Can tech end the brain drain?
Recently, Greece has been attracting technology companies which have set up research and development centers, also known as tech hubs, and are seeking highly specialized local talent but also calling on the many young scientists who left Greece to return home and join their teams.
Greek authorities are closely watching this process, hoping it can help reverse the severe brain drain Greece suffered during the years of the financial crisis, when hundreds of thousands of people, not all working in the technology sector, but most highly qualified, left the country for better opportunities abroad. The term “brain gain” is often used by officials to refer to this hoped-for trend.
It is not just foreign tech firms and other multinationals, such as pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, consultants Deloitte and tech firm Cisco that are creating the jobs: Greek startups are doing so too, mostly locally but also abroad.
In 2021 alone, the number of Greek startups’ employees increased from 7,000 to 12,785, an expansion of 82.6%, despite the intense competition with longer-established foreign firms for programmers and engineers. Of those, about two-thirds work in Greece and the rest either work in startups’ offices abroad or are teleworkers.
A recent survey by Endeavor Greece, titled “2021 Greek-Tech Ecosystem Insights & 2022 Predictions,” found that the number of tech jobs in Greece rose 36% in 2021; Greek startups such as Beat, Blueground, Hellas Direct, InstaShop and others are leading job creators.
The recent surge in inflation and fears of a recession, present a great challenge for the tech industry globally. Some companies have begun layoffs; other have slowed down their recruiting and hiring.
The Endeavor study found that 138 foreign firms have founded tech hubs in Greece; 73 are multinationals employing a total of 8,650 people in technology jobs in Greece.
The largest such employer is telecoms firm Vodafone, with 3,882 employees in Greece, 1,140 in technology positions, followed by French digital business services firm Teleperformance (742 tech jobs).
