Matina Charkoftaki was raised in Heraklion, Crete, and has been a journalist for the past 13 years. She studied at the Department of International and European Studies at Panteion University and later earned a master's degree in Economics. Her career in business reporting began in 2012 when she joined SBC TV, a stock market channel, where she worked for six years. She later worked at Boussias Communications, covering FOODReporter and Build, and also contributed to the Business Daily news website. In 2022, she joined the teams of Capital.gr, Kefalaio newspaper, and the Greek edition of Forbes magazine. Recently, she started working as a business journalist for Kathimerini.

Dimitris Primpas is the General Manager of IBM for Greece and Cyprus and also leads IBM's Consulting Services for Greece and Cyprus. Since 2018, he has held the position of Director of IBM Consulting and has served as an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of IBM Greece. Dimitris joined IBM in 2008 as a Project Manager in the Technology Services department and later served as Sales Manager for Technology Services in Greece and Cyprus. Prior to joining IBM, he worked as a Researcher at the Computer Technology Institute. He holds a degree in Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. from the University of Patras (Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics).

George Marinos is Assistant General Manager of Innovation and Digital Collaborations at the National Bank. He is responsible for developing and adopting AI technologies at NBG. From May 2017 to December 2023, he was the Director of Digital Transformation, leading the technological development of the Bank's digital services. Over the past 15 years, he has contributed to nearly all of the National Bank's technological and digital modernization projects. He has previously worked in the technology sector, including both the private and broader banking industry. He has studied at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens.

Giorgos Verdi is a Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, the pan-European think tank. His research focuses on the implications of critical and emerging technologies for the EU’s competitiveness, economic security, and foreign policy. Before joining ECFR, Verdi was a policy advisor to the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, where he worked with high-tech small and medium enterprises and start-ups. Verdi holds an MA in EU international relations and diplomacy from the College of Europe and a BA in international relations from the University of Piraeus.

George is a farmer and an engineer. He did his Master's in Robotics and then started his Ph.D. in computer vision related to precision agriculture. He spent a few years in the defense industry before becoming the founder and CEO of Augmenta in 2016 which CNH acquired (NYSE: CNHI) in 2023. Currently, he serves as a Senior Executive at CNH leading global teams. Having driven tractors for thousands of hours, he is laser-focused on providing smart and affordable solutions that can truly cover the farmers’ needs and can be adopted by all farmers regardless of the size of their operations.

Vassilis Koutsoumpas is a Digital Policy and AI Adviser at the Office of the Prime Minister of Greece, leading efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into policymaking and governance. He previously served as a Special Adviser at the General Secretariat of the Prime Minister. With a background in law & public policy he has worked in government advisory roles and consulting, servicing clients in the TMT industry & financial institutions through Brunswick Group and in healthcare though Healthsperien LLC. He is the Co-Founder & former Executive Director of WeFor, an NGO focused on the sustainable development goals. He has also worked as a special adviser at the Municipality of Athens. He has been recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, a Clinton Foundation Fellow, and a Globsec Young Leader. He is graduate of Georgetown University as an Onassis Foundation Scholar and the Democritus University of Thrace.

Ismini Papakirillou is the Chief Executive Officer of Hellenic Development Bank, a position she holds since February 2024. Previously she worked for the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group, covering European Commission mandates across a range of different thematics. From 2010 to 2019 she worked for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investing arm of the World Bank, handling direct investments across a range of financial instruments, sectors and geographies. Prior to IFC she worked for three years as a portfolio manager for Global Tactical Asset Allocation strategies at APG Investments, one of the largest institutional investors in Europe. She has also worked in Paris and Athens covering investments in industry and private equity. She has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the London School of Economics (LSE).

Petros Koumoutsakos is Herbert S. Winokur, Professor of Computing in Science and Engineering at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). He is currently a Visiting Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, London. He studied Naval Architecture (Diploma-NTU of Athens, M.Eng.-U. of Michigan), Aeronautics and Applied Mathematics (PhD-Caltech). He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Center for Parallel Computing at Caltech and at the Center for Turbulent Research at Stanford University/NASA Ames. He has served as the Chair of Computational Science at ETHZ Zurich (1997-2020) and Area Chair of Applied Mathematics at Harvad (2021-2024) and has held visiting fellow positions at Caltech, the University of Tokyo, MIT, TU Berlin and TU Munich. Petros is elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Physical Society (APS), the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and the Collegium Helveticum. He is recipient of the Advanced Investigator Award by the European Research Council and the ACM Gordon Bell prize in Supercomputing. In 2018 he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and he serves at the Board of Mathematical Sciences and Applications of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He is also serves as president of the Board of the Hellenic Institute of Advanced Studies (HIAS). His research interests are on the fundamentals and applications of Computing and AI to understand, predict and optimize fluid flows in engineering and medicine.

