Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the Athens LifeTech Park, a biotechnology park in Spata, on Thursday and later addressed an event held at the site.
He said the total footprint of investment in the Greek pharmaceutical industry now exceeds 1 billion euros, adding that Greece has an important role to play in critical areas of drug production that are essential for Europe as a whole if the continent is to secure its strategic autonomy.
More than a research facility
Mitsotakis said what he was seeing at the Athens LifeTech Park went beyond a research site. He described it not simply as an attractive space where a company could carry out preclinical research, host start-up businesses and hold conferences, but as an image of the future and a bridge between Greece and the Greek diaspora.
He noted that Greece is overrepresented abroad in biotechnology and the health sciences, particularly in the United States, pointing to numerous success stories of Greek scientists and company founders who have excelled in that highly competitive field overseas.
Building a bridge with the diaspora
Mitsotakis said the government's constant concern has been how to build a bridge between that overseas community and Greece, in order to create a dynamic biotechnology ecosystem at home that stands at the forefront of innovation. He said such an ecosystem should be able to generate career opportunities so that young Greeks are not forced to move abroad to pursue their ambitions.
He said it gave him great joy to see what he had envisioned for the country many years ago now becoming reality, and that it was especially satisfying that his government could contribute to building the Greece of the future.
Mitsotakis added that he wanted that future Greece to be one where the country's collective economic progress translates into individual prosperity through good salaries and good jobs, as well as into the ability for young people to pursue their dreams in their own homeland.
The Athens LifeTech Park in Spata is positioned as a hub bringing together pharmaceutical research, start-up incubation and conference facilities near the Greek capital.
