Industry 4.0: Α growth opportunity Greece should not miss, 19 December 2019

Anna Diamantopoulou is the founder and President of DIKTIO – Network for Reforms in Greece and Europe, an Athens-based think tank. Ms. Diamantopoulou’s active presence in the Greek and European public spheres spans more than two decades. A Civil Engineer by training with graduate studies in Regional Development, has served as a member of the Greek Parliament for 11 years and held ministerial appointments in the Greek
Government in the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs (2009-2012), and of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping (March-May 2012). During her tenure as Education Minister the most instrumental legislation on educational reform in Greece was passed with a record parliamentary majority.

Ms. Diamantopoulou served as a European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities under the Prodi Commission (1999-2004). A staunch pro-European public figure, she is lecturing, giving interviews, authoring books and publishing opinion pieces and contributions to Greek and international media.
Her academic activities include the Fisher Family Fellowship (2012) of the Harvard Kennedy School, Distinguished Scholar at Singapore’s Lee Kuan School of Public Policy (2015); and a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy (2016-2018).

She has been awarded the title of Officer of the Legion d’ Honneur, in recognition by the President of the French Republic of her contribution in the social realm and especially in lifelong learning and
combating youth unemployment and has been honored by the Confederation of Danish Industrialists for the creation of the White Paper and the program, on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Nikos Vettas is the General Director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research IOBE since 2013; also a Professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, since 2003, where he has served as the Chairman of the Economics Department and a member of the University Council. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has been an Associate Professor at Duke University and a visiting Professor at INSEAD. He serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization and of the Journal of Industrial Economics and a Research Fellow at CEPR. He has served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association, a member of the Hellenic Competition Commission and of the Economic Advisory Group for Competition Policy at the European Commission. His interests are primarily in the area of microeconomics, industrial organization and competition and regulation policy. He is a co-organizer of the annual Conference for Research on Economic Theory and Econometrics and a co-founder of www.greekeconmistsforreform.com His work has been published at academic journals such as the International Economic Review, European Economic Review, Journal of Industrial Economics, Rand Journal of Economics, and the Review of Economic Studies.

Alexis Birbas is Professor of Electronics in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras and Director of the Applied Electronics Lab, Patras Greece. He received the MSEE and PhD degrees from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Minnesota USA in 1986 and 1988 respectively. He has also held faculty positions at the Assistant Professor level at the University of Minnesota and at INPG, Grenoble, France. His research interests include: device electronics, optoelectronics, noise and fluctuation problems in electronics, RF and mixed signal high speed circuit design and implementation of sensor read out circuits, smart grid electronics and transactive Energy Systems, smart metering, 5G enabled IoT and Industry 4.0 real time applications, edge computing accelerators and Cyber Physical Systems. Dr. Birbas has also served as a consultant to the Industry and has held industrial managerial positions. He has published over 120 papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He has also co- founded two microelectronics related spin-off companies and has supervised 20 PhD Theses (17 completed).

Executive Summary
Best known as the originator of the “4th Industrial Revolution” and the mastermind of the European Digital Revolution (German Digital Agenda), which ignited the global themes of today.

Digital Agenda
As part of the Advisory Council at the Federal Minister of Economy & Technology , Henrik von Scheel played a significant role to define Germany future digital strategy in 2009. The “Digital Agenda” was adopted by the European Commission in 2010 as part of the Europe 2020 and evolved into the European Digital Revolution. “Digital Agenda” is one of Europe’s seven flagship – responsible for 5% of GDP, with a market value of €660 billion annually.

Fourth Industrial Revolution
As one of the mastermind and driving force behind this Industry 4.0, Henrik von Scheel was an Advisory Group member for the Federal Ministry Education & Research – interministerial innovation policy initiatives tasked to define the high-tech strategy of Germany. The final “Industry 4.0” report was announced April 2013 Named by Financial Times as one of the leading authority on strategy and competitiveness. One of the most influential board members and quoted by Eric Schmidt as “One of the most preeminent strategic advisors of his generation”. His work is applied to national economies, triggered global themes, influenced GDP growth, reset policies in governments, and shaped the performance of the fastest growing fortune 100 companies.

