• SEV members shared practical examples of AI applications in their companies.
• Only 1 in 4 businesses in Greece currently uses AI, according to SEV’s 2025 “Business Pulse” survey.
• SEV AI Bootcamp in collaboration with Alba: 20 hours of Generative AI training for non-technical executives of member companies.

On Monday, May 12, 2025, SEV held the conference “AI in Action: How to Implement Artificial Intelligence in Our Businesses”. The conference, one of the most targeted initiatives to date, highlighted practical AI applications for Greek businesses to the more than 1,000 business executives from SEV members who attended. Member companies of SEV presented real AI implementation examples in their business operations, showcasing the opportunities, challenges, and prerequisites for AI’s successful integration.

Opening the conference, SEV’s Chairman of the Board, Mr. Spyros Theodoropoulos, noted that “regardless of a company’s level of awareness about Artificial Intelligence, it is now a shared belief that it will decisively impact all our lives in the future and become a critical factor in boosting competitiveness. Greek businesses are starting to cautiously adopt AI, but they must accelerate and invest in the necessary resources and skills.”

The conference featured speakers from 35 companies, organizations, and startups – all early adopters – who highlighted not only the significant benefits of AI utilization but also the importance of dialogue and knowledge exchange to enhance understanding and build trust around AI among Greek businesses.

Specifically, practical applications of AI were presented across many critical aspects of business operations, including productivity, work efficiency, supply chain, marketing and sales, customer service, talent management, predictive maintenance, product research and development, energy management, financial management, and legal support. Dedicated panels and case studies showcased how AI is redefining workplaces, accelerating decision-making, optimizing internal processes, enhancing competitiveness, and supporting sustainable business growth. At the same time, the conditions for the broad adoption of AI, the skills required in the near future, and the strategic importance of technological readiness for Greek businesses were thoroughly analyzed.

This year’s “Business Pulse” survey by SEV included a special section on AI, confirming the need to accelerate its utilization as a factor of enhanced business competitiveness. In detail:

• Only 25.4% of businesses report having even some experience or exposure to Artificial Intelligence (AI). The remaining companies either haven’t started (18.5%) or have no plans to take action in the coming year (55.1%).
• The main areas where AI is already being used or is planned to be used include:
  • Marketing & Sales: 56.3%
  • Internal Operations: 50.4%
  • IT: 35.5%
• The expected benefits from AI utilization, according to companies that already use or plan to adopt it:
  • Better use of data: 68.4%
  • Reduction of human error: 65.1%
  • Process optimization: 63.8%
  • Faster and higher-quality decision-making: 59.5%
  • Increased productivity: 57.2%
  • Improved customer satisfaction: 54.5%
• The greatest challenges in adopting AI:
  • Lack of qualified human resources: 39.8%
  • Compatibility of AI with existing IT infrastructure: 30.5%
  • Limited relevance to the company’s business focus: 29.9%
  • Data availability and quality: 29.2%
  • Cybersecurity: 29.0%
• The most significant concerns expressed by businesses:
  • Loss of sensitive information/data: 36.6%
  • Wrong decisions based on AI recommendations: 26.9%
• Regarding the readiness of human resources to meet AI-related business needs over the next 3 years:
  • Only 34.5% rate it as “strong or adequate”
  • 58.9% consider it “limited or inadequate”

SEV also announced the launch of its new AI Bootcamp, an initiative aimed at developing AI skills within Greek businesses. The program, in collaboration with Alba Graduate Business School,  consists of a 20-hour course aimed at non-technical executives of SEV member companies who will lead transformation initiatives using GenAI. The program is designed to:

• Develop understanding of key Generative AI concepts,
• Build and assess use cases with business value, and
• Disseminate knowledge within their organizations.

SEV’s “R U AI?” initiative to promote Artificial Intelligence in Greek businesses also includes other actions. SEV has published a “Practical Guide to AI” and is also running the in-company training program “AI for all”, in collaboration with Google, which has so far trained 1,750 employees from 12 member companies.

Mr. Markos Veremis, SEV Board Member, Head of SEV’s Committee on Technology & Digital Transformation, and Partner at BigPi Ventures, highlighted Larry Summers’ well-known quote: “Artificial Intelligence won’t replace people. But people who use it will replace those who don’t.”

