About our Conference
As the Metaverse is starting to have an effect on many sectors of industry and society with great impact and promise, we are increasingly seeing applications in culture and tourism, classrooms, hotels, cities, factories and many more.
Given its position and potential, Greece has a unique opportunity to embrace and lead these exciting new technologies and possibilities!
Our Conference “5G and the Metaverse” will focus on the latest trends in the Metaverse all over the world and showcase technologies and use-cases from Greece and abroad. It will include presentations from prominent public agents, scientists, organizations, technology vendors and startups.
We aim, through this event, to identify tangible projects which could be developed in Greece in collaboration with local and global technology partners.
AGENDA
09:00 – 09:30: Reception
09:30 – 10:10 - Opening Ceremony
WATCH VIDEO
Didoe Prevedourou | Managing Director p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications |
Dr. Christos Dimas | Deputy Minister for Development and Investments Research, Innovation and Technology Ministry of Development and Investments (Remote - Video) |
Dr. Athanasios Staveris-Polykalas | Secretary General of Telecommunications & Posts Ministry of Digital Governance |
Prof. Athanasios Kyriazis | General Secretary for Research and Innovation Ministry of Development and Investments (Remote) |
Fokion Zaimis | Deputy Governor of Entrepreneurship, Research & Innovation Region of Western Greece |
Prof. Panagiotis Dimopoulos | Vice Rector for Research and Development University of Patras |
Maggie Athanassiadi | Director of Industry, Growth, Technology & Innovation SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (Remote) |
Prof. Emeritus Kleomenes Barlos | Chairman of the Board Federation of Enterprises and Industries of the Peloponnese and Western Greece (Remote) |
Platon Marlafekas | President Chamber of Achaia (Remote) |
Prof. Vassilios Loukopoulos | President & CEO Patras Science Park |
10:10 – 11:25 Session 1 : 5G/6G for Digitalization of Vertical Sectors
WATCH VIDEO
Prof. Spyros Denazis | Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Patras Empowering Verticals through Experimentation |
Pavlos Fournogerakis | Program Officer Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) (Remote) 6G Research and Innovation in Europe |
Dr. Ioannis Markopoulos | Head EU & International Business NOVA Towards 6G: Defining testbeds for Private Networks and the role of Digital Twins |
Dr. Constantinos B. Papadias | Scientific Director The American College of Greece ACG Research Center (ACG-RC) Emerging communications and sensing techniques for Metaverse Environments |
Dr. Kostas Katsaros | Head of Technology Digital Catapult UK (Remote) 5G and the Metaverse - Lessons from the UK |
11:25 – 11:45 : Coffee break
11:45 – 13:15 Session 2: Latest METAVERSE & XR Trends
WATCH VIDEO
Marios Nicolaou | Business Development Director p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications Latest Trends in the Metaverse and XR |
Jan-Erik Vinje | Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer OnSiteViewer AS, Norway Managing Director Open AR Cloud Association The cutting edge of XR applications in Norway and possibilities for Greece |
Rasmuss Filips Geks | Digital Advisor to the Mayor of Riga Riga City Council, Latvia (Remote) How to build a Metacity? |
Prof. Vasos Vassiliou | Associate Professor Computer Science Department University of Cyprus (Remote) Creating Immersive and Accessible Experiences in the Metaverse |
Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras | Chairman of the Board of Directors Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) AI-driven enablers for improved QoS within the Metaverse |
Dr. Vasileios Theodorou | Master Research Engineer Research & Development Unit Telco Software Business Division Intracom Telecom Next-generation extended reality (XR) for remote collaboration: The CORTEX² approach |
13:15 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:25 Session 3: METAVERSE for Culture & Tourism
WATCH VIDEO
Dr. Sophia Kompotiati Stavros Kalimeris |
Associate musicologist and Head of the Virtual Educational Museum Greek National Opera Technical Design Office Supervisor Greek National Opera AR/VR Environments and the Greek National Opera |
Prof. Panagiotis Parthenios | Professor of Digital Technologies in Architectural Design Director of the Digital Media Lab Technical University of Crete Greek Case Studies: how can architects employ XR to transform Culture and Tourism? |
Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis | Professor Director of the eTourism Lab Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research Bournemouth University Business School (Remote) Latest trends of METAVERSE in Tourism |
Dimitris Efraimoglou | Managing Director Foundation of the Hellenic World (Remote) How a digital native Cultural Centre and Museum is looking at a Metaverse future |
Dr. Maja Ćirć | Independent Curator & Web 3.0 pioneer (Remote) Metaverse for Museums and the Arts |
15:25 – 15:45 : Coffee break
15:45 – 17:15 Session 4: METAVERSE for Business & Society
WATCH VIDEO
Anthony Karydis | MSc, ASIS/FRPS / Founder & CEO Mativision Limited The value of Immersive technologies in various sectors |
Georgia Kotretsos | Visual Artist / Publisher / Arts Interdisciplinary Research (AIR) Member at the Research, Technology & Innovation Network (RTIN) ACG 150 Metaverse Academy 3.0 |
Yiannos Georgiades | Co-Founder/Director KV Kinisis Ventures Fund RAIF V.C.I.C. PLC (Remote) The importance of private equity in regional innovation and economy |
Pieter van Ysseldijk | Founder, Lawyer Financial Technology Isonom Cooperative CH Winged Sandals for the Metaverse; an Electronic Identity Card for Decentralised Governance in Default-Trust Communities |
Ioannis Papidis | Chief Technology and Business Change Officer Dixons South East Europe The Future of Retail: Building a Resilient Phygital Retailer |
Prof. Nikos Mylonopoulos | Professor of Digital Business ALBA Graduate Business School Director SEV Center of Excellence in Creative Leadership (Remote) Leadership Challenges in the emerging Metaworld |
17:15 – 18:00 Roundtable - How Greece can lead in 5G/6G and METAVERSE Technologies
WATCH VIDEO
Moderator
Marios Nicolaou | Business Development Director p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications |
Panelists
Dr. Athanasios Staveris-Polykalas | Secretary General of Telecommunications & Posts Ministry of Digital Governance |
Dr. Ioannis Markopoulos | Head EU & International Business NOVA |
Prof. Panagiotis Parthenios | Professor of Digital Technologies in Architectural Design Director of the Digital Media Lab Technical University of Crete |
Prof. Spyros Denazis | Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Patras |
Ioannis Papidis | Chief Technology and Business Change Officer Dixons South East Europe |
Speakers
Managing Director
p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications

Secretary General of Telecommunications & Posts
Ministry of Digital Governance

He worked as a researcher in the international experiment of CDF at Fermilab USA, under European Scholarship (RTN) and in co-operation with Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Sezione di Pisa. Furthermore he has over 10 years professional experience in large scale ICT projects in private sector. He specializes in data analysis, use of AI and ML algorithms and Natural Language Processing.
From July 2019 to November 2020 he worked as Technology Advisor to the Minister of Digital Governance Hellenic Republic. Since November 2020, he holds the position of Secretary General of Telecoms and Posts, under the Ministry of Digital Governance – Hellenic Republic.
He is responsible for Space strategy implementation of Greece, Cyber Security, use of new technologies in telecommunications (AI/IoT) and the design of sustainable and resilient telecommunication infrastructures aligned with Secure Connectivity initiative, etc.
General Secretary for Research and Innovation
Ministry of Development and Investments (Remote)

Deputy Governor of Entrepreneurship, Research & Innovation
Region of Western Greece

He is leading the initiative for the Tripoli-Patras Gas pipeline as well as a series of projects in the Interreg program and major regional construction and services projects. He represents the RWG in several bodies like the Kalavryta Ski Company, the Autodrome project, Achaiki Leader, VIOPA Industrial Park etc.
He holds a M.Sc. in Geology and attended the Athens University of Economics and Business MBA programme.
He is the President of the BoD and one of the founding partners of iForce Communications, S.A.
He successfully lobbied to bring the World Congress on Information Technology to Athens. He has worked with the European Commission - Directorate General XVII and was Head of the Department of European Affairs of DRM International S.A.
He is the writer of many articles on the new economy and cultural issues. He has submitted and managed a number of proposals in European programmes. He has coordinated more than 150 events and conferences mainly on financial, social, environmental and cultural issues. He is fluent in Greek, English, French and is learning Chinese.
Director of Industry, Growth, Technology & Innovation
SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises

She has extensive experience with business development as an entrepreneur herself. She has established and managed production units in Greece and abroad and she has achieved extraordinary results in growth, revenue and operational performance, mainly based on extroversion, new technologies, Innovation and high-quality standards.
She has also worked as Senior Consultant, responsible for the project management of various operational and strategic consulting projects related to the reform, restructure and digitalization of the Greek Public sector.
She is a Chemical Engineer, NTUA, and has a certificate in internal auditing for quality management systems.
Chairman of the Board
Federation of Enterprises and Industries of the Peloponnese and Western Greece

