Program to tempt back Greek scientists
The government is trying to woo back the highly skilled young people who left the country during the economic crisis, offering them incentives to return. The Labor Ministry has already drafted a pilot program aimed at the initial repatriation of 500 Greeks who are currently based abroad, in the context of the Rebrain Greece project.
On Monday Minister Yiannis Vroutsis presented the initiative, which is aimed at creating an attractive environment for bringing back Greeks aged between 25 and 40 with a high level of international scientific and professional experience (of at least one year) and with a postgraduate degree.
The program sets a minimum monthly salary of 3,000 euros, with the state subsidizing two-thirds of that (2,000 euros) for an entire year, and also obliges the company to keep the worker on for at least another year on at least the same salary. The enterprises that participate in Rebrain Greece’s “Greece Again” program will be acknowledged as pioneer-ambassadors of high corporate social responsibility.
“I am inviting enterprises to fill in the form so that the ministry can record the specializations that companies consider essential for the reorganization of the production model,” Vroutsis stated.
“Rebrain Greece – The Technological Transformation of the Labor Market” has been created and developed by the ministry’s General Directorate for Labor Relations under Konstantinos Agrapidas, with the contribution of notable officials from state entities, universities and research institutes. In the same context, the ministry is developing the Rebrain Greece CoLab platform, where a digital register of Greeks abroad will be created, incorporating the data from the requirements of Greek corporations.also
The project will also include the first field of action for smart policies in the labor market, with targeted policy actions that utilize the large data analysis technology and collective intelligence principles the world’s best universities have highlighted.
