The human capital lost to the financial crisis in Greece has been one of the greatest tragedies for the country with thousands of young Greeks ‘fleeing’ the country in the hope of a better future.
Prime Minister Tsipras acknowledged on Wednesday the need to bring back many of Greece’s young scientists by creating the preconditions such as greater investment in research and innovation.
Tsipras said that investment on research and innovation has for the first time reached 1% of the country's GDP and noted that his government was providing young researchers with incentives to come home, through a grant of 240 million euros to the Research and Innovation Foundation.
The Greek PM pointed to some 1,100 new research posts in universities and research institutes, as well as support for innovative enterprises from the Holding Fund for Investments, incentives and tax cuts for spending on research.
"Research is placed at the service of society since Greece is joining the map of future medicine with the creation of a national network of individualised medical care for the prevention and treatment of cancer that is accessible to all. At the same time, we introduced advanced agro-food technology for our national products," the Prime Minister said.
