The bet on the return of talents to our country (brain gain) wants to win Hellaswhich has recently begun to attract technology companies, as well as small companies looking for a highly skilled workforce.

Multinational and tech giants such as Pfizer, Deloitte, Cisco, but also smaller ones, including start-up companies, create research and development centers (tech hubs) in our country, inviting Greek scientists abroad to return to the staff of their teams. Despite increased demand and fierce competition for programmers and engineers, Greek startups, which also have an international presence, increased their number of employees last year, approaching the corresponding number of employees they hire in Greece in technology positions. multinational companies. So, over the past year, Greek startups have increased the number of employees worldwide by 82% from 7,000 in 2020 to 12,785 in 2021, creating 5,785 new jobs. Of the 12,785, 66%, i.e. 8,536 people, work in Greece, while the rest either work in offices that start-ups have abroad or work remotely. This is highlighted, among other things, in a recent survey by Endeavor Greece titled Understanding the Greek Tech Ecosystem for 2021 and Forecasts for 2022, adding that jobs in Greece increased by 36% last year, a percentage, which translates into the creation of 2,304 new jobs. Among Greek startups including Beat, Blueground, Hellas Direct, InstaShop, etc.

They also encourage Greek scientists abroad to return to work on their teams.

However, the big problem for the technology industry internationally (and in Greece) is inflation and fears of a possible recession. This concern is causing turmoil within tech companies, many of which are either downsizing or hiring at a slower pace than last year.

According to the data of the previous year, an interesting conclusion is that in addition to scale-up startups, foreign multinational companies also create jobs in our country with the same intensity. Endeavor has identified 138 foreign companies that have established technology centers in our country, of which 73 are multinational corporations employing more than 8,000 people in technology positions (8,650). At the top of the Endeavor list is Vodafone, which employs a total of 3,382 people in Greece, of which 1,140 are in technical positions, followed by Teleperformance, which employs 742 people in technical positions in Greece. The list also includes Accenture, Nokia, Deloitte, EY and IBM, with 316 of their 613 employees in technology. Pfizer, Atos, Openbet as well as Microsoft have a large number of employees in technology positions, and out of 458 employees, 212 are in technology positions.

In addition to these, the study identified 65 companies classified as start-ups or companies in advanced stages of development (scaling). Specific companies come from 13 countries and employ about 650 employees. According to the study, although the number seems small, the presence of foreign startups in Greece is important as it enhances the extroversion of the Greek tech ecosystem. Thus, the relevant list includes companies such as Sitecore, which develops a digital marketing platform and services, which gained a presence in Greece by acquiring the Greek company Moosend in 2021. The Etraveli group, which has 266 employees, has a large number of employees. in Greece, 43 of which are employed in technical positions, American Toptal, Indeavor, Global Web Index, Danish Capture One, which recently opened its presence in Greece through the establishment of an R&D center, Sunlight.io, Rokoko, Azuna, Firelo, Axiomatics and etc. a. According to the survey, one of the reasons why many companies decide to open their presence in Greece is the number of technology graduates. This is the case with the German TeamViewer and P&I, who have hired several scientists who are graduates of the University of Ioannina. Meanwhile, Best Secret, a company that specializes in e-commerce and is developing a team in Ioannina, is following suit. It is worth noting that there are also cases of companies such as the American Mysten Labs (develops blockchain technology) and the Chinese interesting WhaleMicro (develops microchips) that decided to “land” in our country while seeing the interest from the Greeks abroad to work there. These companies are “led” by Greek scientists who have created technological groups in our country.