Dr. Kyriakos Sabatakakis, SEV Board Member, Head of SEV’s Committee on Technology & Digital Transformation, and Chairman & CEO of Accenture, stressed: “Businesses integrating Artificial Intelligence into their operations must focus on their human capital to achieve a triple outcome: accelerate the creation of economic value, boost productivity, and offer more meaningful work to those who embrace AI. These employees will multiply their impact, increasing the output of innovative ideas and exploring new fields of activity with much greater ease and speed than in the past – thanks to AI’s capabilities.”

As SEV’s Executive Committee Chairwoman, Ms. Rania Aikaterinari, noted: “Successful adoption of AI doesn’t depend only on technology, but also on people, their training, and the experiences they gain throughout this technological journey. A prerequisite for successful integration is the familiarity and active participation of all employees, because the added value of the human element remains irreplaceable in the benefits that AI can offer.”

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones.” With this quote by John Maynard Keynes, SEV’s Chairman Mr. Spyros Theodoropoulos concluded the conference, urging businesses not to fall behind.

Watch the conference here (in Greek) 

SEV would like to thank the following sponsors for supporting the event:

• Gold Sponsor: D.I.S. – Dynamic Integrated Solutions
• Silver Sponsors: Accenture, COSMOTE TELEKOM, Google
• Bronze Sponsor: TITAN Group
• Sponsors: Coca-Cola 3E, Grant Thornton, Siemens, UTECO SA, Vodafone, MOTODYNAMIKI
• Reception Sponsor: Coca-Cola 3E

The digital transformation of the economy is a multifaceted topic with large implications for labour markets, the world of work and society at large. It is dealt with in a variety of ways by EU member states, due to different social and economic situations, labour markets and industrial relations systems and existing initiatives, practices and collective agreements.

The digital transformation brings clear benefits for employers, workers and jobseekers alike, in terms of new job opportunities, increased productivity, improvements in working conditions and new ways of organising work and improved quality of services and products. Overall, with the right strategies, it can lead to employment growth and job retention.

The transition also comes with challenges and risks for workers and enterprises, as some tasks will disappear and many others will change. This requires the anticipation of change, the delivery of skills needed for workers and enterprises to succeed in the digital age. Others include work organisation and working conditions, work life balance and accessibility of technology, including infrastructure, across the economy and regions. Specific approaches are also needed for SMEs to embrace digitalisation in a way that is tailored to their specific circumstances.

Since the gains are not automatic, we need to adapt our labour markets, education and training, and social protection systems to make sure the transition is mutually beneficial for employers and workers. The EU and national governments have an important role to play, by ensuring that the framework conditions allow and support employers and workers to grasp the opportunities and leave them space to find appropriate solutions to deal with the challenges, bearing in mind that they know best the situation on the ground and what measures are needed to benefit enterprises and workers.

It is also important to take into account the climate and environmental impacts.

Furthermore, a shared commitment is needed on the part of employers, workers and their representatives to make the most of the opportunities and deal with the challenges in a partnership approach, whilst respecting the different roles of those involved.

This framework agreement is the shared commitment of the European cross-sectoral social partners – BusinessEurope, SMEunited, CEEP and the ETUC (and the liaison committee EUROCADRES/ CEC) – to optimise the benefits and deal with the challenges of digitalisation in the world of work.

Aims
This framework agreement aims to:

• Raise awareness and improve understanding of employers, workers and their representatives of the opportunities and challenges in the world of work resulting from the digital transformation;
• Provide an action-oriented framework to encourage, guide and assist employers, workers and their representatives in devising measures and actions aimed at reaping these opportunities and dealing with the challenges, whilst taking into account existing initiatives, practices and collective agreements;
• Encourage a partnership approach between employers, workers and their representatives;
• Support development of a human-oriented approach to integration of digital technology in the world of work, to support/assist workers and enhance productivity;
  By:

Outlining a joint dynamic circular process, which takes into account the different roles and responsibilities of the different actors and can be tailored to different national, sectoral and/ or enterprise situations, industrial relations systems, jobs and different digital technologies/tools;
Highlighting concrete approaches, actions and measures, which employers, workers and their representatives can use, according to their specific needs and circumstances, to tackle topics such as skills, work organisation and working conditions.