Firms and nations that has he has worked with include 23% of the Fortune 500 and 11 of the G20.  A sought-after speaker and prolific writer, that has organizations today.

For more details, please visit www.von-scheel.com

Dr Christos Dimas is the Deputy Minister for Development and Investments in charge of Research and Technology. He is a lawyer and Member of the Hellenic Parliament representing New Democracy in the district of Korinthia.
Before entering politics, he worked in the private sector as a business consultant for The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
He was born on the 29th of May 1980. He graduated from the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Queen Mary University in London.
He completed his Master Degree in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He then finished his PhD in European Political Economy from the LSE, with a scholarship from the Alexander Onassis Foundation.
Parallel to his studies, he worked as a correspondent in London for Apogevmatini newspaper while also practicing journalism at the BBC.
At the age of 25 he was a teaching assistant at the LSE while teaching at ICON College in the University of Leicester and was a research fellow at the Jean Monnet European Center of Excellence.
He was elected as an MP in the district of Korinthia, with New Democracy in the May 2012 elections and has been re-elected ever since.
In his spare time he enjoys playing football and basketball and reading history books.
He is married to the lawyer Nicoleta Syrengela and they have one daughter and a son.

Nick Davis leads Deloitte UK Digital Transformation offering for industrial clients, focused on the use of digital in transforming supply chains and manufacturing operations. He leads the UK firm’s focus on Industry 4.0 and Industrial IOT, and helps global manufacturers to deliver the outcomes from their most challenging digital-enabled transformation programmes. Nick is an experienced Technology Delivery Director, having held leadership positions in shaping, delivering and assuring Digital-enabled transformation programmes with budgets of £1bn+.
Nick’s recent experience includes:

• Delivering a Digital Factory engagement for an industrial machinery manufacturer – yielding a ROI within 12 months and addressing challenges in relation to scheduling of offline manufacturing, and optimising outbound shipping
• Acting as Technology and EU lead for a global Digital Factory transformation at a global medical manufacturer, aimed at delivering $250m+ financial benefits

Tim Scanlon is Group Vice President, Customer Experience (CX) & Innovation at ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex). ABB is a pioneering technology leader that works closely with customers to write the future of industrial digitalization. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. Tim lives in Zurich Switzerland and works at ABB’s worldwide headquarters on the Digital ABB Team. He leads a new global CX team launching design-led digital innovation capabilities that help customers unlock new business value through exploration and co-creation.

Tim’s passion is design-driven CX innovation, and transformation. He helps businesses create digital solutions at the confluence of design, business, emerging tech and agile. He collaborates fluidly across diverse functions and cultures worldwide, and takes an entrepreneurial approach to help teams look for, understand, and make what’s next.

Prior to joining ABB, Tim was with Autodesk, where he founded the Total Experience + Analytics initiative, launched new experience design teams helping shape Autodesk’s new cloud-based design, engineering, PLM and manufacturing SaaS and PaaS offerings. Tim’s professional experience spans early stage to Fortune 50 businesses including GE, SDRC (UGS/Siemens PLM), Westinghouse, and Rockwell Automation. He holds a BA degree in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University and studied Strategic Marketing Management at Harvard Business School. Tim was adjunct faculty at Oregon Health & Sciences MBA Program teaching “Pioneering Innovation” and at Carnegie Mellon University School of Design teaching “Professional Practice”.

Nikos Chatzinikolaou started working as a journalist in 1983 in the newspaper “MESIMVRINI”.

In 1984, he received the “Botsi” award for journalism. He started his collaboration with the Sunday edition of the newspaper “Akropolis”, the newspaper “Ethnos” and the magazines “ENA” and “STATUS”.

In 1987, he started working for the newly founded radio “ATHINA 9,84”. At the same time he became member of the founding committee of the station.

In 1989, he started his collaboration with MEGA TV station. From 1998 until 2003 he was General Director of News and Information department of the station.

From 2003 until 2007, he collaborates with ALPHA TV Station, at first as Executive Vice President and General Director of News and Information department and later, as Chairman and C.E.O..

