HERON 1^ST Sponsors & Networking Event

With the mission and vision to initiate innovative collaborations with Industry as well as establish and mobilize the Hellenic Robotics Ecosystem, HERON hosted on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at Divani Caravel its 1^st Sponsors & Networking Event, a full-day event dedicated to its sponsors, supporters, and prospective partners. The event brought together companies from the fields of Robotics and AI with the founders of HERON, its research personnel, and key government representatives, aiming to foster open dialogue, interaction, and the promotion of critical applications for Greece.

Prof. Petros Maragos, HERON Director & Scientific Coordinator, gave an opening speech with an overview of the HERON Robotics Center of Excellence (CoE) and its goals for Research and Development. Greetings were delivered by

• Stavros Kalafatis, Deputy Minister of Development,
• Ioannis Emiris, President of the Athena Research Center and coordinator of the HERON project,
• Emmanouel Varvarigos Vice Rector at the National Technical University of Athens.

In his address, Deputy Minister of Development Stavros Kalafatis emphasized that this event is a great opportunity to exchange views, to foster collaborations and synergies, and to promote innovation in Robotics and AI. He added that HERON can serve as an innovation hub for Robotics in Greece and abroad and contribute to the development and competitiveness of Greece. The Greek state strongly encourages and supports the collaboration of HERON with the Greek industry aiming at the exploitation of HERON knowledge and results, while also contributing to the formulation of a National Strategy for Robotics.

The event, held as an open roundtable discussion, comprised four thematic panels aligned with HERON’s areas of activity:

• Healthcare Robotics moderated by Prof. Costas Tzafestas – HERON Executive Committee Member,
• Field & Space Robotics, moderated by Prof. Evangelos Papadopoulos – HERON Deputy Director,
• Marine & Maritime Robotics moderated by Dr. Gregory Yovanof – HERON Executive Manager,
• National Robotics Reforms moderated by Dr. Vasileia Filidou – Head of Strategy, Athena RC, and HERON Collaborator.

The panels included c-level executives from Greece’s robotics sector, as well as senior officials from the national authorities supporting HERON’s strategic vision. The participants per panel were as follows:

Panel Healthcare Robotics

• Yiannis Dionyssiotis, Head of the 2^nd PMR Dept., National Rehabilitation Center (EKA) Hospital, Assist. Professor, University of Patras,
• Angeliki Karava, Business Director, ISLE Academy (SofMedica Group),
• Konstantinos Konstantinidis, Thoracic Surgeon, 251 Hellenic Air Force General Hospital / Head of 1^st Thoracic Surgery Dept., Metropolitan General Hospital,
• Mathios Michelinakis, Artion Medical,
• Nikolaos Smyrnis, Chairman of 2^nd Psychiatry Dept., ATTIKON University General Hospital / Prof. of Psychiatry, NKUA.