Original Article Here in Greek

Friday, December 8, 2023 1:44 p.m

The high-tech ecosystem in Greece is going through a period of systematic and steady growth as it expands into new technological fields

By Elias Carayannis, professor at George Washington University, USA, and Antonis Angelakis, scientific executive of IME/GSEVEE

BUILDING innovation ecosystems is a complex process, which is associated with a wide range of quantitative and qualitative parameters, while requiring long-term and coordinated planning at the level of technological and innovation policies.

It is common knowledge that the high-tech ecosystem in Greece is going through a period of systematic and steady growth. It is worth noting that the expansion of the domestic technological ecosystem is primarily based to an extremely high degree on the critical and catalytic role of Greek universities and research centers which develop international scientific activity, in the formation of internationally interconnected large-scale research infrastructures in key cutting-edge technological fields ( e.g., computer science, health sciences, microelectronics, photonics, optical communications, space technologies, new forms of energy production), as well as in the continuous development of highly specialized human scientific potential and scientific teams with international scientific impact.

FIRST, the upgrade of the innovation system is quantified in the relevant innovation metrics. According to the recent data of the National Center for Documentation and Electronic Content (EKT, 2023), the total expenditure on Research and Development (R&D) in Greece in 2022 amounts to 3,084.82 million euros, recording an increase of 438.37 million euros (16.6% increase from 2021). By extension, the "R&D Intensity" index (R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP) was set at 1.49% (2022), from 1.46% in 2021 (14th place at the EU-27 level).

WHEREAS, secondly, the gradual but continuous upgrading of the country's technological ecosystem is directly linked to the emergence and gradual expansion of technological sectors at the domestic level through established companies that produce or integrate technological products or services, as well as through the development of start-ups and technospheres (spin-offs).

The segment of high-tech companies is still a small part of all the branches of the Greek economy, while the percentage of high-tech products in the total exports remains at relatively low levels.

However, from the study of the relevant data, it is concluded that companies with high technological intensity activity are growing at a steady pace, are expanding thematically into new technological fields, as well as expanding the geographical range of reference to new markets through their participation in international value chains.

ACCORDING to the recent data of the European Commission regarding small and medium enterprises (SME Performance Review 2023), in Greece the following indicative aggregate data emerges:

• In the manufacturing sector, 577 high-tech companies are recorded for 2023 with an extremely high concentration of companies in the categories "Production of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations" (C21) and "Manufacturing of computers, electronic and optical products" (C26), while 62,350 companies are recorded in the entire manufacturing sector (including the categories of low, medium-low and medium-high technological intensity).
• In the field of "Knowledge intensive services" and especially in the sub-category "High technology services" 23,876 companies are recorded, a number that has increased significantly in relation to the year 2013 (12,355 companies).

EQUALLY important with the quantitative capture of trends in the field of high technology, the technological composition of the thematic areas is also judged. For example, in the official digital portal for start-ups Elevate Greece, 793 start-ups and techno-shoots are registered (data: November 2023). It is also noteworthy that a significant number of companies are active in critical and complex technological fields (deep tech), such as sensors, robotic systems, Artificial Intelligence , prosthetic manufacturing (3D printing), health sciences and biotechnology, drones and the Internet of Things .

CERTAINLY, beyond the quantitative expansion and the qualitative expansion, on these parameters a third important dimension regarding the path towards the technological upgrading of an economy is worth considering. This dimension is summed up in the need to create endogenous technological interconnections and advanced technologically intensive ecosystems. It is a fact that the importance of further strengthening the technological ecosystem is directly linked to the formation of domestic production capacities in critical technological areas, while at the same time it contributes crucially in terms of productivity, jobs, production of added value and know-how.

HOWEVER, taking into account the long-term positive correlation and the degree of dependence between technological transformation and imports of technological factors in a large number of domestic industries, it is realized that the building of domestic technological ecosystems is a fundamental parameter of shaping more integrated, integrated and endogenous innovation chains at the domestic level .

In an international technological and economic environment with continuous, structural and asymmetric shifts and disruptions in terms of supply and production chains, the creation of domestic technological ecosystems and "highly specialized technological islands" acquires particular importance for the productive adequacy, technological deepening and competitiveness of a economy..

Dual use TECHNOLOGIES are a typical example to consider. The implementation of advanced technology-intensive activities and cutting-edge technology development programs implemented in academic/research laboratories and technology enterprises at the level of dual-use technologies, already contributes decisively to the development of advanced technological systems (e.g., drones, applications of Artificial Intelligence, optical technologies and sensors) in a wide range of application fields (e.g., space industry, defense industry, advanced manufacturing, shipping and transportation, agri-food production and precision agriculture, energy generation, storage and transport, environment and monitoring systems, health sciences).

CONGREGATION, deepening and broadening of the technological ecosystem, through a supportive mix of innovation policies with a broad framework of combination of tools (e.g. grants in cutting-edge technology fields, new forms of targeted funding, tax incentives, infrastructure, public procurement, innovation hubs and competence centers, innovation bodies), is a basic condition for technological upgrading, but also for the production specialization of the Greek economy, in terms of technological proficiency in critical technological areas and over time. The comprehensive utilization of the wider "technological wave", which the international economy is increasingly entering, presupposes both the intensified integration of technological factors and primarily the production of specialized technological products, solutions and applications in highly specialized technological islands through the active mobilization and rearrangement of the domestic production base.