Deloitte inaugurated the new facilities of the Deloitte Competence Center in Thessaloniki, in the PAEGA building, at the city’s port, at a special event held in the presence of representatives of the State, local government, the business and academic community, partners, clients and company executives, according to a relevant announcement.
The new facilities constitute an important milestone for Deloitte’s presence in Thessaloniki and in Northern Greece overall. It is housed in a historic industrial landmark nearly 100 years old, which was created to serve the commercial operation of the port and the city. Today, the building acquires new life as a modern space of knowledge, technology, collaboration and creation that has been designed with the highest standards of sustainability and responsible operation.
The new facilities will support the next phase of development of the Deloitte Competence Center, which has evolved into one of Deloitte’s most important pillars of technology and skills development in Europe, in sectors such as technological transformation, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence.
From a small team of people in Thessaloniki eight years ago, the Competence Center today employs more than 1,400 specialized professionals in cutting-edge technologies, on European and international projects.
The new facilities will also host the Solaria AI Hub, Deloitte’s new center for the research, development and implementation of innovative Artificial Intelligence solutions throughout Europe.
The Solaria AI Hub in Thessaloniki is Deloitte’s third hub in Europe, strengthening the city’s role as an emerging hub of technology, innovation and specialized human capital.
Through the Solaria AI Hub, institutional bodies, businesses, academic institutions and research centers will have the opportunity to collaborate in order to develop applications of Generative Artificial Intelligence, which can provide solutions to the most important problems and support new business models.
The Solaria suite offers access to specialized applications that cover a wide range of sectors and business functions, tools for creating agents and multi-agent applications, and a state-of-the-art digital assistant that is revolutionizing human-machine communication.
These solutions have been designed in collaboration with Deloitte’s technology partners and are already available for use in real business needs.
In the context of the event, greetings were addressed, through messages, by the Vice President of the Government, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis, and the Minister of Digital Governance, Mr. Dimitris Papastergiou, while the government was represented by the Deputy Minister of Development, responsible for Research and Innovation, Mr. Stavros Kalafatis. The event was also addressed by the Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Mr. Nikos Papaioannou, the Consul General of the United States of America in Thessaloniki, Mr. Matt Hagengruber, and the Deputy Regional Governor for Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence of the Region of Central Macedonia, Mr. Nikos Tzollas.
In his speech, Dimitris Koutsopoulos, CEO of Deloitte Greece, noted the following: «Today is of particular importance for Deloitte Greece and for our journey in Thessaloniki. Last year, Deloitte completed 50 years of presence in Greece, while our own relationship with Thessaloniki began more than 30 years ago, with our first office in the city. Today, with the new facilities of the Deloitte Competence Center and with the Solaria AI Hub, we are opening the next chapter of this investment. For us, Thessaloniki is not simply a point of presence. It is a place from which international projects, know-how, new skills and solutions with European and global reach can be created. The great opportunity for Greece is not only to use technologies developed elsewhere, but to create its own know-how and to participate actively in creating the solutions of the future».
Vasilis Kafatos, Chairman of the Deloitte Competence Center, stated, among other things, in his speech: «Eight years ago, we started the operation of the Deloitte Competence Center in Thessaloniki with a small team of people and with great faith in the capabilities of this city. With more than 1,400 people today, DACC has created hundreds of new professional paths for people who chose to remain in Thessaloniki or to return to Greece, now having the opportunity to participate, from here, in strategic international projects of high specialization.
The investment in the creation and operation of this center of digital skills, innovation and artificial intelligence already has a significant socioeconomic impact, creating high value-added economic activity in the country and supporting the creation of thousands of new jobs.
With our new facilities and the pan-European Solaria AI Hub, our commitment becomes even greater: to create opportunities for people, value for businesses and new possibilities for the city’s evolution into a hub of knowledge, talent and innovation».