From April 2007 until October 2011 he collaborates with ALTER TV station.

In September 2007 he founded «Real Group», along with Andreas Kouris.

Since January 2017, he is the anchorman of the main news edition of ANT1 TV Station.

Nikos Chatzinikolaou is the President of Athens Daily Newspaper Publishers Association (ADNPA) and board member of European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA)

Katerina Vlachou is the Managing Director of Mondelēz Hellas, responsible for Greece and Cyprus. She has undertaken various roles in Marketing and Sales including the positions of Marketing Manager and National Key Accounts Manager. The Marketing campaigns developed have been recognized with numerous local and international distinctions and awards, eg. Cannes Lions, Mixx Awards, Ermis, Effies etc. She holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the Athens University of Economics and Business, a Bachelor in Business Administration from the American College of Greece, and an MBA from the Athens Laboratory of Business Administration (ALBA). She is Vice President of the Board of Greek Advertisers Association.

• Born in Athens in 1958
• Graduate of Athens College in 1977
• Holding a B.Sc and M.Sc in Chemical Engineering in 1981 from Newcastle upon Tyne University, U.K.
• President & Managing Director of Yiotis S.A (Nourishing Products Industry)
• Vice President of the Board of SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises)
• Vice President of the Board of SEVT (Federation of Hellenic Food Industries)

Nektaria Stamouli is a reporter for Politico Europe, where she is covering Greece, Cyprus and the broader region. She is also covering diplomacy and foreign affairs for the Athens News Agency. For the last eight years she covered the Greek and Cypriot debt crisis and Europe’s migration crisis for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

Previously, she worked as both a business and general news reporter for Greek media, in print, online and television.

Ms. Stamouli graduated from the Communications, Media and Culture Department of Panteion University in Athens, and has completed a master’s degree in International Journalism at City University, London.

• Senior Director Food & Beverage, Siemens AG
• Born 29th of May 1972 in Hanau, Germany.

After studying Energy- and Environmental Engineering at HTWK Leipzig, Kai Schneiderwind joined Siemens in Nuremberg in 1997 in the area of international plant construction for Automotive, with increasing responsibility for turn-key plants in a complex environment.
After several challenging tasks within Siemens inside and outside of Germany, he accepted the responsibility for the Vertical Food & Beverage (F&B) in June 2016. The tasks within the vertical contains the responsibility for the strategy and to exploit cross-divisional business opportunities based on transparency on customer value, market and competitors and leading the Siemens F&B key account managers across the globe. The vertical is also responsible to develop specific technical concepts and hosts the cross-divisional requirements management for the Siemens portfolio. Another significant aspect is the customization and support during the execution of a consistent digitalization strategy for the end-customer, system integrator and OEM in a global environment.

Iakovos Kargarotos has been the Vice President of Papastratos, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International, since January 2012.
After spending 10 years in two FMCG companies, he started his career in the commercial department of Papastratos in 2000 as a Regional Manager. Over the next 10 years he was responsible for Key positions, with that of the Country Manager for Cyprus and Malta being the highlight. In 2010, he was assigned the position of Manager of Financial Affairs, then promoted to Corporate Affairs Director and Vice President of the company.
Iakovos Kargarotos has a Bachelor in chemistry, a postgraduate diploma in Oenology and also holds a diploma on Business Administration from INSEAD.

Antonis Kyrkos joined Titan Cement Group in 2015. He is Titan’s Deputy Strategic Planning Director, head of Group procurement, and secretary of the Group Executive Committee. He is also heading the Group’s transformation office, co-leading (among other projects) the Group’s Digital initiative.

Before Titan, Antonis spent 15 years in McKinsey (in both London and Athens), 7 of them as a partner, serving a multitude of service, technology, industrial and private equity clients across EMEA, with an emphasis on operations, large scale transformations, organization and strategy. He was also a regional leader of McKinsey’s EMEA Service Operations practice.

Antonis received a PhD in Biology from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar and a Leventis Foundation Scholar. He has authored several scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences. His first degree is a Bachelor of Biology from the University of Athens, where he graduated with highest distinction.