Artemis is currently the VP of AI Safety at ElevenLabs, where she leads the company's work on preventing and mitigating abuse of ElevenLabs' AI models and products. Previously, Artemis was at OpenAI, where she oversaw usage policies for ChatGPT and the API, and Meta, where she worked on countering online harassingment, espionage and other threats to its community of users. Before tech, Artemis worked in migration policy and refugee response. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a J.D. from Stanford University, an MPP from HKS, and a first class B.A. from Oxford.

Mr. Antreas Athanasopoulos has extensive experience in banking, retail, and business both in Greece and abroad for over 24 years. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for leading the design and implementation of large-scale strategic growth plans, whether organic or non- organic. From 2020 to 2023, he served as Deputy CEO and Executive Member of the Board of Directors at Eurobank, holding the role of Group Chief Transformation Officer. Prior to that, from early 2018 to late 2020, he worked as Chief Customer Officer and CEO Financial Services at DixonsCarphone London headquarters and, between 2013 and 2017 he was CEO of Kotsovolos, where he successfully transformed the company bringing it back to full profitability. Before that, from 2001 to 2013, he held General Manager positions at Piraeus Bank, Eurobank, and National Bank. In addition to his professional achievements, Mr. Athanasopoulos also had an outstanding academic career at the University of Warwick Business School from 1991 to 1997 where he served as a Senior Lecturer while he taught at the Athens Graduate School of Business (1997-2001). He holds a BA in Applied Mathematics from the University of Patras, an MSc in Statistics and Operational Research from the University of Essex, a PhD in Management Sciences and Analytics from the University of Warwick and a Post-Doc in Decision Sciences from the London Business School.

Alex is currently an Engineering Manager at Meta, leading the Meta team in Greece. The team designs, develops and maintains core audio/video creation components across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The team’s infrastructure serves billions of users, enabling them to generate millions of hours of content every day. From 2012 to 2022, Alex was the co-founder and CEO of Accusonus. Despite having to navigate the Greek financial crisis, Accusonus surpassed everyone's expectations. Over the years, the company introduced a range of critically acclaimed audio products that gained traction with hundreds of thousands of users and generated millions in revenue through various channels (including technology licensing to media companies like Adobe and Techsmith). In 2022, Accusonus became part of Meta. Alex holds a diploma of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Acoustics (University of Marseille) and a PhD in Digital Audio Signal Processing (University of Patras). He has authored more than 20 academic papers/book chapters and he holds 9 US patents. As an undergraduate student, he has worked as an electronic music composer, mainly producing theatre, dance and film soundtracks.

Dimitris Papastergiou was born in 1973 in Trikala. He graduated from the Polycladic Lyceum of Trikala and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of NTUA (National Technical University of Athens). At the same time, he attended journalism courses, while he maintains strong ties with technology and the internet, a relationship that was strengthened at the Multimedia Laboratory of NTUA. In 2001 he built and presented, together with a group of his colleagues, the first integrated website for the Prefecture of Trikala, 3kala.gr. Since 2002 he has been practicing the profession of Electrical and Computer Engineer in the city of Trikala. He was involved in studies and construction of private electromechanical projects and the creation of software programs. In 2007 he entered the field of renewable energy and has constructed more than 300 private renewable energy projects. His involvement in the community began in 2002, with his election to the City Council. He was re-elected in 2006, and in 2014 he was elected Mayor of Trikkaion and member of the Board of Directors of KEDE. He was re-elected Mayor in 2019 and, in the same year, he was elected President of the KEDE. He is married to the engineer Soula Brakis and is the happy father of Faye, Kostas and Nikos. From June 2023, he is Minister of Digital Governance in the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Dr. Armoundas was born in Mytilini, Greece. He received the BS degree in electrical engineering from National Technical University of Athens in 1991 and the MS degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University, in 1994. He received his PhD degree in nuclear Engineering, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in 1999. He has been an American Heart Association sponsored Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT and the Division of Molecular Cardiobiology and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Currently, he is a Principal Investigator with the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, while he maintains an appointment at MIT. Dr. Armoundas’ research interests include the development of biomedical signal processing and machine learning algorithms aiming to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and respiratory disease.