IG@work, the new digital platform connecting highly skilled specialists with industry and technology companies is now open!

The aim is to attract talent, from Greece and abroad and to support Greek enterprises and startups in finding specialized cadres.

88 companies have already posted more than 400 job postings (here).

Attracting talent, finding highly specialized and experienced people, and connecting them with technology intensive, high-responsibility jobs is a key requirement for business growth.

IG@work is a user-friendly platform which collects quality jobs’ openings that are available in industry and tech startups, and connects them with people searching for repatriation opportunities, or simply for their next professional steps in Greece. Interested parties can search professional opportunities among the hundreds of postings on the platform which already counts more than 400 job postings from 88 companies.

The initiative aims to strengthen companies’ ability to access the people they need, while at the same time, it widens the employment opportunities for the high-level human capital, in Greece and abroad, to work for some of Greece’s largest industries and most dynamic startups.

IG@work is designed and run by SEV’s Innovation Committee in cooperation with Workable and is part of the Innovative Greeks initiative. Access to the service is exclusively for SEV members and the Elevate Greece startups.

Marco Veremis, Chair of SEV’s Innovation Committee notes that: In 2020, SEV’s Innovation Committee launched the Innovative Greeks in order to mobilise the network of Greeks abroad and bring together inventive and innovative Greeks from all over the world. Today, we further strengthen the endeavour with IG@WORK in an effort to contribute to bringing back those young, capable Greeks who left the country during the economic crisis in search of better employment prospects. These young people stemmed from Greek society’s most productive segment, and the vast majority hold university degrees. Greece’s business community fully supports the initiative, and we firmly believe that it will create much value for all, and especially for innovating Greeks.

You can visit the IG@work platform here.

We would also like to thank all those who support the initiative and especially our Mega Sponsors Coca-Cola HBC and Coca-Cola Hellas, our Sponsors Pharmathen and Athenian Brewery and our Supporters ABB S.A., ELVIAL S.A. Sunlight Group – Energy Storage Systems, Hellas Gold, TITAN Group and RAYCAP S.A.

Interview with Mrs Maggie Athanassiadi, Director, Innovation Division of SEV for the edition “DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN GREECE 2022-2023” of Found.ation

How does SEV help Greek businesses in their path to Digital Transformation?

SEV works consistently to support Greek businesses adapt to the realities and needs of our digital economy and society. Its work on digital transformation is organized around three pillars: building business capacities, developing human skills, and advocating for effective policies. The first pillar involves business capacity building and information sharing about new OT/IT trends, opportunities, risks, benefits and best practices. This is done through specialized meetings with experts, workshops, seminars and networking events on topics such as IoT, AI, cloud technologies, connectivity, cybersecurity, digital twins, workflow automations, and so on. Such activities are addressed to all SEV members, regardless of their size, sector or location. The second pillar, digital skills, centers on mobilizing businesses, as well as academic and vocational training institutions, to help the economy and society move faster towards the digital era. SEV collaborates with Universities and research centers to this end, given that some 85% of jobs that humans will perform by 2030 have yet to be developed and will be directly related with the digital transition. As part of the third pillar, SEV advocates for policies and incentives to help Greek enterprises integrate digital tools and new technologies into their operation and management processes, afford costs of the digital transition, and invest in digital training. For example, as a Social Partner, SEV is actively engaged in consultations on new funding schemes for digital transformation under RRF and EU’s structural funds 2021-2027 (aka ESPA). Recently announced tools respond to different business levels of digital maturity, while application and evaluation procedures are simplified and faster. SEV advocacy is also related with digital governance and enhanced digital interactions between public administration and businesses. A lot has already changed on that front, and hopefully more is coming.

What are the biggest challenges of Industry 4.0 for Greek enterprises? Which sectors have fallen behind and which are considered pioneers?

Greek businesses are starting their digital transition from quite a low starting point compared to European economies, or other competitors. According to DESI 2022, and despite progress since 2019, Greek enterprises are still underperforming their EU counterparts in terms of integrating digital technologies, ranking 22/27. The longer it takes to bridge the gap, the bigger the competitiveness loss. Therefore, it is important not only to move forward, but also at a much faster pace. Regardless of the sector – be it industrial manufacturing, food processing, logistics, pharmaceuticals, retail, ICT, services – the businesses that stand out are the ones that are already envisioning a digital future.

