Nanopoulos: Greece ‘may miss the IT revolution’

Greece risks missing out on progress in technology and innovation for political and educational reasons, Dimitri Nanopoulos, a distinguished professor of physics at Texas A&M University, has warned.

“In Greece we have not just missed out on the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the scientific and industrial revolutions, we are also about to miss the revolution in the field of the information and communication sciences,” Nanopoulos told an American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce event in Athens on Wednesday.

“It would be great if we somehow managed, without being familiar with what happened before, to proceed to new models developed today, as I fear we’ll miss this opportunity too, due to political beliefs, entanglements or an insufficient level of quality and knowledge by our authorities who have not realized the ongoing revolution around us,” the Greek professor said.

“At this rate, I believe we stand no chance of successfully becoming a modern state within Europe. Due to the brain drain, we have missed out on 450,000 new scientists in the last eight years. What material have we got to build with and move ahead?” he told the audience at the Smart Moves event. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel – a program of studies, a statement of purpose, the know-how, the university funding would show the way forward.”