Dendias visits US for meetings with academics, tech officials

Defense Minister Nikos Dendias is visiting the US Wednesday and Thursday for meetings in Boston with academics and tech firm officials.

A Defense Ministry statement said Dendias was due Wednesday to attend the signing of a cooperation memorandum between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sea Grant Program and the Greek Center for Defense Innovation.

The statement said Dendias would also the creation of a new trauma center at a major military hospital in Athens, and would have meetings with US academics, members of research institutes and officials from tech companies involved in robotics, innovation, artificial intelligence, cyber-defense, cyber-security and space telecoms.

Greece’s military has recently shifted its focus to cutting-edge technology including drone production and defense systems in the wake of the war in Ukraine, as well as cyber-defense and dealing with hybrid attacks.

In an address to a conference on cyber-defense Wednesday, Dendias said the armed forces’ digital transformation is “a necessary condition” for the country’s security, but stressed the importance of the human factor.

“We know very well … that we are competing for the same specialized personnel as the private sector,” he said. “We must therefore offer them, in addition to acceptable salaries, the opportunity to serve in one of the most demanding modern operational fields.”