Speakers
Dimitris Papastergiou graduated from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of NTUA. At the same time, he attended journalism course. In 2014 he was elected Mayor of Trikala He was re-elected Mayor in 2019 and, in the same year. During his mayoralty, his municipality was described as a strong model municipality because of its pioneering work. As Mayor of Trikala since 1 September 2014, he is a member of the Board of Directors of KEDE and Chairman of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Committee of the Union of Municipalities. He is Minister of the Greek Government since July 2024.
Dimitris Papastergiou
Minister for Digital Governance, Greece
Tonia Arachova, President of the General Council of Libraries for the last three years from 6/2021 to 6/2024. She is a past president-elect of IFLA 2021-22. Between 2017 and 2019, she served as an officer of the Library of the President of the Hellenic Republic. She served as Deputy Director General of the National Library of Greece. She has served as a scientific advisor to the head of the 2004-2009 group of MEPs on political management and strategy. She is currently the deputy national representative in Europeanna's expert group on big data and digitisation.
Antonia (Tonia) Arahova
President of General Council for Libraries,
Ministry of Education, Greece
Pantelis Boukalas was born 1957 in Lesini Messolonghi. He is a journalist and a writer. He has published books of poetry, essays, translations of ancient Greek language, plays and book reviews. He has translated Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Sappho, Theocritus, Bion of Smyrnaeus, epitaphs and epigrams of the Palatine Anthology. He holds a PhD in Modern Greek Philology from the Cyprus School of Philosophy.
Pantelis Boukalas
Journalist, Author, Greece
Dr. Ioannis A. Daglis is Professor of Space Physics at the University of Athens and President of the Hellenic Space Center – the national space agency of Greece. He has been a Full Member of the International Academy of Astronautics since 2011; He served as a Member of ESA's advisory Solar System Working Group for five years (2005-2010). He served as a Member of ESA's advisory Solar System Working Group for five years (2005-2010), and as an evaluation panel member for NASA, NSF, the Academy of Finland, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, the European Commission, and several other funding agencies.He has been a co-investigator of three NASA space missions and of two ESA space missions.
Ioannis Daglis
President of the Hellenic Space Center, Professor at the University of Athens, Greece
Dr. Didier, since December 2020, is Executive Director at RestARTBeirut, a European philanthropic fund dedicated to safeguarding art and collections in Beirut. She is also the CEO and founder of MATIS, a startup dedicated to providing AI solutions for characterizing delicate art samples. She specializes in developing and applying innovative technologies derived from fundamental research in the academic realm to the art ecosystem, thus creating and implementing state-of-the-art tools and methodologies to enhance the comprehension, preservation, and appreciation of cultural heritage
Marie Eve Didier
Marie Eve Didier, Executive Director of Heritage Conservation and Technological Innovation, RestArtBeirut, Beirut, Lebanon
Seasoned executive in both the private and the public sector. Mechanical Engineer, BSc/MSc/MBA holder, former CEO of Elevate Greece SA, currently working at the Ministry of Economy and Finance serving as the National Contact Point for S.T.E.P. EU Platform, co-author of “Startups: from A to exit”, amateur musician and choir singer. He served as Director of the Cabinet of Vice Minister of Development in charg of Innovation (2019 - 2023)
Michael Dritsas
National Contact Point for Greece, S.T.E.P. EU platform, Greece
Benoît Dubuis is President of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) and Chairman of the Inartis Foundation, which manages various programs to support innovation and entrepreneurship, a he held various management positions in pharmaceutical companies (Chemap, Ciba-Geigy/Novartis, Lonza), before joining EPFL, where he founded the Life Sciences faculty and was its first dean.
Benoit Dubuis
President
Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), Switzerland
Youssef Eldakar specializes in large-scale computing and currently heads the International School of Information Science at Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) in Egypt, supporting research through information technology. Youssef represents BA in the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) and served as chair in 2023. Youssef was profiled in Marquis Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.
