Being featured in the new issue of WIE Magazine Greece is more than a personal milestone. It is an opportunity to share a story about research, entrepreneurship, and impact—and about how a university idea can become a technology company with international ambitions.
In the interview, I discussed my journey from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) to the creation of SeriousMind, as well as my inclusion in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Greece list, presented by Forbes Greece and Capital.gr.
If I had to reduce the conversation to three beliefs, they would be these:
Academic research is essential for developing new ideas, testing hypotheses, and expanding knowledge. But a research result becomes even more valuable when it can address a real problem.
The path from a university laboratory to the market is rarely straightforward. Researchers and founders must understand users, validate needs, design products, build teams, develop partnerships, and create sustainable business models.
This is the challenge behind SeriousMind.
Our work translates academic research in artificial intelligence, psychology, psychometrics, and serious games into practical tools for personality assessment, HR, education, vocational guidance, and human development.
The objective is not simply to publish research about what technology might do.
It is to build technology that people and organisations can actually use.
At SeriousMind, we develop AI-powered serious games that transform interactive behaviour into structured insight.
Through digital escape rooms and game-based tasks, players are placed in situations that require them to explore, plan, solve problems, collaborate, make decisions, and respond to pressure.
These experiences can generate information about:
Products such as MindEscape, RealEscape, and NeuroEscape apply these principles in different contexts, including HR and recruitment, team development, education, and clinical research.
This is the practical side of our mission: connecting AI and serious games with everyday challenges faced by organisations and individuals.
Research papers are important. They establish methods, test models, and contribute to scientific progress.
But innovation requires another step.
A digital escape room can be studied as a research environment, but it can also become a product that helps an organisation understand teamwork. A behavioural model can remain in a publication, or it can support an assessment tool used in recruitment and employee development.
At SeriousMind, we are trying to connect both worlds.
Our aim is to preserve scientific quality while creating experiences that are engaging, understandable, and relevant. Assessment should not be limited to static forms and abstract scores. It can become a process in which individuals interact with challenges and organisations receive structured, evidence-informed insights.
Greece has talented researchers, engineers, founders, and creative professionals. The challenge is to create the conditions that allow ambitious ideas to remain in Greece while reaching international markets.
Building globally from Greece requires:
SeriousMind is part of this broader Greek deep-tech ecosystem. Our journey has been shaped by academic research at AUTH, entrepreneurial support, ecosystem partnerships, and a team committed to turning difficult ideas into practical products.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition brought additional visibility to that journey. It helped show that research-driven AI startups from Greece can be part of a global conversation about technology, human behaviour, and the future of work. The recognition of RealMINT and Georgios Liapis in the Forbes Greece 30 Under 30 2026 ecosystem confirms the growing visibility of Greek AI entrepreneurship.nbg+1
No deep-tech company is built by one person.
I am grateful to Professor Ioannis Vlahavas, Eleftherios Kouloubris, Pavlos Mavromatis, Dimitri Papaioannou, Konstantinos Milleounis, and Yiorgos Litos for their support, expertise, and belief in the work.
I am also grateful to the accelerators, programmes, and communities that have helped us develop:
These organisations help bridge the distance between research, entrepreneurship, and the market. They provide mentorship, feedback, visibility, connections, and the confidence to continue building.
The future of AI should not be measured only by the complexity of its models.
It should also be measured by the quality of the problems it solves and the people it helps.
At SeriousMind, our ambition is to create assessment and development tools that are engaging, responsible, and grounded in research. We want to help organisations make better decisions while helping individuals understand their strengths, behaviour, and potential.
That means treating technology as a means, not an end.
Research gives us knowledge. Entrepreneurship gives that knowledge direction. Impact is created when the two meet the needs of real people.
I am grateful to the WIE Magazine Greece team for the thoughtful interview and for creating space to discuss the connection between AI research, entrepreneurship, serious games, and social impact.
The conversation was a reminder that the journey from AUTH to SeriousMind is not only a personal story. It is also a story about what becomes possible when Greek research, talent, and entrepreneurial ambition are connected.
The question is not whether we can build global technology companies from Greece.
The question is whether we are willing to try.
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