“We will continue to grow in Thessaloniki“: with this phrase, the head of Pfizer’s Center for Digital Innovation (CDI) in Thessaloniki, Nico Gariboldi, gave today the stamp of the intentions of the multinational biopharmaceutical industry for the city. He announced that Pfizer plans to expand its existing facilities on the East Plaza Campus by 2026 to accommodate an additional 200-250 people.

Mr. Gariboldi also announced the creation of a new Global Center of Learning and Development, for which hiring will begin by the end of 2024. He reiterated that Pfizer’s goal is to “close” the use 2024 with approximately 1200 employees in its four organizations based in Thessaloniki, compared to the 168 with which it started in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. For 2025, he reminded, Pfizer is predicted to employ almost 1400 people in Thessaloniki.

Four global organizations, 35,000 CVs and 51 nationalities

Today, the 9,000 square meters of the “East Plaza Campus”, in the east of the city, house four global organizations of Pfizer, for the recruitment of which the company has received to date more than 35,000 CVs: the Center for Digital Innovation (which, according to IOBE study, last year employed approximately 1% of IT and Communications professionals in Greece), the Center for Financial & Operational Operations, the Safety Surveillance & Risk Management department and Pfizer Research & Development Clinical Studies).

The Thessaloniki facilities employ workers from 51 nationalities, 15% of whom come from brain gain (Greeks who returned from abroad, where they had immigrated during the crisis). These are hundreds of researchers working on pioneering Pfizer projects with global impact.

For example, at Pfizer Research & Development, which has over 230 employees in Greece, of which 170 are in Thessaloniki and the rest in Athens, Pfizer’s clinical studies and trials are now “running”, which until 2023 were mostly only in Asia and North and South America, as announced by its head, Marge Bailanis. The geographical area in which Greece is located allows the utilization of time zones so that research “runs” 24 hours a day, and the researchers based in Thessaloniki have so far participated in more than 300 clinical studies worldwide.

The Center for Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance of Pfizer operates in Thessaloniki, which is fully responsible for more than 120 pharmaceutical products worldwide. The center currently employs 19 doctors of exceptional skills, as explained by its head, Giovanni Furlan, according to whom it is the first time that a global organization for pharmaceutical safety and pharmacovigilance is based in Thessaloniki, bringing to the city skills, which did not exist before.

Thessaloniki was also chosen by Pfizer for the installation of one of its only six Financial & Operational Operations centers worldwide, as noted by its head, Giorgos Koskinas. In Europe, there is only one similar center, in Dublin, Ireland. The center currently employs 430 employees from 45 nationalities, supporting projects in 70 countries and in 30 different languages.

The justification of the investment in Thessaloniki

The president and CEO of Pfizer Hellas, Zacharias Ragousis, spoke of the great justification of the investment in Thessaloniki, referring to the decision of the American giant to expand in the city, evaluating the high level of human talent and the attitude of the Greek government.

As he said, as new pieces of activity are added to the country and the evaluations are positive, the interest from New York and the company’s headquarters in the USA increases, so that more departments can come to Greece.

Regarding the quality of human talent, he mentioned a typical incident: when the clinical trial department came to Thessaloniki, he said, there was a project underway in another country, which had reached a dead end. In just two months, this project was completed in Thessaloniki. He added that the projects delivered by the first workers at the Thessaloniki hub were important in terms of both time and quality, creating the certainty at the company’s headquarters that these people can handle important projects.

“A Pfizer doesn’t bring spring, but…”

“A Pfizer doesn’t bring spring, but it shows what spring can be,” noted Svet Danchev, head of the Department of Microeconomic Analysis and Policy, presenting updated data from an earlier study by the Institute for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) on Pfizer’s contribution to the Greek economy.

He reminded that the contribution, to the Greek economy, of Pfizer’s activity in Athens and Thessaloniki, is estimated at 2.5 billion euros in terms of GDP, during the period 2020-2030. The gross added value directly generated by Pfizer is estimated at €1.1 billion in total in the period 2020-2030. As a result, for every 1 euro of the company’s direct contribution, a total of 2.3 euro of GDP is created in the Greek economy. In terms of employment, Pfizer’s activity in Greece is estimated to support a total (directly and indirectly) of approximately 3,900 jobs on average, for the period 2020-2030.

Pfizer’s overall activity in Thessaloniki also significantly strengthens the local economy. In particular, the effect on the GDP of the Regional Unit of Thessaloniki is estimated at 1.14 billion in total in the period 2020-2030 (Pfizer’s activity in Thessaloniki is estimated to support 0.6% of the region’s GDP), supporting on average approximately 1,750 full-time jobs locally. At the same time, the percentage of employees at Pfizer with postgraduate studies is approximately seven times higher compared to the average in the Greek economy.

Commenting on the study, the general director of IOBE, Professor Nikos Vettas, made a special mention of the special weight that those made by international companies that retain or attract human capital in the country in high-tech sectors have in the mix of investments. Also of great importance is the creation of local systems and networks of companies that can revitalize and strengthen city areas as has happened in Thessaloniki.

The findings of the IOBE study were presented at a special event at the Pfizer facilities in Thessaloniki. In the context of a panel discussion commenting on the findings of the study, the president of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Central Macedonia, Ignatios Kaitetzidis, mayor of Pylaia – Hortiatis, where Pfizer’s facilities are located, noted that “it is very important that for Pfizer to choose the Thessaloniki exhausted the research of quantitative and qualitative characteristics, which excluded other cities and led it to this one, which gave a signal to the global community about the possibilities of the wider region.

Dr. Ioannis Kobatsiaris, director of the Institute of Information Technology & Communications (IPTHIL) of the National Center for Research & Technological Development (EKETA), pointed out that the research body he represents has collaborated with Pfizer on four projects, with excellent results. For researchers, these projects are an important opportunity, on the one hand, because they are given the opportunity to apply their research based on the real needs of a company, and on the other hand, because they are in daily contact with Pfizer partners and departments worldwide, for projects with a global impact.

Finally, when asked to comment on recent negative international reports about Pfizer, Albert Burla and his questioning by the investment company Starboard, Mr. Ragousis said that Mr. Burla himself answered everything. The employees, what they see is the good course of the company: “when you are an employee in a company, what interests you are the working conditions, the efficiency and the daily improvement, and when you see all this from the inside, you definitely feel that the company is moving in the right direction,” he said.