The Hellenic Observatory, in partnership with the 89 Initiative, hosted a panel event, featuring the topic “Brain Gain and the Future of Greece”.

The panellists addressed how Greece can reverse its brain drain phenomenon, which has seen hundreds of thousands of educated Greeks emigrate abroad. The new Greek government attaches great importance to the return of Greece’s lost generation. But does the government possess the tools to entice young Greeks home? What conditions must prevail for ‘brain drain’ to be transformed into ‘brain gain’?

Dr Angeliki Kosmopoulou is Executive Director of the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation. She has a diverse educational background in archaeology  (B.A., National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; PhD Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, USA)  and management (MBA, Leicester University) and has worked in academia, cultural management and communications. As a communications consultant, she worked for over fifteen years for a broad clientele including multinational companies, small businesses, public and private organizations, artists and scholars. She has served as special advisor to the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament and the Minister of Culture. She is a board member of The People's Trust and Vice President of the Greek National Tourism Organization. Angeliki is a mentor for women in public life as well as for new entrepreneurs.

Konstantinos Kyranakis is a member of the Greek Parliament from July 7th 2019.  He has graduated the European School of Brussels in 2005, holds a Bachelor degree in Law from the University of Athens and a MA in Strategic Communication from the American College of Greece. Konstantinos has worked as a digital strategist since 2008. He was the project manager for a part of the digital campaign of Jean-Claude Juncker for President of the European Commission in 2014 and the head of the digital campaign of Kyriakos Mitsotakis for President of Nea Demokratia in 2015. In 2013, Konstantinos was elected president of the Youth of the European People's Party, Europe's largest political youth organisation with over 1 million members from 40 countries and re-elected in 2015. He was a candidate for the European Parliament in 2014, and was appointed deputy spokesman for Nea Demokratia in 2016. Konstantinos is a member of the International Republican Institute, and has co-founded BrainGain, an initiative aiming at reversing brain drain for Greece. Forbes Magazine nominated and selected Konstantinos Kyranakis in the 30 under 30 list for the year 2016.

Angela Stathi is the CEO of Reload Greece, a London based educational charity building a new generation of entrepreneurs to create innovative ventures in their home countries. Angela has 15+ years of experience working in financial services for companies such as Schroders, BNP Paribas, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investor Services.  She has experience in scaling-up businesses, creating new products and revenue streams. Angela is a Women on Boards, the boardlist, Google’ Women Techmarkers as we as a member of the 100 Women in Finance Club. She is a 2019 Executive MBA graduate from London Business School with a focus on entrepreneurship, strategy, technology and innovation and holds a BA(Hons) in International Business with French and Finance from Brighton University and Edhec Business School. 

The twitter Hashtag for this event is: #LSEGreece

Photos
View some photos here.

Podcast
Listen to the podcast here.

Video
Watch the video here. 

Slides
A copy of the Power Point presentations is available for download here.

The Hellenic Observatory  (@HO_LSE)  is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.

The 89 Initiative is the first pan-European think do tank. Its aims are to connect a new European political generation and help regenerate the European Project through new policy ideas. The 89 Initiative runs several policy-related programmes across its six European branches. Its policy work focuses on democratic participation, migration, climate change, education, and entrepreneurship. It has also launched several start-up projects, including 89 Connect – Europe’s first social network for public policy professionals.