On Wednesday, January 25th, the 40th SciFY Academy on “Pioneer Initiatives for Artificial Intelligence: Changing tomorrow today” took place in INNOVATHENS.

It was the first SciFY Academy in three years to take place in a physical space, and we are delighted that we are gradually returning to normal.

The event’s goals were for the participants to:

• Discover the initiative of the Pioneers for Artificial Intelligence in Greece that SciFY has launched over the past two years, learn about the results, and explore the new steps.
• Be informed about other Artificial Intelligence actions currently running in our country in the government, technology, business, and education sectors.
• Co-design Artificial Intelligence actions to be applied to:
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Education

All this took place during the event’s two sections.

In the first section, “Innovating for Society, Democracy, Entrepreneurship, and Education”:

• Mr. Vassilis Giannakopoulos, Marketing & Social Impact Manager at SciFY, presented us with the ”Pioneers for Artificial Intelligence in Greece” initiative, its results so far, and the next steps. See his presentation here.
• Mr. Fotis Fitsilis, Hellenic Parliament, Scientific Service, described innovative initiatives launched for the use of Artificial Intelligence in the Hellenic Parliament and Parliaments of the World. See his presentation here.
• Mr. Haris Vassiliou, co-coordinator of the HELLAC, Open Entrepreneurship and Innovation working group, referred to how Artificial Intelligence systems utilize Open Data.

The second section was dedicated to the Workshops for co-designing business and educational actions based on Artificial Intelligence. Specifically:

• Mr. Michalis Golias, IT Director of the Hellenic Development Bank, described the entrepreneurial idea that the participants explored during the workshop: creating a portal that helps young entrepreneurs make better investment and business decisions, providing valuable information when needed. The service will be provided to all free of charge.
• Mr. Andreas Karampelas, Researcher of AI-Lab, organizer of WAICY GREECE, and Dr. Georgios Vouros, Director of AI-Lab Department of Digital Systems University of Piraeus – Official Partner of WAICY, talked to us about WAICY (World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth), the 2nd theme of the workshop that the participants were called to co-design. WAICY is a global AI competition that encourages kids to apply their AI knowledge to create projects that address real-world problems, such as climate change, human rights, and international public health.

The workshop’s results were incredible! The World Café process was used, allowing for collective results to be obtained for both groups: Entrepreneurship and Education. In fact, the advisors of the two groups, Mr. Golias and Mr. Karabelas, respectively, pointed out that the ideas and new perspectives that emerged from the Workshop process are particularly helpful for further action planning.

To stay informed about future SciFY Academy events, register here.