Athanasios Katsikidis is a Greek Columnist - specializing in interviewing high-profile personalities. For the past three years, he has been collaborating with Kathimerini Newspaper, Kathimerini English Edition, "K" magazine, Economic Review (Greek), as well as with the newsletter Geotrends (geo-trends.eu). In 2022 he spent time in Israel while acting as a correspondent for Kathimerini Newspaper. His articles have also been published by ESTIA Newspaper. Part of his work has been translated into 8 languages. Interviews of his include conversations with high-rank politicians, military and intelligence officers, Nobel laureates, philosophers, tech experts, and more than 100 notable personalities.

Vassilis is a partner at Blue Dome Capital, investing in deep tech and innovation in Central and South-Eastern Europe. He is also the managing partner of P Square Ventures, leading digital transformation through AI, and co-founder of COGNITOR AI, developing a passive authentication platform using machine learning and behavioral biometrics. He has led multiple startup investments, achieving two multi-X exits, and serves on several boards. A research affiliate at MIT, he teaches entrepreneurship at NTUA and is an EIR at NCSR Demokritos. He holds degrees from NTUA and MIT and enjoys running and windsurfing.

Gal Chechik is a Sr. Director of AI research, leading NVIDIA research in Israel, and a Professor of computer science at Bar-Ilan University. Before joining NVIDIA, he was a Staff Research Scientist at Google, a postdoctoral research associate at Stanford University, and received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Gal published ~150 papers and holds 50 issued patents. His work won awards for outstanding papers at major AI conferences NeurIPS and ICML. His research spans algorithms, theory and applications of deep learning, with a focus on "System-2" reasoning in computer vision for smart generalization in machine learning models.

Alexandros N. Manos is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience leading companies in developing, marketing, and selling internationally cutting-edge technologies. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Business Economics from Brown University, and an MSc in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since January 2015, he is a member of the Board of Directors & holds the Chief Executive Officer position of Netcompany-Intrasoft S.A., a Luxembourg based leading European IT Solutions and Services Group of Companies. Previously held positions include:  member of the Board of Directors & CEO of Intracom Telecom S.A., an international telecommunication systems vendor  CEO of Conklin Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia, a company offering broadband solutions and IPTV to the US market. He is a member of several scientific, engineering and economics societies and a young global leader of World Economic Forum (WEF).

Thelma Chatziathanasiou has a Bachelor of Laws from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a Master's degree in international political economy from King's College London. She works at Kathimerini since 2018, first in the print newspaper and then the website, focusing on business and finance

Despina Konti was born in Athens. She has studied at the Philology Department of the University of Athens and has completed postgraduate studies in Information and Communication and in Political and Social Communication at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University and at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris, respectively. She is a journalist at Kathimerini covering, among other topics, the startup and technology industry in Greece.

Iliana Magra is a journalist with Kathimerini, Greece’s leading daily newspaper, for which she has covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from the pandemic and the MeToo movement to the effects of climate change and this year's electoral race. In 2022, she broke the story of an abuse scandal in one of the country's most famous NGOs. In 2021, she was the only Greek journalist to accompany Pope Francis on his first visit to Cyprus and Greece. Previously, she was a staff journalist with The New York Times in London, while her words have also appeared in The Sunday Times and The Financial Times.

Yannis Palaiologos (b. 1979) is a correspondent-at-large for Kathimerini newspaper and the investigative website inside story (www.insidestory.gr) and a correspondent in Greece for the Wall Street Journal. Between January 2020 and mid-2022 he was EU and NATO correspondent for Kathimerini and SKAI TV & Radio. He is the author of “The Thirteenth Labour of Hercules”, a book on the Greek crisis, first published in September 2014 by Portobello Books in London, with an expanded second edition in the summer of 2016.

He has written op-eds for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Financial Times. He has also reported on Greece for the websites of Time magazine, Politico, Politico Europe, The New Republic and The American Prospect. He has commented on Greek issues for the BBC, CNN, NPR, Al-Jazeera and other international outlets.

Between 2009-2012, he was the editor-in-chief of Free Sunday newspaper and between 2006-9 he was the special supplements editor of City Press newspaper. He got his start in journalism in London, notably doing work experience stints at the foreign desk of The Times and The Independent (both in 2004). He is a 2015-6 Marshall Memorial fellow for Greece, and the recipient of the Greek Citi journalistic excellence award (in 2012, the first time the competition was held in Greece).

Outside journalism, he co-authored a play, “Mama Ellada2”, which ran from 2009-2010 in Athens. It was a satire about Greek corruption and the alienation of youth, which attracted strong reviews and widespread international attention, including from the BBC, The Economist, a number of German media, and many others. He was educated at Athens College and Oxford University, where he received a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (first class honours) and a B.Phil. (postgraduate degree) in Philosophy.