In 1980, he joined the Organic Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Patras as Specialist and subsequently came to the rank of Professor. Since 1981, he teaches “Organic Chemistry” and “Peptide and Combinatorial Chemistry” at the University of Patras where he worked in the areas of amino acid derivatives, specialty polymers and synthesis of peptides and small proteins.
Moreover, he founded CBL Patras S.A. in 1990 with the business of which he is engaged to date.
Since 2015, he serves as Chairman of the Board, Federation of Industries of Peloponnese & Western Greece and from 2016, he is a member of the National Council for Research and Innovation of the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs.
Vice President of Loux Marlafekas SA
President of EFEPAE
President of Achaia Chamber (Remote)

He was born Patras in 1972. He is a graduate of the Department of Business Administration & Organizations, and he has studied Computer Programming - Analysis and Marketing. He took over the company’s administration along with his brothers in 1989 and led Loux ever since to a dynamic growth path.
In addition to his capacity as President of EFEPAE and President of the Chamber of Achaia, he represents the Chamber of Achaia in the European Parliament within the European Parliament of Entrepreneurs of the European Chambers since 2016. He is President of the Regional Council of Chambers of Western Greece and since 2015 has been President of the "Management of European Programs of Western Greece - Peloponnese - Epirus and Ionian Islands", which is a partner of EFEPAE. He has been founding member and board member of the initiative "ELLA-DIKA MAS" since 2012.
President & CEO
Patras Science Park

He is responsible for research programs and a member of national and international scientific associations. He has cooperated with institutions abroad, such as “The University of Western Australia” and the “University of Luxembourg.” He is a member of the Editorial Board of International Scientific Journals and Conferences. He is a reviewer of scientific articles in international scientific journals and conferences.
He has worked as a Consultant of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technological Development of Western Greece, which was a structure of the Ministry of Development. He also has occupied at the Development Company of Etoloakarnania (AN.AIT SA) as a Scientific & Technical Consultant, responsible for European Projects.
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Patras
He worked in the research departments of Intracom from 1996 - 1997, and Hitachi Europe, in Cambridge, UK from 1998 – 2003 as a Senior Research Engineer, and then in Sophia Antipolis, France from 2004 – 2010, as a Research Consultant. During the period 1998 - 2001, he worked as an Industrial Research Fellow at the Center for Communications Systems Research, University of Cambridge.
Throughout his professional and academic career, he has worked on over 40 research projects, mostly European, while coordinating a few. Overall, his scientific work includes over 100 publications in international journals, conferences and book chapters. He is (co)publisher of 3 books, and holder of 1 patent, has participated/contributed to various standards such as IEEE, IETF, and ETSI. He has co-organized and served as chairman or member in many conferences and work symposia and has been invited to speak at many.
His current research interests and activities include areas such as 5G/6G, Experimental Testbeds (https://wiki.patras5g.eu/), NFV, SDN, Smart Cities and Cybersecurity. Today, he is the scientific coordinator of the new Competence Center, π-NET (www.p-net.gr) while he is also the coordinator of the European research project METACITIES. Together with his research team, he has designed and implemented two platforms for smart cities, sense.city (https://sense.city/) which is used by 10 municipalities and has over 15,000 users and SafeAmeA (www.safeamea.gr) a registration, organization and tracking service for people with disabilities.
Program Officer
Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) (Remote)

His responsibilities include Horizon Europe programme management and implementation, contribution to research and policy activities in the area of connectivity/6G.
From 2012 to 2022 he held various positions in the CONNECT Directorate General of the European Commission and in the Research Executive Agency, where he was involved in the implementation of the 5G Public Private Partnership and cybersecurity programmes, research strategy and policy development in the areas of 5G and future networks, IoT and telecom/network security.
Prior to joining the European Commission, he has occupied several telecom engineering and project management positions in the Greek public sector, industry and academia. He holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, both from National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
Head EU & International Business
NOVA

Scientific Director
The American College of Greece ACG Research Center (ACG-RC)

Head of Technology
Digital Catapult UK (Remote)

Business Development Director
p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications
After a long (18+ year) career with Bell Labs, Marios undertook an exciting assignment with the Digital Catapult in the UK focusing on 5G for Vertical Sectors, after which he became an advisor to various Governments on the strategic introduction of 5G. During the last 3 years he is also on the Board of Directors of JCC Payment Systems. Marios holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of California and an MSc in Engineering Management from the University of Southern California.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
OnSiteViewer AS, Norway
Managing Director
Open AR Cloud Association
In my day job, I am the CEO of OnSiteViewer AS, a startup developing an OnSiteRealism technology platform set to bring an amazing capability to the phygital realm. One such use- case is to revolutionize urban planning using high-definition digital twins and AR-EdgeCloud technology for physically accurate real-time photorealistic on-site visualizations, another is allowing visitors to historical world heritage sites to experience buildings, statutes and monuments as they would have looked in their glory-days and even create photorealistic and massive re-creations of historical events that can be experienced at the sites they occurred.
Digital Advisor to the Mayor of Riga
Riga City Council, Latvia (Remote)

