TechFuse is back. In its third year and stronger than ever!

We’re living in times where technology is redefining our rhythms, roles, and balances. It’s no longer about what we’ve achieved, but how we’re building what lies ahead.

From her journey in London and Silicon Valley to her contribution to building strong technology and innovation ecosystems in Greece and beyond, Litsa Panayotopoulou has learned not just to navigate change—but to create it.

Nikos Diamantopoulos, General Manager, Marketing Greece SA together with Efthymia Saradakou, Associate Professor, Department of Tourism Management University of West Attica Architect, MSc, PhD Spatial Planning and Tourism

Every destination is a living organism, shaped by the memory, care, and values of its people. Today, the challenge of tourism development calls on all of us to act as stewards of this unique identity, while simultaneously elevating the tourism offering through innovation and the digital economy. The goal is a development path that respects the past and invests in a sustainable future—one where nature and society progress in balance, creating new opportunities for work, creativity and shared value.

Ioannis Vougioukas CEO at Epirus Bank SA together with Michalis Moraitis, Strategist and C-Level executive / Business & Digital Transformation Global  Leader

Elena Mavromichali, Strategist – Cultural Advisor, Hellenic Republic, Presidency of the Government & BOD member, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on a One-To-One with Valentin Schmite, Co-Founder and General Manager at Ask Mona.

The Future of Cultural Interpretation explores how human-centric technology and AI can transform access to culture, making museums, history, and meaningful knowledge more inclusive and engaging for all. The session opens with a video presenting ASK MONA, followed by insights from entrepreneur Valentin Schmite, co-founder of ASK MONA. The discussion traces the project’s origins, the importance of language and dialogue in fostering inclusion, and a business model driven by experience value and data. The panel concludes with a live demo and interactive audience engagement.

Pavlos Antoniadis’ work 你們是蟲子 (You are Bugs) – Homage to Liu Cixin for piano, MPE controller, sensors and AI agents, was composed on the occasion of Luigi Nono’s centenary in 2024 and has been presented in Hamburg ArtSearch 2024, Berlin VOICES 2024, Boston ICMC 2025 and Beijing TENOR 2025. It reflects on problems of authorship, authenticity and authority in musical AI, namely the disturbing potential of human inferiority – the fact that we all are potentially “bugs” (with its multiple connotations), and we might have to accept a lower status in a new (or not so new) hierarchy. To do so, the work assumes an AI, as if alien, invasion of sorts, inspired by the “dark forest hypothesis”, term coined by the Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin as a response to the Fermi paradox. The musical score consists of a dense interactive video featuring borrowed cinematic materials of authoritarian figures conducting, instructing, ordering, insulting and abusing the performer; augmented interactive tablatures; music notation and video synths, projected in real-time, and driving a combination of improvised, comprovised and fixed musical materials. These include the author’s previous recordings of works by Luigi Nono, Iannis Xenakis, Maurice Ravel, which are remixed through a combination of SOMAX2 and GesTCom, and live controlled through inertial sensors and an MPE controller. Thus, both human and machine are trained and constrained, and sparks of resistance are not missing. 

Stavros Kalafatis, Deputy Minister of Development Responsible for Research and Innovation together with Roula Bachtalia, Head of Venture Banking, Eurobank.

How can Greece move from isolated success stories to a truly powerful innovation ecosystem? This panel brings together public and private sector leaders for a candid discussion on policies, funding mechanisms, and the critical gaps shaping the future of innovation.

Jade Bouchemit, Deputy Director of the Musée de la musique at the Philharmonie de Paris with Ariane Koek, Independent Strategic Consultant, Creative Producer, and Writer across Arts, Science, Technology and Ecology

As art, science, and technology converge at unprecedented speed, the boundaries of creative practice are being radically redefined. From AI-generated art to immersive, interactive environments, new tools are reshaping not only how we create, but how we experience culture. This panel brings together the visionary voices of Ariane Koek and Jade Bouchemit to explore how collaborations between artists, technologists, researchers, and cultural institutions can meaningfully shape the future of creation. Together, we will examine how to preserve emotional authenticity in an era of intelligent machines, how museums and creators are integrating AI and immersive formats, and whether the future of art lies not in the purely digital, but in a dynamic hybrid between analog and algorithm.

Ioannis Patounas, COO | Deputy General Manager, Ioannina Agricultural Poultry Cooperative PINDOS together with Dimitrios Vakamis, Quality Systems Agronomist, VELVITA and Dimitrios Tasioulas, COO // Director, General Agricultural Cooperative of Ioannina “Association of Farmers.”

Exploring how long-standing partnerships like Pindos in Greece can inspire modern collaborative models, combining heritage, local knowledge, and innovative practices to tackle today’s societal and technological challenges.

Scale-up Greece invites you to a founder-first conversation with Thanasis Navrozoglou, President & CEO of Natech Banking Solutions and Vice Chairman of Snappi. Joining the discussion will be Dimitris Tsingos, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Scale-up Greece, as well as Daniel Isenberg, Harvard professor and internationally recognized authority on scale-up ecosystems.

They will explore Natech’s journey from a regional fintech in Ioannina to a European banking-technology provider supporting banks and neobanks with modern, flexible core banking platforms, cloud-native architecture, and AI-powered solutions. The discussion will also highlight the role of strategic partnerships, the meaningful integration of artificial intelligence, and what it takes to build a resilient and globally competitive company.

