“Never before in Greece has so much money been given to the market for the digital transformation of the economy” noted the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakisspeaking yesterday at the Digital Economy Forum Shaping Greece’s Digital Future conference of the Hellenic IT and Communications Business Association representing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

As he pointed out, “this money will not only strengthen the businesses of the IT and new technologies sector. But, regardless of whether they concern small, medium and large companies, they will stay here: for further development of the Greek economy, for further job creation, to lead Greece higher”.

According to the minister, “the country is in the midst of two parallel and interconnected digital transformations: the Digital Transformation of the Government and the Digital Transformation of the Economy”.

Mr. Hatzidakis underlined that a decisive role in this effort is played by the European resources, both from the NSRF and from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (TAA), which in total amount to approximately 3.4 billion euros. It is indicative that the digital transformation of the public and private sector is the second most important pillar in the TAA with 69 integrated projects and a total budget of 2.39 billion euros. At the same time, in the new NSRF 2021-2027, an increased initial budget has been provided that is already close to 1 billion euros with the aim of supporting businesses, especially SMEs in their digital transformation.

Presenting the actions and initiatives promoted by the government, Mr. Hatzidakis underlined that “digital transformation is neither a right-wing, left-wing nor centrist policy! On the contrary, it is a conscious choice of progress that we make!”

Digital Transformation of the Government

Referring to the digital transformation of the public administration, the minister noted that this is an effort that started in 2019, accelerated due to the pandemic and is developing rapidly “leading our country from digital backwardness to digital vanguard!”. He also presented the progress made in the triptych:

1. Improving the citizen-public relationship: In this context, he referred to a series of initiatives, the most prominent of which was the establishment of the Ministry of Digital Governance in 2019, which led to the existence today of 1,600 digitized public services, as well as actions such as remote education, universal vaccination, 112, the Digital renewal of driver’s licenses, the new identity cards and the MyHealth digital health application. Special mention was made by:

  • to the progress achieved in EFKA services: Within 2.5 years dozens of new digital services were added such as electronic appointments, the Digital Contact Room, digital KEPA and the digital service center for citizens 1555,
  • in efforts to limit tax evasion by exploiting new technologies as provided for in the recently passed law: mandatory electronic invoices, universal extension of MyDATA, mandatory possibility for payments through IRIS.

2. In the internal procedures of the State: The minister spoke, among others, about initiatives such as:

  • The utilization of open data for the redesign of Government functions and procedures. In this context, the transfer of the data of the cloud state – to the computing cloud – is included.
  • Promoting interoperability. One such example of action is the strengthening of GEMI’s interoperability with systems of other institutions, such as the Bank of Greece, EFKA, AADE, the Civil Registry.
  • The first government enterprise resource planning system (Enterprise Resource Planning) of gov ERP implemented by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance to monitor the size of the Greek economy through fiscal reports and financial statements.

3. On the exploitation of Artificial Intelligence: “Did you know that 11% of the leading European researchers in Artificial Intelligence have studied at a Greek university? If one also adds the ecosystem of companies in Artificial Intelligence that is already developing in our country, I would say that we have certain comparative advantages” said Mr. Hatzidakis, recalling the establishment of an Advisory Committee under the Prime Minister with the participation of leading scientists as well as the start of its operation mAIgov digital assistant developed in collaboration with Microsoft. It is noted that in the first two hours of operation of mAIgov, more than 4,000 citizen questions were submitted.

Digital Transformation of the economy

Speaking about the transition of the economy to the digital future, Mr. Hatzidakis emphasized that the country’s digital sector has more than 4,500 companies, 260,000 employees and a turnover of more than 13 billion euros, while, as he said, it has entered the international investment map. In this context, he referred to the investments of foreign giants in Greece, such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, stressing that the increased foreign investments of large groups are due to the fact that:

  1. a radical digital transformation of the Government is taking place,
  2. Greece is steadily upgrading its digital infrastructure,
  3. the government over the past four and a half years has created a business-friendly and investment-friendly environment by reducing taxes and levies, simplifying licensing procedures and promoting structural reforms.

“This is an effort that we are determined to intensify” emphasized Mr. Hatzidakis and referred to certain actions, which will support the digital transformation of the economy:

  1. Actions to create more internationally competitive technology companies that will create more and better jobs. Among the actions, the minister noted initiatives such as:
  • the “Digital Upgrade Loans” program available through the Business Growth Fund of the Hellenic Development Bank, with resources financed by the Greek government and the European Investment Bank. The aim is to provide favorable investment loans to SMEs, with a two-year partial interest subsidy and interest-free 40% of the capital, in order for businesses to implement investment projects for digitization and digital upgrading of their operations.
  • the “Q-Equity” program of the Hellenic Development Bank to support Greek businesses with resources from the Recovery Fund through which 400 million euros will be invested in new venture investment funds aimed at strengthening Greek entrepreneurship through investments, mobilizing at least equal amounts of private capital.

2. Upskilling & reskilling: With targeted interventions, workers are provided with the necessary tools in a constantly changing economy, while businesses also have access to the workforce they need. One such example is DYPA’s pilot programs in collaboration with giants such as Amazon, Google, Cisco and Microsoft with a special emphasis on green and digital technologies. “Overall, through our training actions, our goal is the optimal utilization of the European resources of the Recovery Fund and the new NSRF.

With programs that will benefit over 700,000 workers and unemployed in the coming years! The training and certification program for 150,000 unemployed and workers that we started in the previous four years was recently completed,” the minister said.

3. Digital transformation programs for SMEs: Mr. Hatzidakis made special reference to the opportunities for Greek businesses through initiatives, such as the recent one concerning the support of 368 small and medium IT and technology businesses to develop new digital products and services with a budget of 145 million . euro.

“Four and a half years of digital progress for our country prove that Greece can change! We are determined to continue this effort so that Greece can run at even higher speeds in the digital age!”, concluded the minister.