Ioannina: The silicon valley of Greece

Everything shows that the investment mix is shifting radically towards technological development, and the focus is on the prospects of Ioannina as a destination for technology investments, but also as an emerging innovation hub.

A Greek “Silicon Valley”, which has set the goal of attracting big tech companies to the capital of Epirus, with the University of Ioannina as a point of reference.

The dynamic return of the region to the investment map is also confirmed by the fact that a series of IT and technology companies have chosen Ioannina to create Research and Development (R&D) centers, utilizing the highly qualified human capital in digital skills.

German giants opt Ioannina

Among them stands out the vote of confidence from two German IT giants, TeamViewer and P&I.

The first has created an impressive hub for Research and Technology in Ioannina, while the second is hosted in the Epirus Science and Technology Park.

Also, huge investments, especially in the creation of innovative information systems, have been made by the big four consulting firms (PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Grant Thornton). Now they have become providers of IT innovation and solutions in Greece and abroad, keeping Greek minds in the country, but also attracting other scientists from abroad. Many information systems for Greek banks or even digital banks in Greece and Europe have been built on technology created by research centers, startups and other businesses in in Ioannina. Also, large innovation centers are being developed simultaneously in Patras, Crete, Thessaloniki and other areas, mainly in the periphery.

In three years, the capital outflow of the last 12 years will have been covered

According to data from PwC, from 2008 to 2018, an estimated 26,570 companies in the manufacturing sector closed or left the country. Job losses exceeded 160,000.

Only the flight of investments in the previous 12 years, i.e. during the period of the crisis and the Memoranda, created an investment gap of 94 billion euros.

Although the flight of multinationals continues, other “giants”, such as Microsoft, Amazon and Volkswagen, vote for “Greece” – apart from the German giants that invest in Ioannina – covering, as reported by the newspaper “Ta Nea”, almost 60% of investment gap of the previous decades and together with the investments of the next three years, due to the Recovery Fund and other European funds, the remaining percentage will be covered.