Papastergiou: We are creating our own artificial intelligence supercomputer

"We are creating our own artificial intelligence supercomputer. In fact, just the day before yesterday, the final permit was issued, so now the work is progressing much faster; the machine has been ordered, the tender has been completed, and we have a contractor," emphasised Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou on Friday, addressing the conference "Artificial Intelligence as an Accelerator of Digital Transformation in the Public Sector and Businesses."
Papastergiou, speaking at the conference organised by the Region of Central Macedonia through the Digital Governance Department and the Hellenic Association of Information Technology Enterprises (SETPE), noted that Greece was one of the first countries to submit a successful proposal. “ We entered the AI Factories,” he said characteristically, while announcing that the country is submitting “ a new proposal for a new artificial intelligence factory in Western Macedonia, a region that needs support and assistance.”
He mentioned that the two flagship projects, “ DAIDALOS” and “ AI Factory Pharos,” which pave the way for the proper utilisation of Artificial Intelligence in Greece, will mainly focus on the three key pillars of health, culture, and civil protection. The minister also spoke about the microsatellites that Greece is sending into space, which will provide data, saying: "In the early hours of Sunday, we are sending our first microsatellite, Transporter 14, which has been built by Democritus University and will begin its journey into space. Following that, microsatellites Transporter 15 and 16 will be launched, and we will have so much data that, combined with the use of artificial intelligence, we will be able to produce very interesting models for civil protection and agricultural production."
At the same time, the minister emphasised that "Greece is gaining a significant position in the development of data centres" and added: "We have always been at a particularly interesting crossroads between three continents, but surrounded by this very difficult, distressing situation with wars that, instead of diminishing, are increasing. Greece is the safest point in Europe towards the East, and this makes many people from the East, who have data and want to invest in it, prefer places like Greece."
In this spirit, he stressed the need to address the issue of energy and to combine it with the sustainable operation of data centres and facilities for artificial intelligence and supercomputers.
Referring to bureaucracy in Greece, he acknowledged that "there are many processes in which deep bureaucracy exists," noted that "it requires patience and proposals from everyone," and underlined the need "to move faster to simplify procedures, and here artificial intelligence has a role."