Catalyze September 22
With Ideagen's extensive member network and influential platform, Catalyze Magazine serves as an aggregate for all the content, events, articles, and collaboration that we do. It is a monthly magazine where you will find transcriptions from Ideagen events, content, articles, and information surrounding how we are completing our mission. With this magazine, we want to highlight the nature of cross-sector collaboration and how we infuse it into our daily mission on a global scale. This edition of Catalyze Magazines highlights the Global Impact Summit in Athens Greece. The first part of each article in this edition of Catalyze Magazine is available, please sign up at Ideagenmember.com to continue reading and stay up to date with our monthly releases.
With Ideagen's extensive member network and influential platform, Catalyze Magazine serves as an aggregate for all the content, events, articles, and collaboration that we do. It is a monthly magazine where you will find transcriptions from Ideagen events, content, articles, and information surrounding how we are completing our mission. With this magazine, we want to highlight the nature of cross-sector collaboration and how we infuse it into our daily mission on a global scale. This edition of Catalyze Magazines highlights the Global Impact Summit in Athens Greece. The first part of each article in this edition of Catalyze Magazine is available, please sign up at Ideagenmember.com to continue reading and stay up to date with our monthly releases.
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CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
Global<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Panagiotis Zikos<br />
CEO & Managing Director, Otis Greece and Cyprus
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Alex Costopoulos<br />
Secretary General, AMCHAM Greece<br />
Founder & CEO, FORESIGHT
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Amb. Ioannis Vrailas<br />
Permanent Representative of Greece to the EU
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Yanna Darilis<br />
Media Executive & On-Air Talent
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Amb. Angelos Pangratis (ret.)<br />
Former EU Ambassador
Bill Ritcey-Donohue<br />
Vice President of National Security,<br />
Govini<br />
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Edition
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Maria Loi<br />
Chef & Founder, Loi Brand
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
Global<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Tilemachos Moraitis<br />
Government & Corporate Affairs<br />
Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Baltics and<br />
Ukraine, Microsoft
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Katerina Stathopoulou<br />
Governor, The International<br />
Propeller Club Port of Piraeus
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
Global<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Konstantinos Michanetzis<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Sylipsis Corporation
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
PLUS<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Christos Stamatis<br />
CEO, Stevia Hellas Cooperative
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Nicolaos Theodossiou<br />
Chair of SDSN Black Sea
CATALYZE.<br />
B Y I D E A G E N <strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Featuring<br />
Highlights from<br />
Ideagen's Global<br />
Impact Summit in<br />
Athens, Greece<br />
<br />
PLUS<br />
Global<br />
Impact<br />
AARP<br />
Presents: The<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Honorees<br />
Summit<br />
Edition<br />
Vice Admiral Vasilios Martzoukos<br />
Vice President of ELISME
IMPACTS OF<br />
DATA DRIVEN<br />
SOLUTIONS<br />
EXPLIANED<br />
BILL RITCEY-DONOHUE<br />
VICE PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL<br />
SECURITY, GOVINI<br />
George Sifakis:<br />
What, and how does data science and the optimization of it help to solve critical issues across<br />
society?<br />
Bill Ritcey- Donohue:<br />
Well, thank you very much, George. I have to say being here in [Greece] the cradle of Western<br />
civilization is humbling. And to be asked that question of how do you make decisions? Well, the<br />
Greeks have been trying to philosophize that for thousands of years. So first of all, I would say, it's<br />
already been mentioned several times, but we take a little bit of a different approach. I like to<br />
think, what you measure you can manage and make decisions on. We say, in God we trust, all<br />
others, bring your data.<br />
So what we try to do is take the objective, the goal, the outcome that is trying to be decided, and<br />
get clean data. So, the fact of the matter is we are overwhelmed with data. You can go on in your<br />
pocket right now and have more data than we've ever had in history in just your little hand, what<br />
do you do with the data? How do you make it relevant to what you are trying to decide, and then<br />
give yourselves an iterative approach to it? You're never going to be right the first time. With data<br />
it’s not a game show. If you get the right answer, it's improving, it's getting better, then It's<br />