Adam Provatas is a Greek journalist and author, born in Athens, Greece. Now presenting a daily TV news show, on ‘ERT NEWS’ channel. He has interviewed more than 450 prominent politicians, scientists, writers, and artists like Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Stephen Hawking, Yuval Noah Harari, Joseph Stiglitz, Dario Fo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, John Cleese, Irvin Yalom, John Malkovich. He is an author of 13 books with conversations with renowned Greek Politicians, Political scientists, Historians and Scientists. Some of them: - “Eastern Mediterranean- history and geostrategy of an emerging region”. Conversations with Dimitris Kairidis, Minister of Migration, and Constantinos Filis, Executive Director of the Institute of International Relations. - "Assertive Patriotism”, conversations with Constantinos Filis, Executive Director of the Institute of International Relations. - “From DeCeVo to Drone- Progress and Peace in 21st century”, conversations with Anna Diamantopoulou, President of ‘Diktio’. -“Stories about History” and “Roots and Foundations - Landmarks of the History of Hellenism”. Both books in Conversations with Prof. of history Maria Efthymiou.

Apostolos Mangiriadis is the Central News Bulletin’s newscaster at the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and presenter of two political talk shows (Epilogue, ERTalks). He has worked as a political correspondent and newscaster at SKAI and MEGA tv networks and was a contributing writer at TA NEA and KATHIMERINI newspapers. In 2024 he was awarded with the highest distinction for journalists in Greece, the Botsis foundation award. He studied Political Science at the University of Athens and holds a Master in International Affairs (MIA) from Columbia University.

Margarita Pournara was born in Athens. She studied French Language and Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens but began working as a television journalist even before completing her studies. In 1996, she pursued postgraduate studies in Media at City University London. Upon her return, she worked in radio, magazines, and the newspaper 'To Vima'. Since 1999, she has been a member of the editorial staff of the newspaper 'Kathimerini', specializing in cultural reporting with a focus in visual arts. Since 2017, she has been writing the 'Athenian' column and covering a wide range of topics; from gastronomy and travel to investigative journalism. In 2010, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and conducted research on the new generation of Greek Americans at Queens College, New York. Since 2014, she has specialized in live interviews in front of an audience. In 2019, in collaboration with renowned American photographer Robert McCabe, she published the book 'Santorini,' featuring texts and photographs of the island before the arrival of tourists. In 2022, she wrote the book 'Adrias: They Were All Heroes. The Biography of the Destroyer,' about the most heroic ship of the Greek fleet during World War II, using previously unpublished photographic material. It was published by AMKE Cyclops Publications. Since 2023, she has been presenting a monthly profile of a city or island in Kathimerini's Sunday edition under the title 'Invisible Greece'.

Adrianos is a high school student who, from a young age, envisioned making the world a better place through technology, sustainability, and innovation. He founded the Green Team, a group dedicated to promoting sustainability and leveraging technology for environmental impact. Recognizing the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence in driving sustainability, he also founded Dynamic Innovations, a team focused on utilizing technology, AI, and robotics to address global challenges. Harnessing the power of AI, Adrianos created a humanoid robot assistant named Niki, which incorporates Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, IoT technologies, and was fully 3D-printed. Understanding the importance of preparing students for a world increasingly shaped by technology and AI, Adrianos is now transforming K-12 education by integrating AI and ethics through the creation of AI Labs and a complimentary book he is authoring. These efforts aim to equip students with the knowledge and tools to contribute meaningfully to society. His work has impacted over 12,000 students across Greece, in collaboration with the World Human Forum and guidance from NCSR Demokritos. Adrianos has shared his expertise on global stages, advocating for AI and ethics in education at the Council of Europe, where he became one of the youngest interns and contributed to the Convention on Artificial Intelligence. Beyond technology, he transferred his community by establishing the Library & Cultural Center of Parga, in Greece transforming an abandoned school into a thriving literacy and cultural hub.

Julia Carpenter, CEO and cofounder of Apheros was recently named one of MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators under 35". She invented Apheros’ patented process for metal foam production during her PhD in Materials Science at ETH Zurich. After her doctoral studies, she embarked on building Apheros and has won numerous awards and grants including the ETH Zürich Pioneer fellowship, the ESA Business Incubator grant and the prestigious W.A. de Vigier Foundation Award in 2024.

