Panathēnea is one of those events where ideas, innovation, and people genuinely come together. As the founder of SeriousMind and a PhD candidate in artificial intelligence, participating in Panathēnea meant entering a space where technology, startups, research, and entrepreneurship were part of the same conversation.
The 2026 Panathēnea Festival took place in Athens from May 27 to 29, bringing together founders, investors, researchers, artists, and technology leaders. With more than 10,000 participants, the event created a dynamic environment for networking, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas.nbg+1
My work focuses on developing game-based and AI-powered methods for understanding personality, behaviour, and human potential.
At SeriousMind, we combine artificial intelligence, psychometrics, and serious games to create immersive personality assessment experiences. Through digital escape rooms and interactive scenarios, individuals can demonstrate how they explore, solve problems, collaborate, make decisions, and respond to pressure.
This approach moves beyond traditional assessment methods. Instead of relying only on long questionnaires or brief interviews, SeriousMind explores what people reveal through their actions.
The goal is not to replace human judgement. It is to provide HR professionals, educators, and individuals with richer behavioural insights that can support recruitment, talent development, and vocational guidance.
Panathēnea was the perfect environment to share this journey and discuss the future of AI-powered assessment alongside my mentor and business advisor, Pavlos Mavromatis, and the Exelon Partners team.
Throughout the event, we connected with people and organisations that are helping shape Greece’s innovation ecosystem. We met Konstantinos Kissas from Envolve Entrepreneurship, presented SeriousMind to the StartSmart South Eastern Europe community, visited the egg – enter- grow- go stand, and explored opportunities for collaboration with Loopcv and Lucas Simopoulos.
These interactions demonstrated the value of events that bring together different parts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. A founder may arrive with a product, a researcher with an idea, an investor with a question, and a mentor with experience. The most valuable opportunities often emerge when these perspectives meet.
As a PhD candidate in AI and the founder of a technology startup, I see the connection between research and entrepreneurship as essential.
Academic research can help us understand human behaviour and develop reliable assessment models. Startup ecosystems can help transform that knowledge into products that people and organisations can use. Events such as Panathēnea create the space where these two worlds can meet.
For SeriousMind, this means continuing to build at the intersection of:
It also means remaining open to partnerships with people who share the ambition to develop technology that creates measurable and meaningful impact.
What makes Panathēnea especially valuable is that it is not only a conference or startup event. It is a meeting point for relationships.
A conversation can lead to an introduction. An introduction can lead to a partnership. A partnership can lead to a product, a new company, or an opportunity that would not have existed otherwise.
Ecosystems grow when relationships grow. Panathēnea reminded me that innovation is not created by technology alone. It is created by people who are willing to share knowledge, support one another, and build together.
If you are attending Panathēnea—or a similar event—come and say hello. I am always happy to connect with people who care about AI, entrepreneurship, research, serious games, HR innovation, and building solutions that can make a real difference.
The future of technology is built through collaboration. And often, the first step is simply starting a conversation.
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