measuring that improvement. We call it in the military an OODA loop- Observe, Orient, Decide, and<br />
Act. So understand where you are, orient to what your goal is, decide, act, and then do it again and<br />
repeat. The quicker you can do that, and the more agile you are, as we learned in the last panel, the<br />
better you'll get. And when you keep measuring that and sharing that with others so they can do<br />
the same thing we start to see a chain reaction of improvements being made.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 1
ESTABLISHING<br />
AN SDG<br />
OBSERVATORY<br />
GRIGORIS ZAROTIADIS:<br />
DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND<br />
POLITICAL SCIENCES, ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY<br />
The SDSN is the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of the United Nations,<br />
which is responsible for the worldwide promotion of the SDGs and the way they are<br />
organized. It is organized in national and regional chapters in nodes. One of these<br />
chapters, which is responsible for the whole Black Sea region, is located at Aristotle<br />
University. This chapter reveals the importance of Greece and FAI having such an<br />
important and prestigious contributing initiative hosted in FAI. In the frame of SDSN and<br />
the Black Sea, one of the activities that we realized is of great importance is the study<br />
conducted on the feasibility of creating an observatory for SDGs in the Black Sea. This<br />
was done with the support of the Black Sea economic cooperation and funding from BIS.<br />
Now, let me say just a few words about the idea we have on the content, goals, and<br />
activities that can be realized with an observatory in the Black Sea. First of all, to have a<br />
successful implementation of the SDGs in the time span the whole world community<br />
has defined in 2015, we need to have continuous observation, and reporting on the<br />
progress we are making in different areas of the world. And this is the main activity that<br />
will be realized in the frame of a Black Sea Observatory. The Observatory is important for<br />
the realization of the SDGs in terms of socioeconomic aspects, but also in terms of<br />
environmental aspects. Besides the main activity of the observatory, which will be<br />
reporting SDG Progress there are two other additional activities that are very important.<br />
One is the awareness raising and the realization of specifically focused seminars and<br />
workshops for staff in both the public and private stakeholders from the region to<br />
strengthen their ability to contribute to the SDGs. The third activity, which is also very<br />
important based on the reports and the studies we have done; is we want to create a<br />
consulting service provided not only for the public but also for the private sector. Let me<br />
give you an example of what it could mean. For instance, the observatory could support<br />
private and public entities in raising funds to support the SDGs. So, at Aristotle University<br />
we are in an effort right now to mobilize the necessary funding and support to start this<br />
great Observatory.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 3
20<strong>22</strong> Winners<br />
Purpose Prize<br />
Learn More<br />
Bill Bracken<br />
You live. You learn. You give back.<br />
<br />
No one knows this better than people ages 50<br />
and older, who have spent decades<br />
accumulating a wealth of knowledge that only<br />
life experience can bring. Armed with this<br />
wisdom, they are a powerhouse of innovation<br />
tackling some of the greatest societal<br />
challenges of our time and inspiring others to<br />
do the same.<br />
<br />
The AARP® Purpose Prize® award supports<br />
AARP's mission by honoring extraordinary<br />
people ages 50 and older who tap into the<br />
power of life experience to build a better<br />
future for us all.<br />
<br />
“AARP is honored to celebrate these<br />
extraordinary older adults, who have<br />
dedicated their lives to serving others in<br />
creative and innovative ways,” said AARP CEO<br />
Jo Ann Jenkins. “During these trying times in<br />
our country and globally, we are inspired to<br />
see people use their life experiences to build a<br />
better future for us all.”<br />
Ify Nwabuku<br />
Raymond Jetson<br />
Rita Zimmer<br />
Alan Miller<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 4
Health For A Better World<br />
Dr. Rod<br />
Hochman,<br />
President of<br />
Providence
GREECE'S BLUE<br />
ECONOMY TAPS<br />
INTO OTHER<br />
EMERGING<br />
SECTORS<br />
D R . M A R Y P A P A S C H I N O P O U L O U<br />
C O R P O R A T E D I P L O M A T , A U T H O R ,<br />
L E C T U R E R , F A C I L I T A T O R<br />
I certainly won’t bore our audience with statistics, but I think that it's important to mention certain<br />
numbers because as Patra said, what we cannot measure, is what we do not know. So I'm very<br />
grateful to talk actually, about how Greece is faring worldwide and on an EU level. And this has to<br />
do with the blue economy. So just for all of us to remember Greece belongs among the big five in<br />
the European Union when it comes down to the gross percentage of added value and the blue<br />
economy. And it's among the big three when it comes down to employment, related to the blue<br />
