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5G and the Metaverse: Empowering Business & Society

Join us to:

  • Discover the latest trends on 5G and the Metaverse
  • Meet prominent stakeholders and experts from Greece and Europe
  • Be part of this new initiative to ensure Greece’s leadership in SEE
  • Discuss and launch new projects in Metaverse technologies across sectors
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Υπουργείο Ψηφιακής Διακυβέρνησης
Υπουργείο Ανάπτυξης και Επενδύσεων

About our Conference

As the Metaverse continues to impact a wide range of sectors, spanning industry, society, and culture, its applications are increasingly being seen in areas such as tourism, education, hospitality, urban development, manufacturing, and more.

Recognizing its potential, Greece holds a unique opportunity to embrace and lead in the development and adoption of these transformative technologies.

Our conference, “5G and the Metaverse,” brought together experts and innovators to explore the latest global trends in the Metaverse. The event featured presentations from prominent public officials, researchers, organizations, technology vendors, and startups, showcasing cutting-edge technologies and use cases from both Greece and abroad.

Through this event, we sought to highlight tangible projects that could be developed in Greece, in collaboration with local and international technology partners. The discussions and insights shared have laid the groundwork for exciting future initiatives in this rapidly evolving space.

Agenda

Opening Ceremony

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

Vice President of Loux Marlafekas SA
President of EFEPAE
Chamber of Achaia (Remote)

Prof. Vassilios Loukopoulos

President & CEO
Patras Science Park

Session 1 : 5G/6G for Digitalization of Vertical Sectors

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

Session 2: Latest METAVERSE & XR Trends

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

Session 3: METAVERSE for Culture & Tourism

Dr. Sophia Kompotiati

&

Associate musicologist and Head of the Virtual Educational Museum
Greek National Opera

Stavros Kalimeris

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

Session 4: METAVERSE for Business & Society

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

Roundtable - How Greece can lead in 5G/6G and METAVERSE Technologies

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

Didoe Prevedourou portrait photo
Didoe Prevedourou
Managing Director
p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications

Didoe Prevedourou, MSc., is the Managing Director of p-NET. She is also Vice President of Innovation and Research at the CTiF Global Capsule, a global, collaborative, non-profit organization for cross-/inter-disciplinary research, education, and innovation. Didoe has extensive work experience in both academic and corporate environments. She has worked as a research scientist in numerous EU and nationally funded research projects, also in the roles of project coordinator and technical manager, as well as in industrial projects, covering diverse thematic areas in ICT and innovation management. Her research interests are in ICT and its applications in healthcare-wellness, the environment, education, and culture. She holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.

Athanasios Staveris Polykalas portrait photo
Dr. Athanasios Staveris-Polykalas
Secretary General of Telecommunications & Posts
Ministry of Digital Governance


Dr. Athanasios Staveris-Polykalas, completed his Bachelor Degree in Physics from University of Athens and Masters in Applied Physics and Mathematics from NTUA. He completed his PhD in High Energy Physics. 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.

Athanasios Kyriazis portrait photo
Prof. Athanasios Kyriazis
General Secretary for Research and Innovation
Ministry of Development and Investments (Remote)


Athanasios Kyriazis is a Professor at the Department of Statistics and Insurance Sciences at the University of Piraeus in the field of Applied Mathematics and New Technologies. He has graduated from the Department of Mathematics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and holds a PhD degree from the same Department. He has been a visiting researcher in Universities and Research Centers in the U.S.A. and Europe. He has taught a significant number of courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as in training programs. He has supervised Doctoral Dissertations and Master’s theses, and has participated in several research programs as the Project Leader. His academic work includes four monographs, eight university textbooks and a great number of scientific publications and papers in international and Greek journals and in conference proceedings. He is an active participant in International and National Conferences and Seminars while he has been the national representative in a significant number of European and international institutions and working groups. In addition, he has participated in Ministerial Councils, meetings, official visits and international collaborations. He has served for several years as the General Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs as well as the Special Secretary for Higher Education at the same Ministry. Finally, he has been a consultant in companies and Institutions in relation to educational and training subjects.

