The Greek edition of the American magazine Forbes presented the Greek list of the 30 most influential and successful young people under 30 in fields such as business, research, sciences, social contribution, and innovation for 2024.
The Greek scientist Panagiotis Kyriakopoulos was on the Forbes "30 under 30" list.
Panagiotis Kyriakopoulos is among the 30 most influential and successful young people under 30 in fields for his research and contribution to highlighting the importance of technology parks in Greece and abroad.
With his research, he has contributed to the communication and dissemination of knowledge about global practices in this field, but also about the benefits that technology parks will have in the local community and the national economy.
Panagiotis holds a PhD in International Entrepreneurship from the University of Glasgow and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Enterprise Research Centre of Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom.
For his research on technology parks and entrepreneurship, among others, he was awarded the Best Researcher award for two consecutive years by the University of Glasgow in 2021 and 2022.
He was also awarded the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award 2022 by the British Council and the British Embassy in Greece.
Technology parks in Forbes
As Panagiotis mentions, the Greek state is proceeding with the creation of two emblematic technology parks in Greece (the State of Innovation in Piraeus and ThessIntec in Thessaloniki, which is a 4th generation technology park), so technology parks will definitely play a leading role in the next few years in the country.
- What are the benefits that can be obtained by a country, and in particular, a region that will host such a new 4th generation technology park?
The benefits for both the local community and the region, but also for the country in general with the creation of the 4th generation technology parks, will be huge. These benefits are both short-term and long-term.
Technological Parks are the "key" for the industrial reconstruction of the economy and attracting new investments. Also, the Technology Parks will contribute to the increase of the Greek GDP and the attraction of Greek scientists (and to converting the Greek brain drain into brain gain).
The Technology Parks, however, will also contribute to strengthening the business culture, as the common people will be familiar with this term, but will also get to know many companies (some more widely known and others less so) that will be established (and develop) in Technology Parks.
- Do you believe in creating technology parks in other cities of the region (apart from the two big cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, which will host the new flagship technology parks)?
The creation of the two new emblematic Technology Parks is well done in the country's capital and the co-capital of the country as Athens and Thessaloniki have very good universities, and many companies usually come to invest in the two big cities of each country.
However, given that the country has brilliant minds (and I strongly believe this), our country can create a series of Technology Parks in the form of PPP (public-private partnership) in other cities where there are very good Greek universities. For example, in Crete, there is a science and technology park in Heraklion that supports the creation of start-ups.
In this way, many graduates from these schools will be able to have the appropriate support from the Technology Parks and the appropriate funding to become members of the Technology Parks.
Imagine how many robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and IT companies could be developed by brilliant graduates, creating new jobs and contributing to the local development of the country. Ideally, Technology Parks in Greece should be technology transfer mechanisms and regional development tools throughout the country, as they contribute to the creation of new high-tech businesses, promote entrepreneurship and create new and quality jobs.
The creation of Technology Parks in specific regions can contribute to the reduction of unemployment (Western Macedonia and Western Greece, for example, are strongly plagued by unemployment), to the development of local societies and their corresponding wealth per capita, and the enhancement of know-how of the regions.
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