economy. So I think that these two parameters show us very clearly where we stand with 350,000<br />
jobs that are related to the blue economy and a percentage of 5%, of GDP related to blue growth,<br />
perhaps for you to get, a comparison. I was looking at US figures and the US ocean economy has 2.3<br />
million jobs related to the ocean economy and just about 2% of the US’s GDP is linked to the blue<br />
economy. So if you just compare and you understand what we're comparing, you will see how<br />
significant the blue economy is for us now. It is not just that we have certain sectors that are<br />
dominating the Greek economy and it is, first of all, coastal tourism which again, for us is a big issue.<br />
And then we have, of course, maritime transport. I don't have to tell anybody that with 20% of the<br />
global fleet, that we, Greece, are the global leader in shipping. Then as a third sector dominating<br />
the great blue economy, we have the so-called living resources. If you have a look at the numbers<br />
again, you will see that there is quite an imbalance there. So it's about 75% of the jobs that are<br />
hanging together with coastal tourism, and about 15 to 16% to maritime transport and the rest, to<br />
living resources. So, this is a strength, but it's also a kind of a challenge for the future. We should<br />
definitely look towards a Greek economy that is more orientated toward emerging sectors.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 10
The New Dynamics<br />
of The European<br />
Green Deal<br />
IOANNIS VRAILAS<br />
DEPUTY HEAD OF THE EU DELEGATION TO THE<br />
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK<br />
Amb. Ioannis Vrailas:<br />
One flagship project that I want to particularly emphasize is the European<br />
Green deal. It's a radical transformation of our economies and energy mix.<br />
It's a combination of policies aiming at tackling climate change by<br />
ensuring that this transition will be fair and just, leaving no one behind.<br />
The member states of the EU the council agreed recently to fit 55<br />
legislative packages. I don't want to bore you with all the various<br />
institutions that come into play in the decision-making in Brussels, but we<br />
hope that we can reach a final agreement with the European Parliament<br />
before 2023. This European Green Deal has several dealings. The first one<br />
is of course the environmental dimension and the need for urgent action.<br />
The Paris agreement and the SDGs have set the guiding framework at the<br />
global level. NDU has undertaken a leading role in this effort by first<br />
declaring its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, it is true that we<br />
account for a small part of the global emissions, but we hope that the<br />
ambitious standards that we have set for ourselves will act as a normative<br />
power will lead by example, especially with regard to the United States<br />
and to China. The second one is the geopolitical aspect and the external<br />
dimension of climate action. The green deal influences the used political<br />
and trade relations in its neighborhood, but also beyond dependence on<br />
fossil fuels which affects long stand dynamics with traditional gas and oil<br />
suppliers.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 11
The New Dynamics of<br />
The European Green<br />
Deal continued...<br />
Amb. Ioannis Vrailas:<br />
The recent Russian aggression in Ukraine has only accelerated the<br />
process that was already on track with the EU now aiming at eradicating<br />
its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, as soon as possible through its<br />
ambitious Repair EU plan. We also have new trade instruments such as<br />
the carbon adjustment border mechanism, which will reshape trade<br />
dynamics with the countries. It's definitely an issue that requires special<br />
attention in order to avoid carbon leakage. And of course, there's a<br />
possibility of cooperation of cooperating with several countries in our<br />
region, not least in the Middle East and North Africa and Greece. Greece<br />
because of its geographic location is extremely well placed to, and in fact,<br />
it's already playing an important role with several interesting projects,<br />
well underway. The third reading of this dimension of societal<br />
acceptance, which is key to the success of our endeavor and the pathway<br />
towards net zero emissions will require hard work and will inevitably put<br />
pressure on vulnerable citizens and regions in transition.<br />
The ongoing energy crisis coming on top of the recent COVID D 19<br />
pandemic has also demonstrated that there's discrepancies between the<br />
member states in that every EU member state has a different starting<br />
point in terms of the mix as well as the GDP. So, what we're trying to do in<br />
the EU is to agree on an effective collective response that will mitigate the<br />
impact of a problem affecting the level playing field of the single market.<br />
These are drawbacks that exist. We're aware of them. They will be<br />
recurrent in the future. We hope we'll do everything we can so that they<br />
do not derail the whole effort. Only teamwork and collective action are<br />
