D. Papalexopoulos (SEV): Pandemic, energy crisis and inflation threats to the economy

By Harry Floudopoulos

Pandemic, energy costs and inflation are the main threats to the economy, according to SEV President Dimitris Papalexopoulos. As he mentioned a moment ago, despite the progress that has been made, they have not yet managed to go out into the clearing and control the pandemic.

He added that we need patience and see what the new Omicron mutation of the virus will bring. At the same time, the president of SEV referred to the issue of the energy crisis and the rise in energy prices. “Energy prices have been a thorn in the side for years, but now we have reached an extreme,” he said, adding that the government was well on its way to household issues. “We want to believe that it will also support Greek production so that it can respond and remain competitive with other countries that we compete with,” said Mr. Papalexopoulos.

He said that the crisis should not be an alibi to delay the green transition and to create a competitive energy market that will protect all consumers. The third threat mentioned by the BSE president is inflation, which most experts say is temporary and will not last. We need patience not to rush to conclusions, said Mr. Papalexopoulos. The statements of the president of BSE were made in the context of a press conference for the presentation of the BSE investment conference entitled Reinventing Greece through investments in innovation.

Mr. Papalexopoulos stressed that there are 10 reasons for optimism on the issue of innovation in our country. They are:

First, the existence of a small but vital ecosystem of start-ups worth 5 to 6 billion euros
Secondly, the clear potential of this ecosystem to triple in the next 5 years
Third, in the midst of a pandemic, we had practical success in start-ups
Fourth, substantial investments were made by large companies such as Microsoft, Pfizer Accenture
Fifth, the existence of the active Greek Diaspora which in the pandemic came closer to Greece
Sixth, the progress made in the Greek universities which make a shift apart from research and development
Seventh, there seem to be conditions for creating clusters in branches of Greek becoming
Eighth, the positive timing for the Greek economy
Ninth is the existence of understanding and interest in innovation by organizations other than BSE but also by the Greek government
Tenth, there is a shift in society’s perception of entrepreneurship and its role as part of the solution

In the context of the interview, the chairman of the innovation committee of SEV Mr. M. Veremis and the Director of Innovation of SEV M. Athanasiadis presented the actions of the innovation committee of the association, while the CEO of Accenture Greece K. Sampatakakis presented by Accenture for the opportunities that Greece has in the field of innovation and attracting investments in the field.