News

The opening ceremony of the new premises, as well as the launch of the new research program of "ARCHIMEDES", a research unit of the “Athena” Research Center, with a focus on Basic and Applied Research on Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Algorithms, was held successfully in Marousi on December 22^nd, 2022.

 

During the event, the initiation of the new program was celebrated in the presence of its accomplished researchers, members of the ARCHIMEDES and the “Athena” research center community, as well as representatives of the political leadership. The three founding members of ARCHIMEDES, and at the same time, three generations of internationally renowned scientists, Mr. Christos Papadimitriou, Mr. Timos Sellis, and Mr. Konstantinos Daskalakis, visibly gratified by their vision that is gradually becoming a reality, offered an official welcome to the new collaborators into the wider ARCHIMEDES family. An interesting discussion followed amongst them, concerning the "ARCHIMEDES" project, the challenges for young scientists, and the possibilities of intellectual osmosis and collaborations it will offer.

  

The Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Mr. Christos Dimas mentioned: "Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Algorithms are increasingly affecting our daily lives, from businesses, the health sector, to tackling issues regarding the climate crisis and the social sciences. The creation of the "Archimedes" research structure in the “Athena” Research Center, with funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, signals our aim to harness the knowledge and potential of leading distinguished Greek scientists from around the world into these cutting-edge fields. I am sure that ARCHIMEDES will grow steadily and significantly, making Greece a prominent player in research developments".

 

The President and General Director of RC "Athena", Mr. Yiannis Emiris, emphasized in this regard: "The operation of ARCHIMEDES and its research focus complements perfectly the existing teams of RC "Athena", while at the same time it offers an emphasis on the modern field of Artificial Intelligence and most fundamental area of Algorithms. It has already begun to contribute to the dynamic development of the Center towards the goals of excellence it has set in Research, Education and Innovation, as RC "Athena" is the only Research Center in the country that focuses on modern technologies, such as data and communication. Finally, ARCHIMEDES, with the ambitious program it is implementing, will not only strengthen the geographical dimension of the RC "Athena" on a national level, but also on an international scale".

 

The Scientific Manager of the ARCHIMEDES Unit of the RC "Athena", Mr. Timos Sellis added: "The launch of ARCHIMEDES is an important step to support cutting-edge Research on Artificial Intelligence, building an ecosystem of basic research and innovation in this area. The main goal is to support young researchers in Greece, with an emphasis on doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers. To achieve this, we rely on the excellence of the existing experienced researchers in the country and we build a bridge with the research potential of the diaspora".

 

The President of the "Greece 2021" Committee, Mrs. Gianna Aggelopoulou-Daskalaki, emphasized that the creation of ARCHIMEDES was perhaps the most important of the projects supported by the Committee in the "Opening a window to the future" category. She also added "We took the idea brought by three individual scientists, Mr. Sellis, Mr. Papadimitriou, and Mr. Daskalakis who were members of the plenary, we allocated the human resources needed to turn this proposal into a coherent, cost effective, and implementable business plan, we delivered the plan to the State through the Ministry of Development and it finally ended up being approved by the RRF and joined the ambitious GREECE 2.0 project. It is as if we experienced up close the "conspiracy of the Universe", in order to materialize something important that can only prosper. The "conspiracy", which, in reality, is an effective synergy of many people and agencies, is based on mutual trust and goodwill".

 

The ARCHIMEDES Unit aims to have a national reach and impact of great scale in the national Research and Innovation area. It is now starting its research activity having already secured collaboration with experienced researchers and academics from Greece and abroad with a vision, through appropriately structured programs, to bridge the Greek research ecosystem with important institutions abroad and to give the opportunity to talented young scientists to participate in high-quality research activities, which will accelerate rapidly their scientific and professional development.