the answer to the problem.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 11
IDEAGEN GLOBAL IMPACT SUMMIT<br />
Streaming <strong>September</strong> 8th on Ideagen TV<br />
Ideagen Global "Presented Globally by Microsoft"<br />
and in collaboration with ACS Athens and<br />
ALLILON.net and supported by the American Hellenic<br />
Institute is pleased to present the Ideagen Global<br />
Impact Summit in Athens, Greece with this global<br />
forum for audiences across the planet.<br />
This summit highlights the importance of creating a<br />
sustainable future from both a personal perspective<br />
and a societal one through impactful leaders in your<br />
community. Broadcasting on the Ideagen TV Network,<br />
including Ideagen Radio and <strong>Catalyze</strong> Magazine.<br />
In Collaboration with:<br />
Presented Globally by<br />
Microsoft<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 13
HOLISTIC EDUCATION, IN A TECHNOLOGICAL<br />
WORLD<br />
P E G G Y P E L O N I S : P R E S I D E N T , A C S<br />
A T H E N S<br />
It takes holistic education, educating the mind,<br />
the body, and the soul. And what do I mean by<br />
that? It's really important today, and as we<br />
talked about earlier, that change is happening<br />
at a very rapid pace. Technology is advancing<br />
quickly, and artificial intelligence is entering<br />
our lives. Change is a constant in our lives. We<br />
were called on to respond to change just<br />
recently with COVID. The children in the world<br />
looked to the adults for the answers, and the<br />
adults had no answers. The adults looked to<br />
the authorities for the answers, and the<br />
authorities had no answers because this<br />
change took us by surprise. Change is going to<br />
continue, and it's happening on multiple levels<br />
continuously.<br />
What's happening in the world of education is the global economy is creating higher<br />
levels of competition. Requiring higher levels of expertise, requiring people who know<br />
themselves better, who understand the world better, who are able to manage<br />
themselves, be self-directed, be more independent and knowledgeable at the same<br />
time. This means that we have to train young people at a higher level of mental<br />
complexity earlier. Of course, this places a lot of psychological stress on students, but<br />
people are very resilient, and young people are very resilient.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 14
HOLISTIC EDUCATION, IN A<br />
TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD,<br />
CONTINUED...<br />
We want to be able to teach them not only to respond and cope with change, as we<br />
did with the pandemic. We want to teach them to be able to navigate change and<br />
most importantly, to shape change, to initiate change so that we don't, and they don't<br />
become victims of change. How do we do this? First of all, of course, academics are<br />
very important. Not just math, not just science, not just technology, but the classics.<br />
Philosophy, literature, music, and art, these are things that teach us how to think<br />
critically. We need to know how to synthesize information. We need to know how to<br />
make decisions about things, and we need to make decisions through an ethical lens<br />
if we have any hope of improving life and living on the planet. So when we talk about<br />
educating kids holistically, we talk about providing the skills and the knowledge so<br />
that they can succeed in a very competitive world, but we're also talking about<br />
creating conscious, responsible citizens. People who will take that knowledge and skill<br />
and turn it into action in the world. That means being able to cultivate compassion,<br />
being able to cultivate psychological muscle, so that they can turn all of these things<br />
into positive action to improve life and living on the planet.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 14
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 15<br />
THE NEW<br />
CURRENCY OF<br />
THE FUTURE<br />
Konstantinos Michanetzis:<br />
Founder at Sylipsis<br />
Corporation<br />
Now skills are the new currency of the<br />
future, and it's the expression of the<br />
industry to try and cope with the fastchanging<br />
things that happen in<br />
education. Education and skills are<br />
two things that come together but<br />
also contradict a little bit. Skills are<br />
against the traditional educational<br />
systems we have seen, and they<br />
expressed the need for the industry to<br />
bring more and more at a faster pace.<br />
That's why now we are speaking about degrees and skills, and even Google announced a<br />
few months ago that they will be hiring people without degrees based on skills. The<br />
reason they do this is not because they don't like degrees, but because they are trying to<br />
cover the high demand for skills in the marketplace that the pace of universities cannot.<br />
We are in this era now where people will need to upscale all the time, and this will<br />
become even more demanding as efficient/artificial intelligence comes in and it'll start<br />
taking jobs from our people. We will need to switch careers and switch skills to move in<br />
another direction. So, yes, right now, we have marketplaces for skills.
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 21<br />
THE NEW CURRENCY OF THE FUTURE,<br />
CONTINUED...<br />
These were available for many years before the pandemic appeared, but they mostly<br />
focused on specific industries. The IT industry and the digital art industry were mostly<br />
utilizing this in marketplaces, then the pandemic happened, and this was a huge<br />
shift. Companies had to change the way they work. They had to work with remote<br />
workers, they had to learn tools, and they had to learn how to manage remote<br />
workers. This is a big difference. It's not about learning the tools, having tools, or<br />
having infrastructure. What changed with the pandemic is the understanding of<br />
management. Companies felt safe. Now they can outsource production to people<br />
remotely, and they can do the job equally as well as they used to do, some even<br />
better than before having teams in offices. They could reduce facilities and expenses,<br />
workers were happier because they were not commuting, and they could work from<br />
home. And this changed the whole concept. Now that we have this idea that we<br />
understand how to manage remote teams globally, a great door has opened.<br />
Now, a great door opens and companies can start outsourcing not only digital skills.<br />
We see a new marketplace appearing in the in the industry. And before we had only<br />
marketplaces, for it and digital arts. Now we see marketplaces for legal services. We<br />
see marketplaces for dental, for medical services, or we see marketplaces for<br />
shipping services. And it's not only about our sourcing, but getting access to skills.<br />
And this is I think, where it's going, how skills are going to change the way we<br />
operate as businesses and as individuals.
Global Leader Academy<br />
P R E S E N T E D B Y I D E A G E N<br />
I D<br />
E A G<br />
E N G<br />
L O B A<br />
L . C O M<br />
P R E S E N T E D G L O B A L L Y B Y<br />
M I C R O S O F T
MAKING TECHNOLOGY<br />
SCALABLE<br />
TILEMACHOS MORAITIS:<br />
GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS MANAGER AT MICROSOFT<br />
GREECE, CYPRUS, MALTA, BALTICS & UKRAINE<br />
If you ask the ministry of digital transformation in Ukraine, "What was the key point that<br />
turned the wave around in Ukraine and allowed them to confront attacks from Russia,<br />
not only the kinetic attacks but also the immense cyber attacks." That was the point<br />
that they understood, and they turned to big tech companies such as Microsoft and<br />
were able to deploy very modern tools to continue their operations. One month into the<br />
war, I was receiving emails because, in my role, I cover Ukraine. I was receiving emails<br />
asking me, "What is the status of the Ukrainian government? Are they operational?" And<br />
yes, they were. Until now, they have managed to be operational because they use the<br />
modern digital tools available to continue their work. Of course, they also used these<br />
tools to confront immense cyber attacks from Russia. These were unprecedented times<br />
in terms of cyber security. Now, I would like to turn this discussion to a more normal<br />
environment and context, because in Ukraine, there's a war, and it's a bit extreme.<br />
There's also the aspect of business and what businesses are doing in terms of<br />
confronting these challenges. And again, I would say that digital technology here offers<br />
the best solutions. And why is that? Because in a world that we live in where various<br />
resources are becoming more scarce, technology is the only solution that can scale up.<br />
You can work longer, and you can work harder, but there is a ceiling on that. Technology<br />
is the best scalable solution, and I would like to give you examples of what Microsoft is<br />
doing to confront the affirmation challenges. I would like to focus on what we're doing<br />
to prevent the climate crisis, the environmental crisis. We work on two levels in that<br />
front, first internally, where we announced very ambitious goals to become zero waste,<br />
carbon negative, and water positive by 2030. Even more by 2050, Microsoft is aiming to<br />
remove all historic emissions that have been produced since day one of our operations.<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 18
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 19<br />
MAKING TECHNOLOGY<br />
SCALABLE, CONTINUED...<br />
Tilemachos Moraitis:<br />
You can understand how important that is.<br />
