At the 90th TIF-HELEXPO in Thessaloniki, I had the opportunity to present SeriousMind to the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis; the Minister of Economy and Finance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis; the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Nikos Papaioannou; the rectors of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Macedonia; and Deputy Minister Pavlos Marinakis.
The meeting highlighted an important question for Greece’s innovation ecosystem: how can research, startups, universities, and the state work together to transform ideas into products that create jobs, support education, and compete internationally?
Our discussion focused on two closely connected topics: the role of accelerators and technology transfer offices in helping university spin-offs reach the market, and the potential of AI-powered personality assessment to transform HR, education, and vocational guidance.
University research can generate groundbreaking ideas, but turning a thesis, prototype, or academic publication into a sustainable company requires support, mentorship, funding, and access to the market.
Programmes and organisations such as the Walk AUTh Innovation Accelerator, egg – enter- grow- go, Envolve Entrepreneurship, StartSmart South Eastern Europe, and the Technology Transfer Office at AUTH play a vital role in this process. They act as bridges between research and entrepreneurship, helping teams validate ideas, develop products, establish partnerships, and build companies with the potential to generate employment, innovation, and exports.
This journey is particularly important for Greece. Universities and research institutions produce talented scientists and engineers, but innovation reaches its full potential only when knowledge can move beyond the laboratory and become useful technology.
SeriousMind is one example of this journey.
Built at the intersection of psychometrics, game design, artificial intelligence, and behavioural analysis, SeriousMind develops serious games that make personality assessment more immersive and engaging. Through digital escape rooms and interactive challenges, players reveal behavioural patterns through the way they explore, plan, solve problems, make decisions, and respond to pressure.
This approach offers an alternative to relying exclusively on long self-report questionnaires. In a traditional assessment, people describe how they believe they usually behave. In a game-based assessment, the system can also observe how they act in a structured and meaningful environment.
For HR, this can support the assessment of soft skills, teamwork, problem-solving, and behavioural tendencies. For education and vocational guidance, it can help individuals reflect on their strengths, preferences, and approaches to unfamiliar challenges.
The objective is not to reduce a person to a score. It is to combine scientific assessment with interactive experiences that generate useful insights for personal and professional development.
During the presentation, I emphasised something simple: the team is always the winner.
When you work with people such as Professor Ioannis Vlahavas, Eleftherios Kouloubris, Pavlos Mavromatis, Dimitri Papaioannou, Konstantinos Milleounis, and Yiorgos Litos, you have a strong foundation for building something ambitious.
Technology may attract attention, but meaningful innovation is created by people who bring complementary expertise, persistence, and trust. SeriousMind exists because researchers, developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and mentors have worked together toward a shared vision.
The presentation at TIF-HELEXPO was also a reminder of the importance of collaboration. New partnerships and initiatives are already taking shape, connecting academic research with entrepreneurship, industry, and public institutions.
The future of work will require better ways to understand skills, potential, collaboration, and human behaviour. AI-powered personality assessment and serious games can contribute to this future when they are designed responsibly, grounded in research, and used to support—not replace—human judgement.
The 90th TIF-HELEXPO demonstrated what can happen when research, startups, universities, accelerators, and the state move in the same direction. Together, we can build technology in Greece that does not simply participate in the future of work—it helps define it.
For SeriousMind, this journey continues: from AUTH research and university spin-off support to AI-powered personality assessment, digital escape rooms, HR innovation, and vocational guidance.
© 2026 SeriousMind. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy