FRANCO-HELLENIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FORUM │ PROGRAM
09.30-10.00│ Institutional opening
★ Laurence Auer, Ambassador of France to Greece
★ Dimitrios Terzis, Secretary General for Research and Innovation
★ Ioannis Mastrogeorgiou, Special Secretary to the Prime Minister responsible for strategic planning
10.00-12.30 │ Innovating for the defence of tomorrow
10.00-11.15│ Round-table: Building strong research ecosystems around defence innovation
Moderation: Iliana Magra, Journalist - Kathimerini
Speakers:
★ François-Régis Boulvert, Naval Group – Director of International R&D Cooperation
★ George Tzamtzis, Metlen Energy&Metals – Head of Defence Innovation and European Programmes
★ Major General Panoussis, Innovation branch of the General Staff of Hellenic Armed forces – Director
★ Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Demokritos NCSR – Vice-president of the Board of Directors
11.15-12.30│ Round-table: From dual-use to strategic applications
Moderation: Iliana Magra, Kathimerini - Journalist
Speakers:
★ Thanos Georgiadis, Thalès – Director Account & Sales
★ Spyros Basilakos, National Observatory of Athens – President of the Board of Directors
★ Franck Molina, CNRS Engineering - Deputy Scientific Director and Head of Dual research
★ Pantelis Tzortzakis, ELKAK - President
13.00-14.00│ Workshop: Private funding for research and innovation
Speakers:
★ Spyros Arsenis, National Bank of Greece – Head of Business Innovation Development and Director of NBG Business Seeds
★ Roula Bachtalia, Eurobank – Head of Venture Banking and Director of the EGG accelerator
★ Aristeidis Samitas, NKUA – Vice-Rector for finance and development
★ Guy Krief, French Tech Athens – President
14.00-15.00: Lunch Break
15.00-17.45 │ Innovation and energy issues
15h00-15h45│ Fireside chat: Energy Security and Energy Transition for Greece: Renewables, Flexibility, and the opportunity of Innovative Nuclear Solutions
Moderation: Kostis Geropoulos, NE Global Media – Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security
Speakers:
★ Despoina Paliarouta, Secretary General for Energy and Mineral Resources
★ Pierre-Arthur Lestrade, EDF Renewables – Vice-President Europe
15.45-16.45│Round-table: Smart Grid and smart storage: to bridge the quantitative capacity gap with with qualitative solutions
Moderation: Kostis Geropoulos, NE Global Media – Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security
Speakers:
★ Evangelos Bekiaris, CERTH – Chief Executive Officer
★ Vassilis Nikolopoulos, Avokado AI – CTO and co-founder
★ Alexandre Harito, Smart energies – Country director
★ Ioannis N. Tzortzis, Regulatory Authority for Energy, Waste and Water, Member of the Board of Directors
16.45-17.45│Round-table: How innovation in renewable energy generation can solve the dilemma between decarbonization and competitiveness?
Moderation: Kostis Geropoulos, NE Global Media – Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security
★ Guillaume Echevarria, Botanickel – Chief Technical Officer
★ Konstantinos Chatzifotis, Motor Oil Hellas Group – EU Affairs Manager
★ Stéphane Cros, CEA Laboratoire LITEN – Research Director
19.00-21.30│Alumni 2026 evening (Résidence de France, by invitation)
Thematic: «Scientific talent: discover, innovate and undertake»