Another example, we recently announced<br />
that our data center in Sweden is operating<br />
and running on 100% renewable energy. We<br />
are producing zero waste by either recycling<br />
or repurposing materials removed from our<br />
infrastructure. Now on an external level,<br />
what we do is provide the tools to<br />
organizations and people that have<br />
embarked or are continuing their<br />
sustainability journey to have success on it.<br />
We think that the most important aspect in<br />
this, and I would also refer to the quote from<br />
Dr. Papaschinopoulou who said that you<br />
cannot measure what you don't know. It's<br />
exactly what the digital tools are providing;<br />
knowledge data about what we are doing<br />
ILEMACHOS MORAITIS:<br />
GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE<br />
AFFAIRS MANAGER AT MICROSOFT<br />
GREECE, CYPRUS, MALTA, BALTICS &<br />
UKRAINE<br />
<br />
and what the measures we are taking result<br />
in, so that we improve our actions in<br />
tackling these problems. In closing, I would<br />
say that overall digital technology is not<br />
about only business growth. It's about<br />
preserving and protecting fundamental<br />
human rights and needs.
THE FUNDAMENTALS<br />
OF RE-SKILLING<br />
ALEX COSTOPOULOS:<br />
OWNER, FORESIGHT STRATEGY &<br />
COMMUNICATIONS;<br />
We have to find a way to work together. To<br />
collectively synthesize and regenerate the<br />
discussion. I agree we have to think from the<br />
beginning about all the things that we think<br />
we know. We are talking about re-skilling,<br />
and yet we, although it sounds tremendously<br />
arrogant and please don't take it that way;<br />
acting as leaders in certain fields, we need to<br />
be re-skilled and rethink how we are working<br />
together.<br />
I think the media is doing a large job, but the media is us. The narrative that we<br />
create, it's what goes to the media. The media asks us about things, and I think most<br />
of the time. We stick to buzzwords. We stick to what's easy. We stick to what won't<br />
create problems with our friends, whether in politics or business or what will keep us<br />
safe. But it's a period, in my opinion, that is not about keeping us safe but about<br />
making sure that it will be safer for our kids to pursue their dreams; to find what they<br />
love. I'm sure if we ask a hundred students whether they think their CV is more<br />
important than falling in love, they will tell you the CV, but it's that idea of being able<br />
to fall in love, to live your life, to find what you wanna spend your life doing every day.<br />
I think it's those fundamentals that we need to go back to; to work together. This is<br />
how the media or the broader communications industry will portray our stories, and<br />
maybe we can change something<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 20
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 19<br />
GREECE'S GREAT HIGHWAY<br />
GREEK VICE ADMIRAL VASILIOS<br />
MARTZOUKOS<br />
We should approach the sea as a great highway<br />
where travel and traffic are much easier and<br />
cheaper than by land. When we are talking about<br />
a sea power, we are talking about a force<br />
multiplier directly connected to wealth, wellbeing,<br />
opportunities, progress, influence, middle<br />
class, and democracy; all these things are directly<br />
connected. Historically, it's not possible for a<br />
maritime power to have, for a long time at least, a<br />
dictatorship.<br />
It's impossible because the internal society is organized in such a way that makes it<br />
impossible to happen. Now Thucydides, or Thoukydídis in Greek, has very much<br />
analytically described the benefits of being a state maritime power. Admiral Alfred<br />
Thayer Mahan, the most important American strategist of the 19th century, set the<br />
necessary conditions for a state to turn into a maritime power. The state has, has to<br />
have access to critical sea roots. Second is to have a coastline, which must be suitable<br />
for literal activities. It must have a defensible harbor linked to the interior. A proper<br />
national character of each people and mainly people who tend to trade, and last but not<br />
least, a governmental attitude and process that affects the outlook of that state as a<br />
Naval power abroad. So Greece satisfies all these criteria, this is why it has a long<br />
tradition as a maritime power, and all the statistics today agree that Greece continues<br />
to be a great maritime power.