Associate Professor
Computer Science Department
University of Cyprus (Remote)
Dr. Vassiliou’s current research work is in the Next Generation Networks and the Internet of Things domains, where he and his team work on Security, Privacy, Mobility, Resource Management, and Data Management issues. He did undergraduate studies at the Higher Technical Institute (HND Electrical Engineering, 1993) and the University of South Florida (B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, 1997), and graduate studies with a partial CASP scholarship from the Cyprus Fulbright Commission at (M.Sc., 1999 and Ph.D., 2002 in Electrical and Computer Engineering). He is a Senior Member of IEEE and ACM, and participates in the Editorial Boards of several journals, including the Journal of Computer Communication (Elsevier) and the Technical Program Committees of several conferences, such as Globecom, ICC, WCNC, PIMRC, DCOSS and MedComNet.
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH)
His main research interests include network and visual analytics for computer vision, virtual and augmented reality, visual analytics, multidimensional data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence. He is also deeply engaged in applied research aiming at providing innovative solutions in the fields of Energy, Medicine, Industry 4.0, Transport and Culture.
Since 1992 he has participated with his team in more than 300 Research and Development projects funded by the EU and the GSRI and has concluded industrial contracts with leading companies in the world, such as Samsung. He has an extensive management record having been the project coordinator and/or the technical/ scientific manager of 56 projects, during the last 5 years.
Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras has concluded industrial contracts with leading companies in the world, such as Samsung, while he is actively involved in innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives. He is the co-founder of nine (9) spin-offs of CERTH/ITI and the initiator of one of the most innovative activities in the area of electronically equipped infrastructures in Greece, the near zero Energy Smart House, an officially recognized Digital Innovation Hub of the EU. He is also the coordinator of Mega Project 3, Artificial Intelligence and Simulation Applications of the 4 th Generation Technologic Park, ThessInTec.
Master Research Engineer
Research & Development Unit
Telco Software Business Division
Intracom Telecom
Associate musicologist and Head of the Virtual Educational Museum
Greek National Opera
Technical Design Office Supervisor
Greek National Opera
Professor of Digital Technologies in Architectural Design
Director of the Digital Media Lab
Technical University of Crete
A 2000 Fulbrighter, he has been awarded the 2001 Harvard Digital Media Prize and the 2002 National Internet and Digital Media Prize in Greece. He has been selected among Europe’s 40 most important emerging young architects for 2009, receiving the “Europe 40 Under 40” Award from the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
He serves as the Director of the Digital Media Lab at the School of Architecture since 2010. From 2016 until 2020 he served as the Director of the Post Graduate Studies Program, where he teaches Information Technologies and Cultural Heritage, and Advanced Digital Media.
His research interests focus on Advanced Digital Media, Building Information Modeling, Digital Twins, Digital Cultural Heritage, Music and Architecture, Smart Buildings and Smart Cities, Sustainable Design. He has supervised Doctoral and Post-doctoral research on Advanced Digital Media and Digital Cultural Heritage, while he has served as a reviewer for well-established scientific journals and conferences in the fields of Computational Design, Virtual, Augmented and Extended Reality and Digital Cultural Heritage. He is a member of the INNOVA Center (European Centre for Innovation in Virtual Archaeology). He has been the principal investigator on research projects in Advanced Digital Media, such as the Virtual Reality Online Collaborative Environment for designing, analyzing and modeling buildings and monuments, and the Crete3D: An online platform for the 3D representation of the monuments of Crete.
Professor
Director of the eTourism Lab
Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research
Bournemouth University Business School (Remote)
Professor Buhalis has written and co-edited more than 25 books and 400 scientific articles. Professor Dimitrios Buhalis was recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher 2020, 2021 and 2022 by Clarivate™. He is featured in the Stanford University’s database of the world’s top 2% of scientists. He is the 3rd most cited for tourism, 2nd most cited for hospitality, 10th on strategy, and 29th in Marketing on Google Scholar with more than 59000 citations and h- index 104. He was also ranked #5 in the UK and #46 in the world in the Business and Management Scientists list by Research.com. For more information, books, articles and presentations see www.buhalis.com.
Managing Director
Foundation of the Hellenic World (Remote)

