Dimitris Papastergiou, Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence, described the Pharos AI Factory—which will serve as an open hub for artificial intelligence—speaking at Growthfund’s Investor Summit 2026.
“We are not simply building a supercomputer. We are building the country’s capacity to develop, test, and implement artificial intelligence solutions with a Greek identity and in line with European standards,” he said, describing the structure of the Pharos AI Factory, which is being developed in Lavrio, with the country’s first national supercomputer, “Daedalus,” at its core.
As Mr. Papastergiou said, “Daedalus is just the beginning,” announcing that the ecosystem of education, access, and technical expertise being built on top of this infrastructure will also expand to new facilities being prepared by EDITE in Kozani.
“Artificial intelligence requires talent, and in Greece, that talent is widespread. It requires data—the data we recently made available on data.gov.gr— 22,000 open-access, high-quality datasets, as well as infrastructure,” said Mr. Papastergiou, emphasizing the value of artificial intelligence for productivity, competitiveness, and the nation’s future.
In turn, Aphrodite Sevasti, CEO of Pharos AI Factory, referred to the first tangible results. “We have the first open model for the Greek language. Today we onboarded the first four clients onto the Pharos platform to leverage AI tools,” she noted, identifying Pharos’s competitive advantages as knowledge, collaboration, and computing power—all of which will lead to the creation of real-world solutions.
During the ensuing discussion, Kostas Nembis, Chairman & CEO of the OTE Group, then addressed the critical role of digital infrastructure, highlighting the strong results Greece has achieved.
As he emphasized, mobile networks—led by 5G—have achieved high performance in terms of coverage and speeds, placing the country in a competitive position internationally. In the field of mobile telecommunications infrastructure, Greece has made significant progress, with 5G exceeding 99% population coverage within the OTE Group. However, as Mr. Nebis noted, the biggest challenge remains fixed-line infrastructure, where there is room for acceleration.
According to Mr. Nebis, the group provides fiber-optic service to over 2.2 million households and businesses, and the goal now is further expansion, with a target of 3.5 million households and businesses having access to FTTH by 2030.
At the same time, the OTE Group is integrating AI into the core of its strategy, with the goal of becoming an AI-native company. It is already leveraging artificial intelligence tools to boost productivity, enhance customer service, and automate processes, with the goal of increasing the use of AI in internal operations from 25% to 40%. “Our vision is to evolve not only into a ‘digital first’ but also into an ‘AI-native’ company, with exemplary use of AI in every aspect of our operations,” he noted.
“The good news about technological waves is that they offer an opportunity—even if someone has missed one train—to catch the next one,” noted Andreas Stavropoulos, a Non-Executive Board Member of Growthfund, citing as an example the leap in digitalization that took place in Greece during the pandemic, transforming our country from a laggard into one of the best in the world.
Mr. Stavropoulos highlighted the healthcare sector, which, as he said, is undergoing a revolution, with the Superfund “driving” a series of healthcare facility renovations through PPF, utilizing RRF funds. “Greece may have a competitive advantage in healthcare,” he assessed, citing electronic health records, apps, and the strategic use of health data as ways to attract international expertise.
He predicted that the next major wave of innovation—in which Greece, with its highly skilled engineers, can play a role—is physical AI and robotics.
Panagiotis Karampinis, Regional Managing Director for Europe at Endeavor and Managing Director of Endeavor Greece, highlighting an issue that goes beyond the academic community and concerns the country’s overall outward orientation.
As he pointed out, although Greece increased the number of its institutions on the QS list, reaching 13 universities, the institutions already ranked fell in the rankings, primarily due to a lack of international outreach and their reputation.
“We were the only country in Europe where Greek universities saw a drop in their rankings. There were two reasons for this; what happened was unprecedented for Greece. The first was international outreach— that is, how many foreign professors and how many foreign students Greek universities have; and the second is reputation within the academic community—that is, to what extent professors themselves promote Greek universities and how well professors know one another across universities.”
The same issue, as Mr. Karabinis pointed out, also applies to the technology ecosystem, as Greece needs a strategy that views the world as a market from the outset, rather than focusing solely on the domestic reality.
The panel titled “Scaling the Future: AI, Deep Tech, Digital Infrastructure, and the Capital Architecture of Innovation” was moderated by Markos Veremis, Partner at Big Pi Ventures and Member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).