Greece’s Technology Outlook for 2024 Is Positive

From artificial intelligence to renewable energy systems, technology in Greece has seen significant advancements over the past few years with more set to come in 2024.

Through a mixture of Greek initiative and foreign investments from tech giants, the next year is full of promise for solar and wind power, smart services, and improved military defense.

Technology Investments in Greece

Huge technology companies such as Amazon, Google, Digital Realty, and Microsoft put their faith in Greece in 2023, each making significant investments in data centers which will contribute to the country’s digital infrastructure.

Google announced it will set up its first cloud region in Greece, boosting the country’s efforts to become a world cloud computing hub. The proposal is estimated to contribute around 2.2 billion euros to Greece’s economic output and create some twenty thousand jobs by 2030, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

Greece is among twenty-six countries outside the US where Amazon Web Services plans to install its ‘local zones,’ a type of digital infrastructure that places computing power, data storage, databases, and other services closer to large urban, industrial, and technology centers.

The ecommerce giant has already committed to plans for a local zone in Athens, while at the same time announcing its aim to establish a smart island pilot program on Naxos, with the goal of developing solutions that will respond to challenges associated with service provision.

Renewable Energy Technology in Greece

Renewable energy infrastructure has also seen a major boost throughout 2023, with solar power in particular receiving large investments.

Amazon doubled down on its investment in Greece when it completed its first utility solar power project in Makrihoria of Aetoloakarnania in October, one of thirty-nine renewable energy projects in Europe which will add more than one gigawatt of clean energy to the continent’s energy grids.

This year also saw the country ranked second in the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) theoretical photovoltaic penetration index, a tool which ranks the solar energy potential of the countries of the world. Greece climbed one position from its rank in 2022.

The country is one of only nine across the globe that have photovoltaic penetration rates above ten percent.

There were also significant steps taken towards the construction of offshore wind farms, when a draft plan was formed by the government to identify areas for private development. Greece aims to build an installed capacity of at least two gigawatts from offshore, representing one-tenth of its onshore capacity.

Minister of Environment and Energy Theodoros Skylakakis said the government’s objective is to have the first offshore wind farms in the country operational before 2030. “The development of these projects is a national priority not only because it will contribute decisively to our energy independence but also because it enables us to export green energy in the future,” he added.

The Growth of AI in Greece

The country also moved forward with its stewardship of AI after the Prime Minister set up an advisory committee to prepare the country for further technological advancements.

It was decided by Mitsotakis’ office that the committee, made up of various high-ranking computational engineering professionals and academics, will formulate policy recommendations and outline guidelines for the long-term planning of a national strategy for IT.

“The geometric progress of artificial intelligence makes it necessary to set up an advisory committee under the Prime Minister, with the main objective of preparing the country for the developments that all kinds of applications of this technology will bring,” a press release from the Prime Minister’s press office said.