Fokion Zaimis portrait photo
Fokion Zaimis
Deputy Governor of Entrepreneurship, Research & Innovation
Region of Western Greece


Fokion A. Zaimis is Deputy Governor of Entrepreneurship, Research and Innovation of the Region of Western Greece and Vice-President of the CPMR IMC. 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.

Maggie Athanassiadi portrait photo
Maggie Athanassiadi
Director of Industry, Growth, Technology & Innovation
SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises


Maggie Athanassiadi is Director of Industry, Growth, Technology & Innovation Division of SEV. She is responsible for industrial policy, growth strategies, investments, digital transformation, innovation, research commercialization and technology adoption. Her main efforts focus on increasing the share of industry in GDP, systematically strengthening investments, improving the digital maturity of enterprises, reinforcing the innovation ecosystem to scale up quickly and facilitating the transformation of research activities to value adding products and services. 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.

Kleomenes Barlos portrait photo
Prof. Emeritus Kleomenes Barlos
Chairman of the Board
Federation of Enterprises and Industries of the Peloponnese and Western Greece


Professor Emeritus Kleomenes Barlos was born on March 20, 1949 in Patras. He received a BA in Chemistry and a PhD in Chemistry degree from the University of Munich in 1976, concerning the composition and fasmatoskopeia boranes, organophosphorus and organosilicon compounds. 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.

Platon Marlafekas portrait photo
Platon Marlafekas
Vice President of Loux Marlafekas SA
President of EFEPAE
President of Achaia Chamber (Remote)


Platon Marlafekas is Vice President of Loux Marlafekas SA, the largest 100% Greek soft drinks and juice company. In addition, he is President of EFEPAE (Intermediate Body of the Competitiveness/Entrepreneurship Business Program) since 2021 and since 2012 President of the Chamber of Achaia. 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.

Vassilios Loukopoulos portrait photo
Prof. Vassilios Loukopoulos
President & CEO
Patras Science Park


Vasilios C. Loukopoulos is a Full Professor in the Department of Physics of the University of Patras. He holds a BSc. in Physics and a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics from the Department of Physics of the University of Patras in Greece. He also holds two M.Sc. in “Theoretical, Computational Physics and Astrophysics” and “Quality Assurance”. He is Director of the Postgraduate Program in Advanced Studies in Physics. His Academic experience is long lasting in Higher Education at Undergraduate and Postgraduate Level. His research interests are concerned with: Fluid Mechanics, Computational Fluid Mechanics, Programming, Numerical Methods, Nanofluids, Electric/Magnetic Fluids and Biomechanics. Additionally, he has published over 90 original publications in international journals and conferences and has authored 4 books. 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.

Dr Spyros Denazis portrait photo
Prof. Spyros Denazis
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Patras


Spyros Denazis is a Professor at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering of the University of Patras. In 1987 he received his degree in Mathematics from the University of Ioannina, and in 1993 his PhD from Bradford University, UK.
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, p-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.

Pavlos Fournogerakis portrait photo
Pavlos Fournogerakis
Program Officer
Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) (Remote)


Pavlos Fournogerakis is a Program Officer in Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU). 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).

Dr Ioannos Markopoulos portrait photo
Dr. Ioannis Markopoulos
Head EU & International Business
NOVA


Dr. Ioannis Markopoulos is the Head of EU & International Business at NOVA. He holds an Electrical Engineering Degree and PhD from the National Technical University of Athens. He has had extensive participation in EU and local R&D projects as well as in commercial projects in the areas of 5G private networks and services, dataspaces, security and large ICT solutions. He has led the 5G-PPP task force on mapping network KPIs and the respective White Paper. He is collaborating with the Association of ICT Companies in Greece contributing to reports for the forthcoming national ICT strategy. He is a member of the Technical Chamber in Greece and PMI certified.

Konstantinos Papadias portrait photo
Dr. Constantinos B. Papadias
Scientific Director
The American College of Greece ACG Research Center (ACG-RC)


Dr. Constantinos B. Papadias is the Executive Director of the Research, Technology and Innovation Network (RTIN) of The American College of Greece (ACG), in Athens, Greece, since 2020. At ACG, he is also Scientific Director of the ACG Research Center (ACG-RC), Head of the Smart Wireless Future Technologies (SWIFT) Lab, Professor of Information Technology at Deree College and Associated Professor at Alba Graduate Business School (AGBS). Prior to these, he was the Dean of Athens Information Technology (AIT), in Athens, Greece, where he was also Professor and Head of the Broadband Wireless and Sensor Networks (B-WiSE) Research Group. He currently holds Adjunct Professorships at Aalborg University and at the University of Cyprus. He has been active in IT-related research, addressing areas such as signal processing and machine learning, wireless telecom systems & networks, biomedical engineering and energy efficient technologies for more than 30 years. He has published over 240 scientific papers, 12 patents and 4 books and has received over 10000 citations and several recognitions for his work, including 4 best paper awards. He has participated in and lead several EU-funded research projects, such as the recently completed project PAINLESS on the topic of energy autonomous infrastructure-less wireless networks (2018-2022) of which he was the Research Coordinator and the ongoing EU CHIST-ERA project FIREMAN on the topic of predictive maintenance via machine type wireless communication systems of which he is Technical Coordinator. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of the European Alliance of Innovation. From 2020-2022 he was a member of Greece’s sectorial scientific council of Engineering Sciences, which supports the country’s National Council for Research and Innovation. He was recently elected Director- at-Large of the IEEE Signal Processing Society for Region 8 (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

Kostas Katsaros portrait photo
Dr. Kostas Katsaros
Head of Technology
Digital Catapult UK (Remote)


Dr. Kostas Katsaros has 10+ years of experience in wireless communications across industry and academia. At Digital Catapult, he provides oversight for 5G and beyond 5G system architecture and subsystem implementations. Specializing in new architectures using virtualisation and edge computing across industrial sectors. Has led research into the use of mobile edge computing to assist immersive applications (5G-Festival and VISTA projects). He has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed technical articles and conference papers.

Marios Nicolaou portrait photo
Marios Nicolaou
Business Development Director
p-NET Emerging Networks & Applications


Marios Nicolaou started his career at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey USA where he served as a Senior Manager for several years focusing on Innovation Management and Wireless Strategy. He was then promoted to Director at Bell Labs Consulting where he led the Wireless Strategy team delivering projects all across the world with leading Mobile Operators. 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.

Jan Erik Vinje portrait photo
Jan-Erik Vinje
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
OnSiteViewer AS, Norway
Managing Director
Open AR Cloud Association


I'm passionate about open, interoperable, and ethical real-world reality computing to connect the physical and digital world (phygital) for the benefit of all. As the Director of the Open AR Cloud association, I'm currently volunteering to lead the effort to build city-scale prototypes of a reference Open Spatial Computing Platform built on a core set of universal standards and protocols around real-world pose (GeoPose), a real-time updated locally shared machine-readable world and seamless spatial discovery. My hope is that such efforts would contribute to a future decentralized “Open Reality Web Platform” inspired by the principles of the world wide web. We want to repeat the success of the Open Web Platform but for reality computing to create an equally scalable and interoperable "Reality Web”. 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.

Rasmuss Filips Geks portrait photo
Rasmuss Filips Geks
Digital Advisor to the Mayor of Riga
Riga City Council, Latvia (Remote)


Rasmuss Filips Geks is the Digital Advisor to the Mayor of Riga. He has experience working on technology products, as well as policy analysis. Currently, Rasmuss oversees strategic innovation initiatives in Riga City, working on digital transformation, smart city, mobility, AR/VR, and 5G projects.

