Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness, Kostas Fragogiannis, participated in the SAP Hellas event “Transform tomorrow, today”, held in Athens on Wednesday, November 16, 2022.
Speaking at the session on: “Greek Entrepreneurship and Extroversion”, Mr. Fragogiannis referred to the outcomes of his recent visit to San Francisco’s Silicon Valley, with the goal of promoting the extroversion of the Greek innovation ecosystem and strengthening contacts with prominent Greek and Greek Diaspora scientists, academics and entrepreneurs in the US.
The Deputy Minister spoke about important meetings with academics and scientists from Stanford, Berkeley, and USF Universities, aimed at identifying opportunities for cooperation with Greek universities in the fields of innovation, technology, and research. Furthermore, he referred to the meeting with officials from the City of San Francisco – which manages the airport – during which they discussed the prospect of launching a direct Athens-San Francisco flight, possibly in the summer of 2023.
Referring to the increase in Foreign Direct Investment in our country for 2022, Mr. Fragogiannis noted that Greece has the potential to offer investment opportunities in sectors other than shipping and tourism, such as energy, pharmaceuticals, and digital technology. A typical example is the international data hub that already exists in Greece.
The Deputy Minister expressed the government’s willingness to promote additional reforms to attract new investments and exploit the country’s human potential, as Greece now has a modern innovation ecosystem.