a high-level executive at Google who has elected to transfer her knowledge to students in Greece, (Marili Nika), and a Greek diplomat in the USA (Daphnei Bitsikounaki). The discussion will be co-ordinated by two young representatives of the initiative’s operations team at EKT, Dimitris Maragkos and Nancy Megremi.

Through an interactive discussion with the audience, answers will be given to key questions such as how closer co-operation between Greeks in Greece and abroad can be achieved, how the model cases of innovative Greek companies based in Thessaloniki can operate in the new business reality in Greece, and what the aspects of the brain drain that can be exploited beneficially for development, the economy and society are.
Participation is free upon pre-registration as places are limited. Those who cannot attend in person can follow events using live streaming.

Representatives of the ‘Knowledge and Partnership Bridges’ initiative will be on hand to brief visitors to the Thessaloniki International Fair at stand 15 in the International Exhibition Centre.

The initiative 

The initiative 'Knowledge and Partnership Bridges' is implemented by the National Documentation Centre following a plan designed by the General Secretariat for Strategy & Private Investment, Ministry of Economy & Development to address the issue of the outflow of Greeks abroad. A means of achieving this is to highlight the advantages that can derive from the networking of Greeks around the world is a means resulting in the shaping of the country’s future in a tangible way through mutual support on a scientific, professional and business level.