He is Vice President of the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation “B. Papantoniou “, as well as to the” Filotis “Association for the promotion of the Greek donation. He has been a member of the Council of Museums of the Ministry of Culture from 2006 to 2015 and a Member of the Board of Directors of KETHEA (Treatment Center for Addicts).
He is a pioneer in the design, development and use of new technologies in the service of Education and Culture. He has created interactive Virtual Reality tours in ancient cities and monuments of world cultural heritage, which are presented in the state-of-the-art “Dome” of Virtual Reality of the “Hellenic World” Cultural Center, and have won important awards and distinctions.
He has a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Boston University. He has authored numerous articles in the field of Virtual and Augmented Reality.
Independent Curator & Web 3.0 pioneer (Remote)

Historically speaking, Maja was the curator (2007) and the commissioner (2013) of the Serbian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the curator of Mediterranea Young Artist Biennale (2017), the curator of the 20th Pančevo Bienniale (2022).
Maja's speaking engagements, were, amongst others, at MAC VAL (2017), Centre Pompidou (2018), MNAC Bucharest (2018), AICA Serbia Conference (2021), Zlin Digital Exhibition Design Conference (2021), Interact Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2021), IKT Conference (2021), AICA Macedonia & Croatia Conference (2022).
Maja's writing has been commissioned for FlashArt, Obieg, Artforum, Artmargins Online, Arts of the Working Class, springerin, Third Text etc.
She is the recipient of the Lazar Trifunović Award, ArtsLink Independent Projects Award, ISCP Curator Award, Dedalus Foundation Curatorial Research Award, and Visual Artists Ireland Curator Award.
She is on the board of The ΤΕΛΟΣ SOCIETY, Arts & Culture Research Lab in Athens, Greece.
MSc, ASIS/FRPS / Founder & CEO
Mativision Limited
Visual Artist / Publisher / Arts Interdisciplinary Research (AIR)
Member at the Research, Technology & Innovation Network (RTIN)
ACG 150
With her work, she critiques the conformity of seeing by studying, proposing and practicing liberating and anarchic approaches to looking at art. Through her research-based practice, she encourages speculative approaches to how knowledge is and/or could be produced in the physical and digital world. On object-based works, she is collaborating with the Ach Art Advisory in Athens, Greece.
Her work has been presented at the: Onassis Art Center, NY; the Asian Society, NY; the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art; the Tinguely Museum, Basel, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse; the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, and at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis among other institutions in Greece and abroad.
Kotretsos is currently serving as the creative advisor for a socially engaged project on agrifood and innovation, and along with Maja Ćirić for the last two years, they are serving as the TTS creative advisors for an AI, Web3 international consortium.
Co-Founder/Director
KV Kinisis Ventures Fund RAIF V.C.I.C. PLC (Remote)

Founder, Lawyer Financial Technology
Isonom Cooperative CH
Chief Technology and Business Change Officer
Dixons South East Europe
During this period, Kotsovolos has been rapidly transforming its operating model and technology stack, leveraging on its traditional values and its culture of trust and innovation. Past positions include OTE Group (incumbent telco in Greece) starting from the Internet subsidiary OTEnet as IT Director and moving on to lead a total Enterprise architecture transformation effort within OTE Group including CRM transformation, Sales & Order Management, Workforce Management and Total Rebranding.
He also worked on Digital Transformation & Innovation subjects. He was involved in the formation of the strategy and vision of the company in its transition to the new digital era. He started his professional career in 1986 working for Commodore BM and participated in tech startups in the late 90s. Mr Papidis holds a Master degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor degree in IT Engineering.
Professor of Digital Business
ALBA Graduate Business School
Presentations
Prof. Spyros Denazis
Pavlos Fournogerakis
Dr. Ioannis Markopoulos
Dr. Constantinos B. Papadias
Dr. Kostas Katsaros
Marios Nicolaou
Jan-Erik Vinje
Rasmuss Filips Geks
Prof. Vasos Vassiliou
Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras
Dr. Vasileios Theodorou
Prof. Panagiotis Parthenios
Dr. Sophia Kompotiati - Stavros Kalimeris
Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis
Dimitris Efraimoglou
Dr. Maja Ćirć
Anthony Karydis
Georgia Kotretsos
Pieter van Ysseldijk
Ioannis Papidis
Prof. Nikos Mylonopoulos
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