Spyros Bounas, Founder of Epirus DAO & Blockchain Community Builder on a one-to-one with Vasilis Pazopoulos, Co-founder and CEO of MyStage.ai

Blockchain is emerging as one of the most important infrastructures of the new digital economy. Beyond digital assets and financial applications, it is opening new possibilities in decentralized communities, identity, data ownership, governance, and even artificial intelligence. In this talk we explore the core principles of blockchain technology, the most impactful real-world use cases, and the opportunities it creates for builders, entrepreneurs, and citizens. Through practical examples, we will examine how blockchain can reshape the way value is created, shared, and owned on the internet, and why it is becoming a foundational layer for the next generation of the global digital economy.

Athanasios Stavrakoudis, Associate Professor, Applied Informatics and Computational Economics Lab, Department of Economics, University of Ioannina with Petros Stefaneas, Professor National Technical University of Athens, Scientific Coordinator Glossapi – GFOSS. Panel moderated by Theodoros G. Karounos, Member of the Board of Directors Open Technologies Alliance (GFOSS).

In 30 minutes, this panel explores how AI and agents will transform public services in Greece over the next 3–5 years. How will decision-making evolve when data is continuously collected and algorithmically processed? What new challenges emerge around security, privacy, and accountability? And how will AI reshape health, education, work, and the economy? A concise yet critical discussion on the strategic choices that will define the next generation of the digital state.

Strergios Anastasiadis, Cofounder of Polytropo Systems and Professor at the University of Ioannina together with Georgios Chalkidis, Co-Founder, Sinqlo UI/UX Designer & Typography Explorer, Christos Georgiadis, Founder & CEO at Shipper and Charalampos Tzanidis, Founder & CEO, SCILEND.

Moderated by Maria Sarantopoulou, Deputy Director of Communications and Public Relations at the Hellenic Development Bank

Ioannina’s evolving startup scene is driving an innovation ecosystem, bringing together the university and research community, digital nomads, local institutions, and visionary young founders. Building on this momentum, institutions and development bodies are key to connecting start-ups with the market and the full spectrum of financial and non-financial support tools. What challenges do Epirus-based startups encounter, which funding mechanisms are available to them, and how can local ventures scale into sustainable, internationally competitive businesses?

On the panel “Speed, Scale & Trust: Building and Operating the Next Generation of Companies,” experienced technology and operations leaders share insights from building and scaling high-growth organizations. Moderated by George Nikolaropoulos (CTO, Natech), the panel features Aspa Lekka (Founder of JOKR and Fractional COO), Nikos Gaitanis (CTO, Snappi), and Gikas Selekos (Founder of DealiveryPlus). The discussion will cover scaling strategies, technology leadership, AI adoption, organizational design, and the critical role of trust in building resilient, future-ready companies.

This presentation explores Agentic AI, the next evolution of artificial intelligence where autonomous AI agents move beyond content generation to independently plan and execute complex, multi-step workflows. We examine how organizations are transforming operations by integrating these agents into core functions like HR and supply chain. IBM leads by example as ‘Client Zero,’ utilizing its own operations to battle-test technologies like AskHR. This internal transformation has turned AI potential into a $4.5 billion productivity reality, proving the value of the platform before it reaches the market. IBM’s journey provides a proven blueprint for scaling AI with a focus on governance, trust, and measurable business value.

Dimitris Tsaknakis, Director, Tech Consulting, PwC Greece with Tassos Koutlas, CTO, Dropsolid AI & Co-founder of Non-Profit Innovation and Digital Economy Hub

This session examines the integration of Artificial Intelligence within modern enterprises through the lens of PwC’s strategic framework, prioritizing data, governance, and process. Despite widespread digital immaturity, the discussion highlights pathways for accelerated implementation across key sectors, including Food & Beverage supply chains, Tourism, and Retail customer experience. Furthermore, the analysis addresses the evolving workforce landscape, evaluating whether AI agents will replace human roles or augment professional capabilities.

Caroline V. Rudzinska, Futurist together with Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, Head, UNESCO Chair on Futures Research, FORTH | President, MOMus

Everyone talks about the future. Few let it shape decisions. In this candid firechat, Professor Caroline V. Rudzinski, former foresight team member at Volkswagen, pulls back the curtain on what really happens when foresight enters the boardroom. Does it genuinely influence billion-euro investments – or does it become an elegant presentation no one acts on?

Why do executives resist long-term thinking? Why is foresight so often applied selectively , in innovation units, strategy offsites, or crisis moments , rather than embedded structurally into capital allocation, portfolio management, and governance processes?

The uncomfortable reality: Foresight often fails not because of weak methods, but because of organizational power structures. Long-term scenarios challenge incentive systems built on quarterly KPIs. They question dominant business models. They create strategic ambiguity in environments that reward short-term certainty. 

A bold conversation about power, politics, and whether organizations are truly ready to be challenged by the futures they claim to explore.

In the long term, a region will only become more prosperous if it achieves technological breakthroughs that lead to the creation of higher-value products, resulting in more exports and growth. We will discuss how a research cluster can increase the likelihood of a technological breakthrough succeeding in a region. And we will talk about what else is needed to turn promising start-ups in that region into high-growth firms.

Follow up discussion with Caroline V. Rudzinska, Futurist