Youssef Eldakar
Head of The International School of Information Science,
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
Professor Sarah Kenderdine leads a team of software engineers, artists, and curators, at the forefront of interactive and immersive experiences for galleries, libraries, archives and museums. In widely exhibited installation works, she has amalgamated tangible and intangible cultural heritage with new media art practice. In 2020, she was named in the Museum Influencer List 2020 – The Power 10 by Blooloop and, Switzerland’s Top 100 Digital Shapers by Bilanz in 2020 and 2021. In 2021, Sarah was appointed corresponding fellow of The British Academy.
Sarah Kenderdine
Head of Experimental Museology, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
George Kotrotsios has dedicated his career to creating economic and social value through high-end technology. He was for 17 years Vice President for Business Development of CSEM (www.csem.ch), a major Swiss research and innovation center in microelectronics and smart digital systems. Author of two books on the role of Big Data in society and the Economy. He is currently a technology consultant to medical startups.
Georges Kotrotsios
Member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, Switzerland
Kostas Koutsourelis was born in 1967. He has published about 40 books of poetry, works for the stage, essays and translations. His critical writings revolve around domestic and foreign literature and thought. He directs the magazine Neo Planodion. His latest book: Icarus - The winged hero and his faces through time, Smile, 2024.
Costas Koutsourelis
Poet, Greece
Riva Lava is an associate professor at the School of Architecture of NTUA (National Polytechnic School of Athens) and holds a PhD in architecture from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has been writing for the magazine (de)kat since 2005, in the column "In my city" and elsewhere. She has been a radio producer in New York and Athens (9,84 FM) and has worked as a journalist at the Greek Public Television.
Riva Lava
Professor, School of Architecture and Engineering,
Polytechnic School of Athens (NTUA), Greece
Christina Linardaki has studied in Greece, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. Her research interests and scholarly articles concerning the relationship of literature to other fields of science. She has also published poetry, both original and translated. Her literary book reviews and other articles on literature are published regularly mainly online
Christina Linardaki
Translator, poet, editor of publications, author,
creator of the magazine stigmalogou.gr, Greece
George Nounesis is the Director and Chairman of the Board of the National Centre for Physical Sciences Research "Demokritos" for a second four-year term (2017-2021 & 2021-2025), Member of the Board and Deputy Chairman of the Hellenic Space Centre (2020-2025) and since 2022 Member of the NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies.
George Nounesis
Chairman and Director of Research Center, "Demokritos NCSR", Greece
Professor Lonneke van der Plas is head of the Computation, Cognition and Language group at the Idiap research institute in Martigny, and Affiliate Professor at University of Malta. She previously held a junior-professorship at the University of Stuttgart, earned her PhD from the University of Groningen and an M.Phil from the University of Cambridge
Lonneke van der Plas
Head of the Computation,
Cognition and Language group at the
Idiap research Center on AI and Robotics, Switzerland
Dr. Kyriacos Sabatakakis is the Country Managing Director of Accenture in Greece and Bulgaria with responsibility also for several markets in Southeastern Europe in the telecommunications industry, overseeing a practice of more than 2,500 Consultants. He has held this position since September 2003 and has led multiple projects both in Greece and internationally on strategy, business transformation, technology, operations and digital entrepreneurship in big corporations and organizations. From 2003 to 2008, he was also responsible for Accenture’s global mobile network business
Kyriakos Sabbatakakis
CEO, Accenture Hellas, Greece
Coordinators
Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis is an attorney at law specialized in public law and cultural management advisor at the Hellenic Parliament. She served as head of cultural affairs at the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic, advisor on international and cultural affairs at the Ministries of Culture, Foreign Affairs and Development. Head of the cultural programme of the Hellenic Presidency of the EU Council, responsible for cultural affairs at the Embassy of Greece in Rome, representative of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture to Maghreb countries and China, executive coordinator of the Cultural Year of Greece in China. She participated and organised numerous events and multilateral meetings, curated cultural and educational editions, and published articles on culture.
Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis
Lawyer (LL.M), Cultural Policy & Management Advisor, Hellenic Parliement, Greece
Anastasia Siotou