Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis highlighted Greece's digital transformation during a meeting on Monday with Iliana Ivanova, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. He stressed that Greece will soon be completing its strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which will be presented to him over the next weeks.
Commissioner Ivanova, on her part, stressed that competitiveness will be the top priority for the EU in the coming years.
In his statements, the prime minister said that the governments he has led in the last five years have worked hard to "bridge the innovation gap" inherited in 2019. "I believe we have taken important steps in the right direction, such as the digital transformation with respect to the link between citizens, businesses and the state," he said.
He noted that the gov.gr website had been "truly transformative from this point of view," focusing on improving the quality of digital infrastructure and creating a "very vibrant ecosystem for start-ups and new companies in the technology sector," which to some degree also succeeded in bringing back some of the many talented Greeks that had left Greece during the crisis.
"The next step now, of course, is that we will very soon complete our strategy for AI, which will be presented to me over the next weeks, because we also want to see how Greece can be positioned in this emerging AI ecosystem, where I believe we again have something significant to contribute," Mitsotakis added.
"Our portfolio, of course, is very broad. We have a new team that is responsibile for research and innovation. I am very interested in hearing your views on how we can further enhance cooperation between the European Union and Greece," the prime minister concluded.
In her reply, Commissioner Ivanova said she was very happy to be in Athens for the starting events of the Trusted Investor Network and the upgraded European Innovation Club Council, describing them as two "important milestones in the promotion of the European innovation ecosystem....which is a central priority in the agenda of the next European Commission."
"As you know, competitiveness is the number one priority and what better means to promote this than research and innovation," Ivanova added.
She reported having a "fantastic discussion" earlier on Monday with officials and a series of investors who are leaders in innovation, Greek companies that had benefited from the European Innovation Council and served as examples on how to tackle the 'innovation gap'.
"I want to truly encourage Greek companies, the pioneers in innovation, the researchers, to actively take part in the available European Union programmes because this is the reason for their existence; to truly cultivate this innovative, entrepreneurial spirit, which we want to preserve and to keep in Europe," she said.
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