The view that "Greece could become the Silicon Valley of Europe" was underlined by Alexandros Kritikos, Research Director at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in a recent interview with ANA-MPA, on the occasion of a conference entitled "Greece after the elections: Reconstruction of Greece, German development ideas for the reconstruction of the Greek economy" organized by the German-Greek Business Association (DHW) in Berlin. 

Kritikos estimates that informatics technology could develop in Greece along with startups which are quite strong and could actually become the primary engine of growth in the future, provided proper conditions are in place and that the excellent human potential is used. 

Kritikos, who has published extensively on Greece’s innovation policy prospects, is adamant about the need to combine "research and innovation with state funding". Greece may very well use the positive effects of tourism, agriculture and shipping which constitute the main pillars of the economy, however "with feta cheese, olives and retsina, the Greek economy cannot come off the ground" he underlines. 

In order to succeed with any plan to reform the economy, the Greek government needs to adopt measures that will put an end to the increasingly worrying "brain drain", to slash red-tape, abolish layers of regulatory laws, introduce a business-friendly tax system, and ultimately enable Greek talented researchers and dynamic entrepreneurs and technocrats to continue working in Greece, rather than search for new opportunities abroad. It is also necessary to work with the Greek Diaspora which can mobilize people with specialized knowledge and use practices that have worked in other countries to help transform Greece into a modern state.