By Petros Stefanis

 

 

Greece needs to achieve higher growth rates in the sector of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to converge with the European Union average within five years.

 

According to a Deloitte study entitled “The prospects of the ICT sector in Greece,” which was presented at the conference of the Federation of Hellenic ICT Enterprises (SEPE), the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ICT stood at 6.17% over the past six years, with the real value of the sector expected to reach 7.750 billion euros this year from 5.804 billion euros in 2019, contributing 3.9% to the country’s GDP in 2024 from 3.5% in 2023.

 

In the EU, the ICT sector contributes an average of 5.5% to GDP, meaning Greece must acquire a value of 12.5 billion euros in 2029, that is, “run” at an average rate of 10.03%.

 

If it maintains the same rate of 6.17%, the value of the sector will be 10.4 billion or 4.6% of GDP.

 

In the last five years, the sector has been growing at a rate four times higher than the rest of the economy (CAGR of 1.65% for the Greek economy 2019 – 2023), which also demonstrates that greater effort is needed for Greece to achieve convergence.

 

According to the findings of the study, companies in the sector, with an estimated turnover of 13.8 billion euros annually and more than 300,000 employees, contribute significantly to the country’s economic activity.

 

A typical example of the sector’s contribution is that the digitalization of public administration, through gov.gr and the Interoperability Center (KED), has been estimated to have yielded approximately 3 billion euros during the first five years of operation and approximately 2.5 billion euros in additional revenue due to the reduction of tax evasion.

 

Nikos Christodoulou, Partner, Technology & Transformation Leader of Deloitte, who presented the study, said that the ICT sector faces significant challenges, such as a lack of talent, inadequate infrastructure and regulatory restrictions. Only 2% of company executives (in a sample of 200 executives) consider that the existing digital infrastructures are sufficient, while 63% recognize that significant improvements are needed.

 

Four Initiatives

 

In addition, the study proposes four main initiatives for the future development of the sector:

 

1. Internationalization: Strengthening exports and creating international centers, such as data centers. Necessary measures are considered, such as the establishment of a platform for the promotion of the sector and the interconnection with foreign businesses, an annual international conference on ICT, and annual trade missions with an exclusive focus on ICT in co-organization with sectoral bodies.

 

2. Investment in Innovation: Supporting the development of innovative solutions for national needs, such as cybersecurity and defense. It is proposed to create a large-scale technology park focused on ICT science, operational within the next three years, adoption of innovation in Public Administration and a 0.2% increase in innovation spending per year in order to achieve the target of 3% in a 5-7 year period.

 

3. Human Resources: Addressing the need for 1,500 additional graduates per year, through the creation of 30 new postgraduate programs related to ICT, issuing 1,000 tech visas annually, aiming to import talent and know-how from abroad, and repatriating1,000 ICT specialists over five years.

 

4. Digital Economy: Introducing a 100% tax deduction for investments and training actions in selected cutting-edge technologies (e.g., cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence), ensuring full annual funding for maintaining and expanding Public Administration ICT systems and achieving 100% digitalization of all public services.