About 20,000 scientists left Greece to work abroad in the 2009-2014 period, while 83.5 percent of startups are funded by home savings, said Deputy Minister of Research and Technology Costas Fotakis.
The deputy spoke at the opening of the fourth scientific knowledge and technology conference “Patras IQ” in Patras on Saturday. He said that 20,000 scientists left the country to seek work abroad in the 2009-2014 period, while the number of scientists who fled between 2004 and 2009 was 2,500.
Regarding young people with university degrees who remain in Greece and start their own business in the technology sector, 83.5 percent of them are funded by their families’ savings and only 4.7 percent received bank loans.
Finance ministry figures show that the average capital an existing research and technology business needs is 200,000 euros while the average startup needs about 100,000 euros. Funding is the most crucial need for 87.7 percent of existing businesses and 93.7 percent of startups.
The majority of startups (60 percent) aim at the international market, while 47 percent aim at both the domestic and international market. Also, 25 percent of startups aim at regional markets only.
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