Exceptional Skills
Still, as things stand today, Greece has the largest rate of over-
skilled workers across the economies participating in the May 2019
OECD report Skills Strategy. Yet it ranks within the lower 20% of the
spectrum in terms of matching these skills with the labour market.
“The country’s workforce consists of great minds and exceptionally
skilled people,” says Vangelis Morfis, Director of Marketing and
Operations at Microsoft Hellas, Cyprus, and Malta.
“Athens has the same density of developers as London, while Greece is amongst the top European countries with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
diploma holders, at 25%, when the average rate for the OECD is 22%,” adds Morfis.
Country observers also point to a valuable research community at
home-grown universities and institutes, whose members boast
several publications and citations under their belt. They point out,
though, the still-nascent synergies matching research and skills to
the labour market.
“What is missing is a strong bridge from academia to industry, that
is adapting education and research to product and services
development based on real-world needs,” says Michail Bletsas,
research scientist and the Director of Computing at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Media Lab.
“This does happen in larger companies that invest in human capital
development, but it is not common in smaller enterprises – the bulk
of the Greek economy,” he adds.
And he should know. Originally from Crete, Bletsas left Greece for
the U.S. to do his postgraduate studies in 1990, and later while
researching at MIT’s Media Lab he became one of the main creators
of the so-called $100 laptop – the One Laptop Per Child’s award-
winning XO laptop, alongside MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas
Negroponte.
Bletsas has also pioneered the implementation of broadband access networks using cutting-edge technologies – including one of the earliest Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) testbeds and various wireless technologies – which he tested on the Greek island of Patmos.
He has also mentored a lot of Greeks students as well as start-up entrepreneurs over the last two decades, in addition to advising industry and government leaders on tech issues.
Bletsas’ MIT colleague and fellow Greek, Constantinos Daskalakis, who has been dubbed one of the world’s smartest people after solving the Nash equilibrium, is also taking important initiatives on this front; he has announced plans to set up a privately funded research centre in Greece in an effort to reverse the brain drain.
A 2017 survey conducted by Endeavor Greece – along with the Athens University of Economics and Business and EY Greece – of students, professors, and other stakeholders in higher education, found a pronounced “mismatch between the country’s competitive advantages, the market needs, and the educational system.”
It called for a reskilling to match these elements better as well as boosting internships and company placements. It also prodded companies to take more initiatives to train employees themselves, link with universities, and to improve their focus on growth initiatives.