Mr. Jacky Chen has over 14 years of experience in Information & Communications Technology (ICT) sector having held senior positions in Huawei.

Since July 2019 he has been appointed as Managing Director for South Balkans Region having the responsibility for Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Albania and North Macedonia.

Prior to this position Mr. Chen was appointed Chief Executive Officer for Greece and Cyprus since December 2017. Before joining Huawei in Greece in 2016 as Executive Account Director, he also worked in other countries as Telecom Key Account Director.

Mr. Chen is a graduate of Xian Jiaotong University, China with a Bachelor Degree in Energy and Power Engineering.

Nikos Papathanasis is a Mechanical Engineer member of the Technical Chamber of Greece. He received his B.A.Sc at the University of Toronto and he continued his education by receiving two postgraduate degrees -Master – in Management Science and Aerospace Engineering.
He commenced work in 1984 at de Havilland Aircraft Company (now Bombardier Aerospace) in Toronto. He served as a member of the board of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) and as a member of the board and executive vice president of the Olympic Aviation.
He worked for twenty-four years as a senior and C level executive at private and public companies in Greece and abroad.
His work experience includes the management of State interest companies as in public transportation companies, namely, CEO of ISAP S.A. (Urban Rail) and President and CEO of Urban Rail Transport S.A. From 2008 to 2010 he was President – elect of the National section of the European Center of Employers and Enterprises (CEEP).
Throughout his thirty-five years work experience he has demonstrated his ability in developing business action reform plans, maturing investments, restructuring and streamlining of companies that led to a significant improvement of their balance sheets.
In July 2019 he was appointed by Prime Minister K. Mitsotakis as Deputy Minister of Development and Investments responsible for Industry, Commerce and Consumer affairs.

The Chairman of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Mr. Theodore Fessas, is the Chairman, major shareholder and founder of Quest Holdings.

Quest Holdings, established in 1981 (as Info-Quest), is listed in Athens Stock Exchange since 1998 and owns leading Greek companies in the sectors of Information Technology, Payment Transactions, Parcel Delivery and Renewable Energy, with a consolidated annual turnover circa € 400 m. Mr. Fessas is the Chairman of SEV since May 2014, after he has served for many years as a member of the Board and the Executive Committee.

He is also the Honorary President of the Federation of Hellenic Information Technology & Communications Enterprises (SEPE) and member of the Board of Directors of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC-Hellas) and the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE). He holds a Mechanical & Electrical Engineering diploma from the National Technical University of Athens and a MSc in Thermodynamics from the University of Birmingham, UK.

The Chairman of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Mr. Theodore Fessas, is the Chairman, major shareholder and founder of Quest Holdings.

Quest Holdings, established in 1981 (as Info-Quest), is listed in Athens Stock Exchange since 1998 and owns leading Greek companies in the sectors of Information Technology, Payment Transactions, Parcel Delivery and Renewable Energy, with a consolidated annual turnover circa € 400 m. Mr. Fessas is the Chairman of SEV since May 2014, after he has served for many years as a member of the Board and the Executive Committee.

He is also the Honorary President of the Federation of Hellenic Information Technology & Communications Enterprises (SEPE) and member of the Board of Directors of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC-Hellas) and the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE). He holds a Mechanical & Electrical Engineering diploma from the National Technical University of Athens and a MSc in Thermodynamics from the University of Birmingham, UK.

Konstantinos Kokkalis was the Chief Executive Officer of Intracom Holdings from January 2014 till July 2016, he previously served as the company’s Deputy Executive Officer and Business Development Executive. Prior to becoming CEO of Intracom Holdings he served as Corporate Strategy Director, Deputy Executive Officer (2009-2013) and CEO of Hellas Online, a leading provider of broadband and fixed-line telephony in Greece, until November 2014 when it was acquired by Vodafone Greece. He holds a seat on the BoD of Intralot, a leading gaming supplier to state-licensed gaming organizations worldwide, and all Intracom Holdings subsidiaries. In 2014, he was elected member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).