Which technologies or tools should Greek businesses focus on in 2023? How can they stay relevant and competitive at a global level?

There is an interesting paradox here. Greek enterprises invest in their digital transformation more than the EU average, ranking 11/27 according to DESI 2022. However, most investment is in I3.0 or I2.0 tools, rather than in cutting-edge technologies like AI and machine learning, IoT, AR, etc. Furthermore, only 39% of Greek SMEs have at least a basic level of digital intensity, compared to the EU average of 55%. Bearing that in mind, SEV works to help businesses develop a digital mindset and adopt advanced technologies as sine qua non factors of value creation and competitiveness.

How much has the digital transformation of the public sector helped Greek enterprises in the last two years?

The change is obvious, as 21% of digital services available on the gov.gr platform involve digital interaction between businesses and public administration. Digitalizing processes, and simplifying them along the way, makes a difference in terms of saving time and resources, as recent SEV research confirms. It should be noted that, during the pandemic, emphasis was given on digital interaction with citizens, and rightly so. Enterprises are now eager to see more digital steps related with doing business and investment, such as interoperability of different public administration platforms and registries, or digitalizing processes related with state aid, taxation, public procurement, commerce, trade, logistics, cargo, invoicing and the supply chain.

What are your predictions or hopes for the year ahead?

Let’s start with the hope that it will be more peaceful! Consecutive crises in the last years have shown us that predictions make little sense. However, change is a constant, and in particular technological change. I hope that Greek enterprises will see the opportunities that technological change offers, and act on it, by not being afraid to explore alternative I4.0 solutions for their production and operation processes. Given that €0,5bn is already available to enterprises under the RRF and ESPA, we can be both pragmatic and optimistic about the future of the economy’s digital transition.

BusinessEurope’s EU Reform Barometer 2019 “Building an EU for European Businesses to succeed globally”, published on 20 March 2019, shows that the EU needs to do more to improve its competitiveness as EU growth has now been lower than US growth for 7 of the last 10 years. In addition, the Reform Barometer contains our annual survey of our member federations regarding progress on structural reform.

This year’s Reform Barometer looks in particular at how Europe is falling behind in its ability to develop world-leading firms.

We arrive at this conclusion for 3 reasons:

• None of the top 10 global companies by market capitalisation are European.
• Western Europe’s share of the top 10% of global firms in terms of profitability has dropped from 36% in the late 1990s to 24% now.
• Finally, when considering large high-growth firms/’unicorns’ (start-ups that have reached 1 billion dollar market value within a short timeframe), the EU has not matched other regions when it comes to developing such firms, with the number and average value of unicorns in the EU significantly smaller than those in the USA and China.

Against this background it is concerning that, according to our survey of member federations, governments have failed to step up their reform efforts.  Our member federations consider that member states have satisfactorily implemented only 20% of the essential reforms agreed with the EU.

Detailed assessments by national member federations of progress on the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) issued by the European Commission for Greece can be downloaded below.

“Fulfilling our Potential – Shaping our Future” #SEV4Growth

Public event of SEV’s General Assembly  |  Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, Alexandra Trianti Hall  |  Tuesday, October 10th, 2023, 19:30 (ΕΕΤ)  

Discussion:

• Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
• Mr. Dimitri Papalexopoulos, Chairman of SEV

Moderation: Nicky Lyberaki, Journalist

Article by Dr. Costas Troulos, Senior Advisor, Innovation Department, SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, at ECONOMIA

As Greece bounces back from a long period of dire financial challenges, healthcare and life sciences emerge as a vibrant sector with strong potential for the country. The remarkable growth of the sector is reinforced by local entrepreneurial activity (startups), Greek pharma investments, and the strategic interest of global giants such as Pfizer. Acknowledging the unique opportunity, SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises) recently launched a working group for the healthcare and life sciences innovation ecosystem. The aim of the group is to share experts’ knowledge and experiences, give critical updates on global developments and trends, and facilitate synergies and collaborations among the stakeholders, including pharma, startups, researchers, funds, and other institutions that support innovation.