Dr Vasos Vassiliou portrait photo
Prof. Vasos Vassiliou
Associate Professor
Computer Science Department
University of Cyprus (Remote)


Dr. Vasos Vassiliou is an Associate Professor at the Computer Science Department of the University of Cyprus. He is the co-Director of the Networks Research Laboratory and the Group Leader of the Smart Networked Systems Research Group of the CYENS Research Center, situated in Nicosia, Cyprus. He has published more than 125 technical articles and scientific papers on topics that include Next Generation Network Architectures, Mobile Protocols, Mobile Networks, Wireless Communications, QoS, and Traffic Engineering for computer and telecommunication networks. 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.

Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras portrait photo
Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH)


Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas. He has conducted very important scientific and research work, which is summarized in 3 books, 55 book chapters, 250 publications in International Journals with Referees and 636 presentations in International Conferences with Referees. 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.

Dr. Vasileios Theodorou portrait photo
Dr. Vasileios Theodorou
Master Research Engineer
Research & Development Unit
Telco Software Business Division
Intracom Telecom


Vasileios Theodorou is a Master Research Engineer at Intracom Telecom, Greece, active in the areas of multi-access edge computing (MEC), data-driven systems, and network function virtualization (NFV) for 5G/6G networks. He has been a Research Associate at the Database Technologies and Information Management Group of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain, conducting research on Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) and data quality, business process management and goal-oriented requirements engineering for data-intensive processes. He has also been a Research Assistant at the Adaptive Systems Research Lab of York University of Toronto, Canada, working on adaptive and autonomic architectures, performance modeling and evaluation, cloud computing and SDN security. He holds a Diploma (M.Sc. equivalent) (2010) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, a M.A. (2013) in Information Systems & Technology from York University, Canada and a joint Doctorate Degree (2017) – PhD from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, and Dr.-Ing. from the Dresden University of Technology, Germany – on automating user-centered design of data-intensive processes. Dr. Theodorou participates standardization activities in ETSI ISGs and 6G-IA. He has authored publications in renowned international journals, conferences and workshops and has received numerous awards and scholarships for achieving academic excellence.

Sophia Kompotiati portrait photo
Dr. Sophia Kompotiati
Associate musicologist and Head of the Virtual Educational Museum
Greek National Opera


Sophia Kompotiati studied at the Department of Music Studies, University of Athens, where she also completed her PhD. From 2006 to 2008 she taught at the Department of Folk Music of the Technological University of Epirus, Greece. She has participated in numerous conferences in Greece and abroad and has worked as a musicologist in many research programs. Moreover, she has cooperated with prestigious cultural foundations, institutes, music labels, printing houses, GNOs. Her texts about music in/as culture, music-space-identity, cultural geographies, archiving and digitalization, as well as about the history of the Greek National Opera have been published in magazines and newspapers in Greece and abroad. She is head of the Virtual Educational Museum, she has been co-coordinator of the Virtual tour, while currently she works for Maria Callas tribute, all projects of the Greek National Opera.

Stavros Kalimeris portrait photo
Stavros Kalimeris
Technical Design Office Supervisor
Greek National Opera


Stavros Kalimeris works as the Supervisor of the Technical Design Office at the Greek National Opera. He graduated from the Civil Engineering School of NTUA (2010) and received his Master’s Degree in “History and Philosophy of Technology” from UOA (2012). Since 2013, he has been working in Film-TV, Opera and Art constructions as a technician, 3D CAD designer and technical consultant. Stavros has worked as a Technical Design Office collaborator for the Belgian Opera House, La Monnaie (2016) and Documenta 14 exhibition in Kassel (2017). He is specialized in 3D CAD, Digital Fabrication and Construction Management for event special constructions. His interests lie in the interfaces of materials and data flows such as Computational Design, Augmented Reality and Physical Computing. Stavros speaks English, French, German, Greek and Python.

Panagiotis Parthenios portrait photo
Prof. Panagiotis Parthenios
Professor of Digital Technologies in Architectural Design
Director of the Digital Media Lab
Technical University of Crete


Panagiotis (Panos) Parthenios is a Professor of Digital Media in Architectural Design at the School of Architecture, Technical University of Crete, where he teaches since 2009. He received a Diploma of Architecture from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a Master in Design Studies from Harvard Design School and a Doctor of Design on Conceptual Design Tools for Architects from Harvard Design School. He has conducted research at the Harvard Center for Design Informatics on Advanced 3D Modeling Techniques, Object Oriented CAD (Early BIM) and Model Based Collaboration. 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.

Dimitrios Buhalis portrait photo
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)


Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is Director of the eTourism Lab and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, at  Bournemouth University Business School in England. He is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Information Communication Technology applications in the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure industries. He is the Editor in Chief of Tourism Review and the Editor in Chief of the  Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing . 
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.

Dimitris Efraimoglou portrait photo
Dimitris Efraimoglou
Managing Director
Foundation of the Hellenic World (Remote)


Dimitris Efraimoglou is the Managing Director of the Foundation of Hellenic World. He is Head of the research-scientific programs of the Foundation of Hellenic World and Director of the Center for Research, Development and Excellence in Virtual and Augmented Reality at the Cultural Center “HELLENIC WORLD”, one of the most ambitious research programs and innovation. 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.

Maja Ciric portrait photo
Dr. Maja Ćirć
Independent Curator & Web 3.0 pioneer (Remote)


Maja Ćirić (PhD) is an independent curator & a Web 3.0 pioneer. The geopolitics of the curatorial, which were her primary field of expertise, has been upgraded recently to the multipolar geopolitics of planetary computation. She became involved in phygital (physical + digital) projects, conferences and exhibitions in the hybrid field of art + science + tech. She has experience in curating in the Metaverse. 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.

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Anthony Karydis
MSc, ASIS/FRPS / Founder & CEO
Mativision Limited


Anthony Karydis (MSc, Aeronautics, BSc, Electronic Engineering), is founder and Managing Director of London-based Mativision Limited (global leader in Immersive Tech, winner of the 2019 Digital Catapult Platinum Award and the SME News Business Elite Awards for London's Best VR Media Production Firm 2021 and London’s Best VR and Immersive Technology Specialist 2022). He has 30+ years of working experience, including flight control software for fighter aircraft simulators, managing multi-national European R&D projects, lecturing on Digital Media Production, and managing high-tech companies. He is a multi-awarded photographer, Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, holding its highest distinction of Accredited Senior Imaging Scientist (ASIS FRPS), and some of his other passions are cats, Jazz & Blues, electric guitars, and responsible motorcycling.

Georgia Kotretsos portrait photo
Georgia Kotretsos
Visual Artist / Publisher / Arts Interdisciplinary Research (AIR)
Member at the Research, Technology & Innovation Network (RTIN)
ACG 150


Georgia Kotretsos is a visual artist, researcher and publisher based in Athens, Greece. Kotretsos holds an MFA Degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the United States and a BFA Degree from the Durban Institute of Technology in KwaZulu Natal, in South Africa. She is a member of the Arts Interdisciplinary Research (AIR) team at the Research, Technology & Innovation Network, ACG 150 and an Associate lecturer in the Visual Arts Dept. of the Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts at Deree - The American College of Greece. 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.