Dr. Luc JULIA, Chief Scientific Officer for Renault, was CTO and Senior Vice President of Innovation for Samsung Electronics, directed Siri at Apple, was Chief Technologist at HewlettPackard and cofounded a number of start-ups in the Silicon Valley. While conducting research at SRI International, he was involved in the creation of Nuance Communications, now the world leader in speech recognition. Recipient of the Legion of Honor, the highest order of France, Officer of National Order of Merit and member of the French Academy of Technologies, he holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Paris. He is the bestselling author of the book “There is no such thing as Artificial Intelligence”, holds dozens of patents and is recognized as one of the top 100 most influential French developers in the digital world.

Maja Pantic is the Special AI Advisor to Neom Education, Research and Innovation. She is also AI Advisor to the Natwest Bank in England and the Professor in AI at Imperial College London. Previously, she was the Generative AI Research Director at Meta AI (2020 – 2025) and Research Director and Co-founder of Samsung AI Centre Cambridge (2018 – 2020). Prof Pantic has co-authored more than 500 papers with more than 55k citations and an h-index of 107 to date. She received various awards for her work on automatic analysis of human behaviour, including IAPR Maria Petrou Award in 2020 and British Computer Society Roger Needham Award in 2011. She is a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering, an IEEE Fellow, and an IAPR Fellow.

A global advisor specializing in accelerating growth, navigating digital transformation, and implementing practical AI solutions. He has transformed companies, driving up to 5x valuation growth, modernized Fortune 500 organizations like Citigroup and UnitedHealth Group, and developed AI strategies that deliver measurable business value. Recognized as a top global AI expert, he has been featured in Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Times, and is a sought-after TED and keynote speaker. With over 500,000 C-level newsletter subscribers and membership in the EU AI Council, he shapes AI regulations and guides organizations in building sustainable competitive advantages through technology.

Junaid brings over two decades of experience across primary care, secondary care, and public health settings. He has also worked as a payer and policy maker in the UK, specializing in informatics, digital transformation, and leadership. He joins Flagship from Microsoft Research where he served as Chief Medical Scientist focusing on how trusted, reliable, and human-centered AI can transform the practice of medicine. In this role, he led a number of strategic partnerships with leading health and life sciences organizations and spearheaded Responsible AI initiatives in the sector. He was previously the Global Lead for Strategic Alliances and Solutions for the Global Digital Centre of Excellence at Merck Sharp & Dohme where he led a range of strategic initiatives to improve patient care including the establishment of internal partnerships across the enterprise and external partnerships across the health care ecosystem. Junaid cofounded VelocityHealth, Europe’s first prevention-focused digital-health accelerator, in partnership with Telefonica, and has consulted for health care systems across the US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Middle East, and Europe. Junaid serves on the boards of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and HDR UK, a national institute for health data science. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor at University College London and a Visiting Scientist at both the Harvard School of Public Health and NTU Singapore. A practicing physician, Junaid is triple board certified in internal medicine, surgery, and primary care, and gained his medical degree from King’s College London. He received his MBA at the Imperial College Business School in London.

Ioannis Emiris serves as President of the BoD and Director General of Athena Research Center, with research groups in Athens, Patras, and Xanthi covering AI, language processing, digital heritage, information systems, industrial systems, robotics, and sustainable development and a variety of innovation activities ranging incubation to spinoffs. Professor of Algorithms at University of Athens, he has been a tenured researcher at INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France. He received his BScE from Princeton University, his PhD from UC Berkeley, and his Habilitation from University of Nice, France, all in Computer Science. He has been a visiting researcher at ENS Paris, ETH Zurich, City University of Hong Kong, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Plekhanov University (Moscow), JRC Ispra, ETL Tsukuba (Japan). He has coordinated the MSc program on “Data Science & Information technologies”, has represented Math and Informatics in the Board of Hellenic Foundation of Research & Innovation (ELIDEK), and is on the Scientific Expert Panel of Computation-based Science & Technology Research Center at Cyprus Institute. Honored twice with the best paper award at ACM International Symposium of Symbolic & Algebraic Computation, he is also Chief scientist of a deep-tech startup.

Charlotte is MIT Technology Review's news editor. She has extensive experience as a writer, editor and journalist covering tech, and crops up regularly on broadcast media.

Ted Hu has been with MIT Technology Review since 2018 and oversees and works with all the international partners and editions of the magazine. During this time, he has also helped facilitate the international editions of EmTech and is the Global Ambassador for Innovators Under 35. He has helped organize these events while also being a presenter and moderator for several conferences. Innovators Under 35 is one of his favorite communities of Technology Review and he is delighted to be a part of this event as the bridge between the regional competitions.