Global pharma grows in record rates

The global pharmaceutical industry accounts for nearly EUR1.2 trillion and grows at an annual rate between 3 and 7%. Within the pharma industry, digital health grows by nearly 40% YoY – that is 10 times faster than the entire industry. Moreover, investments in adjacent and relevant sectors account for $70 billion. These money are invested in pharmaceutical and biotech research outside the big pharma, e.g., in startups, SMEs, incubators/accelerators, research centers and universities. Total investments in healthcare start-ups worldwide exceeded $100 billion in 2021 (record year), whereas healthcare investments increase by ~21% YoY, and digital health investments by ~27% YoY. Finally, 65% of drugs and diagnostics licensed in America and 35% in Europe come from industry collaboration with universities and startups.

Strong innovation potential to exploit the global opportunity

The Greek pharmaceutical industry plans to invest more than EUR1.2 billion in production, high-tech equipment, and R&D, over a four-year period. In addition, exports rose to EUR2.9 billion in 2020 up by 48.3% from 2019. With regards to the country’s startup ecosystem, evidence from Elevate Greece suggests that health-tech represents 14.1% of the startup innovation. Finally, top-class medical centers and research infrastructures are available in the country.

Greek startups are active but could use a strong push to scale up fast

Based on a recent study of SEV, more than half of the health-tech startups are in digital health and offer disease management, telemedicine, and wellness platforms. Other solutions in the ecosystem include diagnostic tests (a sector that grew fast during the pandemic), and medical devices. Nearly 70% of the companies in the ecosystem are young (ie. at early funding rounds) and are looking for funding from financial and strategic investors. Finally, 57% of the startups would look forward to meeting with a leading technology and market advisor, from the Greek Diaspora, to help them evaluate and further develop their products.

An imminent call to action

Our research offers critical conclusions and a clear direction for action: a) the industry needs investment to grow quickly and sustainably, b) it is critical to exploit synergies among the big corporations, funds, universities, and startups, and c) the industry needs an innovation ecosystem that supports the growth and success. In this context, SEV identifies three key areas of support and is placing significant effort and resources:

Business development. The companies in the ecosystem are primarily export driven and always look at the global channels for sales and growth. Funding is a critical element for developing the business fast. Mentors from the Greek Diaspora would greatly benefit startups and bigger companies in the industry.

IP management. The management of IP rights is a domain where the startups and SMEs need improvement and support. Also, Greece needs to develop a favorable and easy to navigate IP system, within the entire range from technology development in the university to IP commercialization.

Product development. The collaboration of start-ups, established companies and the public sector can lead to co-development of products that explore breakthrough innovation, market knowledge and distribution. The participation of the public sector is also beneficial for facilitating pilots, reimbursement schemes, etc.

SEV believes that the national innovation ecosystem will become sustainable only when stakeholders acknowledge its contribution to their success, and as a result, profits are reinvested in and capitalized by the ecosystem. To this end, SEV will continue to contribute to the development of an enabling framework that offers collaboration opportunities and makes critical resources for growth available.

The SEV Center of Excellence in Creative Leadership invites you to its upcoming event entitled “Future-Ready IT: Digital Transformation amidst a pandemic, with a view to the era of Artificial Intelligence”, on Tuesday, May 16, 16:00-17:30,  at Alba Graduate Business School (Xenias 6-8, Athens)

The event will be held in Greek and will be broadcast via livestream.

Register here

Short Description

Given the successive crises, surprising shocks, and disruptive opportunities and threats, every business needs readiness, agility, capabilities, and tools not only to respond, but to stay ahead of the curve.

How do businesses leverage digital technologies to replace their infrastructure, improve customer experience, optimize their operations and empower their employees? What are the best practices, lessons and future trends shaping the digital transformation strategy? How can we prepare our infrastructure and human resources for the era of artificial intelligence that is already transforming every industry and sector?

Yiannis Papidis will present the case study of Kotsovolos who successfully navigated the digital transformation while at the same time having to re-arrange its priorities during the pandemic.

Come to the event venue earlier to interact with the demo of the innovative retail advertising platform that Kotsovolos has developed.