Yiannos Georgiades portrait photo
Yiannos Georgiades
Co-Founder/Director
KV Kinisis Ventures Fund RAIF V.C.I.C. PLC (Remote)


Yiannos Georgiades is the Managing Partner of the law firm Y. Georgiades & Associates LLC, which is based in Nicosia, Cyprus, with presence in the UK and Greece. He graduated from West London University (LL.B. Hons.) in 1989 and Inns of Court School of Law, Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London (Barrister-at-Law) in 1990. Apart from becoming a Barrister, he has previously worked in a reputable solicitor’s firm in London, as well as worked as a visiting attorney at Corboy & Demetrio in Chicago and Baker & Hostetler in Washington, D.C. in the US. He has been practicing law since 1990 and his main focus of his law firm is on litigation, corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, IP and technology, medical law, real estate, ADR. He is a member of the Cyprus Bar Association, the Law Society in the UK as a European Registered Lawyer and President of the Cyprus Chapter of the European Court of Arbitration and Mediation for commercial disputes (CEAM). He is also the President of GLAWBUS Global Law and Business Organisation for lawyers and professionals. He is also listed as a legal professional representative before the European Patent Office, for the purpose of representing clients before the EPO. He is a co-founder of the business accelerator KV Kinisis Ventures Limited, which aims at scaling up innovative and technology companies to the US market. He is nominated advisor for the Emerging Companies Market (the ECM) of the Cyprus Stock Exchange and has been appointed to the CY-Biobank Independent Bioethics Advisory Board as part of the Centre of Excellence in Biobanking and Biomedical Research, co-founded by the European Commission, the Government of Cyprus and the University of Cyprus .

Pieter van Ysseldijk portrait photo
Pieter van Ysseldijk
Founder, Lawyer Financial Technology
Isonom Cooperative CH


Pieter van Ysseldijk was trained as as an EU lawyer in Brussels and London, and qualified as a SFA corporate finance and banking representative in London. During his career, Pieter has invested in, and co-developed, different technologies, and has managed his family group of shellfish farming and processing companies. Pieter served as a director on the board of asset management funds, a family office in Luxembourg and has volunteered for different non-profit organisations, such as 'THE ΤΕΛΟΣ SOCIETY, Arts & Culture Research Lab Observatorium '. Since 2017 Pieter has acted as a technology legal counsel from his base in Switzerland where he was responsible for the design of a novel concept for an electronic identity card for the offline exchange of uncertificated register securities on an innovative microledger- based infrastructure. Pieter holds a BSc.in European Law from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, a LL.M in Marine Insurance from the University of London and a MSc. in Investment Analysis from Stirling University.

Ioannis Papidis portrait photo
Ioannis Papidis
Chief Technology and Business Change Officer
Dixons South East Europe


Ioannis Papidis holds the position of Chief Technology and Business Change Officer at Dixons SE Europe A.E.B.E. – Kotsovolos since October 2018. 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.

Prof. Nikos Mylonopoulos portrait photo
Prof. Nikos Mylonopoulos
Professor of Digital Business
ALBA Graduate Business School


Dr. Nikos Mylonopoulos is a Professor of Digital Business at ALBA Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece and Director of the SEV Center of Excellence in Creative Leadership. He has teaching and research interests in the areas of Digital Business, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Systems, and Mobile Services. He has taught at Warwick Business School, Sheffield University Management School, Loughborough University Business School, Birkbeck College (University of London), Kedge Business School, and the Athens University of Economics and Business. He delivers Executive Education seminars to senior leaders of global companies in banking, pharma, industrials, IT, and others. His teaching makes use of computer-based business simulations (by INSEAD/CALT, Harvard Business School, and the ERPSim Lab at HEC Montreal). His research has been published in international refereed journals and conferences, including Management Science, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Computers and Human Behavior, Communications of the ACM. During the 2009-2014 Greek crisis, he led a successful turnaround as Associate Dean of Academic Programs and MBA Academic Director. He has also served as Associate Dean of Innovation and Technology, Academic Director of Applied Research and International Projects, and Academic Director of IT. He is a member of the Association of Information Systems. As a Board Member of HEPIS (Hellenic Society of Informatics Professionals) he was the lead author of the reference study on employability and digital skills in Greece.

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