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 19<br />
GREECE'S GREAT HIGHWAY<br />
CONTINUED...<br />
What is needed now is a holistic maritime vision and policy in order to maximize these<br />
benefits. This kind of vision would see Greece as a maritime economic center of the<br />
Eastern Mediterranean, a transportation and energy hub, a sustaining and further<br />
improving shipping, leisure and tourism 12 months per year, fishing and fisheries,<br />
strategic development, improving maritime services, exploiting undersea<br />
hydrocarbons, and develop renewable energy. So, in conclusion, I would say that a<br />
maritime strategy should focus on six main sectors. First is transport, which is shipping,<br />
domestic navigation, ports, terminals, and shipbuilding. Services, which are brokers,<br />
agents, bankers, inspections, financing, insurance, pilots, maritime law rescue, and ship<br />
supply. Third is resource exploitation, fishing, hydrocarbons, etc. The public sector,<br />
which includes the Navy, Coast Guard, training, education, governance, hydrographic<br />
institutions, etc. Leisure and tourism, meaning cruising, leisure activities, yachting, and<br />
marinas. And last is research, oceanography and oceanology institutes, maritime<br />
academies, etc. So besides all these formation benefits, we could additionally have<br />
more benefits like keeping and increasing the populations on the Greek islands. That is<br />
very important. Also, this kind of maritime strategy will limit the Turkish expansion<br />
policy. More Greeks will occupy maritime professions, and last but not least young<br />
Greeks, scientists, and technicians will not flee abroad since they will have jobs here.<br />
Thank you.
I D E A G E N ' S P O W E R 1 0 L I S T<br />
10 global leaders who are Changing the World in 20<strong>22</strong><br />
Mark Fitzgerald<br />
KPMG<br />
Barb Quaintance<br />
AARP<br />
Steve Israel<br />
Michael Best<br />
Strategies<br />
Dr. Sidhant Gupta<br />
Microsoft<br />
Tomas Thyblad<br />
Nasdaq<br />
Microsoft<br />
Ashley Haynes-Gaspar<br />
Peggy Pelonis<br />
ACS Athens<br />
Jake Herway<br />
Gallup<br />
BJ Moore<br />
Providence<br />
Nick Larigakis<br />
American Hellenic<br />
Institute<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 23
Editor's Note<br />
Dear Ideagen Global Friends and Colleagues,<br />
On <strong>September</strong> 8, 20<strong>22</strong> Ideagen TV released the Ideagen Global Impact<br />
Summit. We are also preparing for an #Epic 17 Days of Sustainability<br />
in October as Ideagen Global continues to maximize our efforts with a<br />
relentless commitment to convene the world's greatest minds from the<br />
world's leading companies, NGOs, and the public sector to address the<br />
world's most vexing issues. In 20<strong>22</strong>, Ideagen TV content will again<br />
reach over 100 Million People across the planet with our ubiquitous<br />
content distribution, including inspiring interviews and custom<br />
programming to create awareness and Global Partnerships to Achieve<br />
the Goals.<br />
20<strong>22</strong> is already an incredibly impactful year with high-impact<br />
hybrid/live events across the planet, including Athens, Greece, New<br />
York, and many other global destinations! Join the movement at<br />
IdeagenGlobal.com for all of the latest updates.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
GEORGE SIFAKIS<br />
GEORGE SIFAKIS<br />
Editor-in-Chief & CEO<br />
Ideagen Global<br />
CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 24<br />
COOPER HENDERSON<br />
Lead Publication Editor<br />
DANIEL KERNS<br />
Co-Editor and Chief of Staff<br />
WILL MARTIN<br />
Co-Editor and Senior Fellow<br />
Pictured Top to Bottom<br />
Microsoft's Tilemachos Moraitis<br />
ACS Athens's Peggy Pelonis<br />
Amb. Angelos Pangratis (ret.)<br />
Top Left: Ideagen's Global Impact Summit