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What if I told you that Greece’s most valuable secret is not found within its own borders, but scattered around the world? What if I said that the country’s biggest competitive advantage is not its beautiful sunny islands, or even its enormous shipping fleet, but the thousands of Greek scientists, engineers, technologists and entrepreneurs that make up our global Greek diaspora?
There are 10,000s of Greek scientists and academics spread across universities, labs and research centers globally. These include some of the world’s foremost experts in artificial intelligence, robotics, network theory, biotechnology, cryptography, semiconductor fabrication, aeronautics, energy systems and materials science. Universities like MIT (in the USA), ETH Zurich (in Switzerland), Imperial College London (in the UK), University of Amsterdam (in the Netherlands) and DTU (in Denmark) are key hubs for such talent.
There are also 1,000s of Greek founders and entrepreneurs out there, including behind some of the most exciting tech companies in the world today. Runway (the ultimate AI video generation product), Nothing (the design-led smartphone company taking on Apple), REEKON Tools (the rebel taking on the anachronistic construction tools industry with phygital alternatives), Axelar (the leading interoperability layer in the blockchain space), TileDB (a data platform pioneering technology for new scientific discoveries) and Wondercraft (the all-in-one AI studio for content creation) are just few of many such examples.
And with 100+ top investors of Greek origin in the global VC space today, we are also becoming an admirable force in venture. This list includes legends like Niko Bonatsos (formerly with General Catalyst), Konstantine Buhler (Sequoia) and Nikitas Koutoupes (Insight Partners). And it welcomes many promising newcomers, such as Alex Evans (Bain Capital Crypto), Anthony Danon (Rerail) and Dora Zikouli (QuantumLight Capital).
The large Greek tech diaspora clearly plays an outsized role in shaping innovation globally. And yet, it has been severely under-appreciated and under-leveraged since its very beginning. Greeks admire our diaspora, but from a distance. We love to celebrate individual accomplishments (such as large exits and scientific breakthroughs) abroad and play up their Greek origin, but we have done very little to mobilize their collective power. Prof. Petros Koumoutsakos, one of the greatest scientists of Greek descent, has put it best: we need to build strong bridges beyond borders, not only between the diaspora and our homeland, but also among diaspora Greeks themselves.
If we can connect the best elements of this community across borders, then we can unlock enormous additional value. Bringing together researchers in Zurich with serial founders in San Francisco, or engineers in London with investors in New York, and linking them all back to Athens or Thessaloniki, creates a very powerful circle of innovation. These bridges are about more than just nostalgia or shared culture; they are about creating network effects of trust, capital, and knowledge that multiply opportunities for everyone involved.
Today, there are many Greek-powered initiatives at the intersection of science and tech around the world: Endeavor Greece, GreekTech, Hellenic Innovation Network, Hellenic Institute of Advanced Studies and the Hellenic American Meeting of Early-Career Researchers are just some of these very important nodes. But we need more people partaking in them and a greater number of these initiatives finding ways to work together. Awareness and collaboration are necessary to deepen the strength of these links.
The Greek tech diaspora is not a separate entity; rather, it is a global living organism that should be considered an extension of the country’s soul. If harnessed with the right intent, it could become the greatest strategic asset for Hellenism in the 21st century. The only question that remains is: what are we still waiting for?
Note: This article was originally published in the FWD Greece: Innovation Pulse report, which makes for a fantastic read on the Greece’s tech and startup ecosystem.
Greek stocks in line for ~$1 billion flows, if Stoxx upgrades
5 charts about the GR stock market, by the great Sofokleous Street
Inflation continues high at 2.9% in December, above EU average
Manufacturing sector continues to see stable growth
Agricultural sector plagued by deep structural problems
Greece’s energy transition is a complex story, especially in the North
Germany is getting lessons on digital transformation from… Greece!
The Prinos storage site is one of Europe’s largest carbon storage projects, developed by EnEarth, in the Kavala Gulf region
Greek startups raised a ton of money in 2025, both in and out of country
LMArena (AI model performance leaderboards) raised an astonishing $150M Series A round at a $1.7B valuation - congrats Anastasie Nikola
Finny (financial advisor prospecting) raised $17M Series A - bravo Victoria
Caretta (sales intelligence) raised $1.3 pre-seed round - congrats Pavlo
PhosPrint (laser bioprinting) raised €0.5M in funding, including from Lars
Greece has a functioning LEO nano-satellite for maritime communications
Pharos (Greece’s AI factory) is building scientific & industry partnerships
Moosend shares interesting insights about Greece’s email marketing industry
A national bio-bank — does Greece need one? A leading scientist says “yes”
Niko Bonatsos, one of the top Greek VCs in the world and a committed supporter of Greek techies, left General Catalyst and is expected to launch his own fund
George Karniadakis won the prestigious William Benter Prize in Applied Mathematics for 2025 (which comes with a cash prize of $100,000)
Greece named top destination for US travelers for 5th straight year
I have selected four books that I recently read and found very interesting. They correspond to four distinct periods of Greece’s history: modernity (today), Junta era, Byzantium, Ancient Greece. Two are written in Greek, two in English. Each touches upon a different domain area: economics, culture, science and strategy.
The Great Return (“I Megali Epistrofi”), by Alex Patelis
Big Bang 1970-1973, by Stathis Kalyvas & Natasa Triantafylli
Ancient Science through the Golden Age of Greece, by George Sarton
Maurice’s Strategikon, translated by George T. Dennis
If you’ve read any of them, let me know what you think with a reply.
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