He holds a BSc degree in International Relations and Economics from Boston University and an Executive Graduate Diploma in Finance from Columbia University.

Alexandros has been the Director General of SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises since July 2019.

He studied law (LLB) at Southbank University London and completed his postgraduate degree (LLM) at University College London in Media, Intellectual Property and IT law. Since 2004, he has worked as civil and commercial lawyer and as legal adviser to IT and telecoms companies.

From September 2009 to December 2011, he worked as Strategic Planning and Policy Advisor at the Prime Minister’s Office.

From 2012 to 2019 he worked at a multinational company in Athens and Lausanne as Regulatory Affairs Manager responsible for Greece, Cyprus and Malta and as Regulatory Strategy Manager responsible for the European Union markets.

He is also member of the Board of IVEPE-SEV Institute of Industrial and Business Education & Training, Hellenic Development Company (Elanet), Stegi Tis Ellinikis Viomichanias S.A. and SEV Business Council of Sustainable Development.

Dr George Xirogiannis is currently the Deputy Director General. He is also the Vice-Chair of the International Relations Committee of BusinessEurope, since 2017. His portfolio includes private investments, growth strategies, industrial development, innovation, digital economy, regional development as well as international trade and market access.

He has worked as a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, directing the Strategy & Operations consulting services and Government & Public Sector industry. He has managed flagship projects in Greece and abroad in the financial sector, telecommunications, public administration and state-owned enterprises.

Dr Xirogiannis also lectures at the University of Piraeus, Department of Informatics. In the past, he has lectured at the Department of Financial and Management Engineering at the University of the Aegean.

He has written extensively on modern entrepreneurship. His research has been published in peer-review journals and speeches have been given at international conferences.

He holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from Heriot-Watt University, Dpt. of Electrical Engineering, Edinburgh and an M.Sc in Artificial Intelligence from Bristol.

Evangelos Mytilineos is the Chairman and CEO of MYTILINEOS S.A., one of Greece’s leading industrial groups.
Born in Athens in 1954, Mr. Mytilineos holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Athens and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. In 2019 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Department of Business Administration and Management at the University of Piraeus.

In 1978 he took over the family business, which was founded in 1908 representing metal and steel product manufacturers, whereas in 1990 he established MYTILINEOS Holdings Group, which has evolved into the largest private group in Greece in the sectors of power and gas, metallurgy and mining, and EPC projects, with a turnover of more than €1.5 billion in 2018.

Through strategic decisions, he expanded the company’s operations by acquiring the majority of the shares of the listed specialized construction company METKA S.A., as well as Aluminium of Greece, eventually making it the largest vertically integrated alumina and aluminium producer in Europe. In the early 2000s, MYTILINEOS Group entered the energy sector with Protergia being the Group’s flagship company.

In 2017, a wide corporate transformation was approved by a vast majority in the General Meetings of MYTILINEOS Group and METKA, through which all main subsidiaries METKA, Aluminum of Greece and Protergia merged into a single corporate entity, MYTILINEOS SA. Moreover, 2018 featured the acquisition of EP.AL.ME. S.A., operating in industrial production, processing and trading of metals, as well as the full absorption of M&M Gas S.A. (today MNG Trading).

In 2019, MYTILINEOS announced the total acquisition of METKA EGN Ltd. , a company focused on development and construction of utility scale projects for the global solar power and energy storage markets.

Today, Evangelos Mytilineos is Vice President of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), simultaneously serving as President of SEV’s Energy Committee.

Michael Stassinopoulos was born in Athens in 1967. He graduated from Athens College (1985) and holds a Bachelor Degree (BSc) in Management Sciences from London School of Economics (1989). He also holds a postgraduate diploma (MSc) in Shipping, Trade and Finance from City University Business School UK.
Michael Stassinopoulos is a member of the Board of Directors of VIOHALCO SA. since 2013. He was a member of the Board of Directors of ELVAL SA Aluminium Industry for 11 years. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the “Hellenic Production – Industry Roundtable for Growth” and of the Foundation Michail N.Stassinopoulos-Viohalco. Also, he is a founding member of the Board of the “Council on Competitiveness of Greece”.