Rockets, robots and supercars made in Greece
and all of them by young students
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Rockets, robots and supercars made in Greece
What if I told you that Greece is building rockets, robots and supercars?
You would probably laugh.
What if I said that these are actually built by young students in their early 20s?
“No way”, you’d reply. “Enough with the jokes.”
Well… the joke is on anyone who has not been paying close attention in recent years.
A new generation of young Greek innovators is pushing the boundaries of aerospace, robotics and automotive engineering, proving that homegrown Greek talent can make waves globally. These are curious and ambitious high school and university students that are competing on an international level and often making it all the way to the top.
Don’t believe me?
You be the judge.
Rockets made in Greece
At Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the Aristotle Space & Aeronautics Team (ASAT) is quite literally reaching for the stars. This team of passionate students designs, builds, and launches experimental rockets, competing in international competitions like the Spaceport America Cup.
ASAT conducts research through two multidisciplinary departments: Aeronautics (focusing on UAVs) and Rocketry (focusing on, well, rockets). Hybrid propulsion, high-powered SRAD motors, avionics bays, antenna systems and flight autonomy are all household terms for this team.
ASAT ranks amongst the top 10 student teams in Europe in both fields, coming 9th in Aeronautics and 7th in Rocketry in some of the last few competitions.
(We talked previously about ASAT here.)
Robots made in Greece
Greece is full of awesome young aspiring roboticists.
WRO Hellas is the official organizer of the World Robot Olympiad in Greece. In World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) 2024, Greek team bitLab from Kalamata won 2nd place in the world (silver medal) and came 1st in Europe, bringing Team Greece the 10th overall medal in its history. For context, more than 560 teams from 87 countries in the world competed in WRO 2024.
The Greek National Robotics Team (GNRT) represents the country in the FIRST Global Challenge, an olympics-style international robotics competition. Greek students between 12-18 years old participate in GNRT-sponsored bootcamps and some of the best are selected to join the team. In 2024, the global finals of the competition were hosted by GNRT in Athens.
Universities are equally active. Some of the top universities in Greece have both robotics R&D labs as well as competitive clubs.
We have the amazing Intelligent Robotics and Automation Laboratory (IRAL) and the super cool Legged Robots Team at NTUA. The impressive Automation & Robotics Lab at AUTH. The Robotics Club at the University of Patras (UPatras), with the famous line following robot series “Dromeas”, supported by the university’s stellar Robotics Group. In the summer of 2025, UPatras will also be home to Optimization for Robotics Summer School (OptRob-25). The Student Robotics Team supported by the great ESDALab in the University of the Peloponnese (which has also participated in WRO competitions). The Beyond Orbit team, which has designed and built the first Greek rover to compete in the European Rover Challenge space robotics competition, comprised by students across NTUA, UPatras and other Greek institutions. And of course, the recently created Hellenic Robotics Center of Excellence established at the prestigious Athena RC.
(We mentioned previously the Greek WRO team here and the First Global team here.)
Supercars made in Greece
Prometheus Eco Racing is the awesome energy efficiency racing team of the National Technical University of Athens. The team is comprised entirely of university students: undergraduates, master students and PhD candidates design and build high-efficiency electric vehicles that compete against top university teams from all over the world, typically at the annual Shell Eco-marathon.
Prometheus is researching, building and bringing to market sustainable and efficient solutions for eco-friendly mobility and electric battery technology. While dedicated to sustainable engineering, the team is also focused on performance and cutting-edge design, which has helped them gain a strong reputation among their peers.
(We talked previously about the large EV talent at NTUA here.)
A new generation of Greek techies brings hope
Thanks to the efforts of young students passionate about technology (as well as their supporters), a new era of innovation is unfolding in Greece. Their curiosity, ambition and achievements reflect a nation that is tackling the future heads on.
There is enough “doom and gloom” in and out of Greece these days. Let this be a small break of optimism and reminder that when Greeks put their minds and hearts into something, great things can come out of it.
But I can already hear many people saying: “These are just kids?” They are not building real products. And who cares about these competitions, anyways?”
Well, I completely disagree. Our youth will be the main driving force of meaningful change for Greece. And it is already showing promising signs of being able to build amazing things, both in and out of the country.
But if this is still not enough for you, here is a small sample of companies making waves across aerospace, robotics and automotive engineering in Greece today:
Acumino (AI powered robot workers), Agroverse (agri-robots as a service), Altus LSA (tailor-made UAV solutions), AviSense.AI (autonomous driving hyper-sensing), axl imperial (industrial robotics) Beta CAE (UAV simulations), Delian Alliance Industries (autonomous defense systems), FEAC Engineering (digital twins), Intracom Defense (missile telemetry), Miltech HELLAS (thermal imaging and electronics), Ozzie Robotics (personal service robots), Phi Mechaniseas (modular military vessels), Planetek (geospatial & remote sensing solutions), Progressive Robotics (robots for manufacturing & logistics), SAS Tech (versatile UAV solutions), SOTIRIA Technology (underwater intelligence), Terra Robotics (laser weeding for farmers), THEON Sensors (ISR & advanced optronics), Velos Rotors (industrial UAVs)
And that’s just a glimpse.
🏭 Economy & Business
Greece unveils record-breaking 4.8% primary surplus
Greece as the inverse global chaos bet — who would have thought?
S&P Global upgrades Greece to BBB on ‘unwavering fiscal discipline’
EU MEP responsible for RRF oversight praises Greece’s implementation
Debt reduction since 2020 in Greece is fastest in (modern) history
Real GDP per capita still trailing EU average but making consistent gains
Registered unemployed persons decreased 5.2% year-on-year in March 2025
Current account deficit shrinks in February 2025 (really good news)
🤖 Tech & Startups
Endor Labs (AI code for vulnerabilities) raised $93M Series B round
Flings (toaster pastry) has raised a $2.3M seed round
Athens Exchange Group and Mysten Labs finalize technical design for an onchain fundraising platform, begin development with zero-knowledge proof integration
AI supercomputers — a subsidized hyperbole or a competitive R&D necessity?
Greek scientists develop algorithm to help monitor tourism load on beaches
Proxy Foods, funded by prominent Greek Americans, highlighted in Kathimerini
JobCard is the simplest way to integrate digital work cards in Greece
Mercor $50K Graduate Fellowship for any current or incoming STEM PhD students and postdocs anywhere in the world (HT to Niko Bonatsos)
🙌 Celebrating Greek wins
Women’s national water polo team wins first-ever World Cup gold medal
Alexandra Giannadaki wins Gold in European Youth Bowling Championship 2025
Christina Tringides receives profile by Rice University for her work treating cancer
University of Crete CS team qualifies in top 4 of Hackerone Ambassador World Cup
Four Bodossaki scholars share their life stories
📣 Greeks hiring: Coolest jobs out there
Indexed Investments & Solutions @ MSCI Inc., London (UK)
Senior Associate (Venture Banking) @ Eurobank, Athens (Greece)
Brand Manager @ Prosperty, Athens (Greece)
Software Engineer ML @ Meta, Athens/Remote (Greece)
Bio/Chemistry PhDs @ BSRC Alexander Fleming, Athens (Greece)
Fully funded STEM PhDs @ HKUST, Guangzhou (China)
That’s it for today! If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please let me know with a like or reply. And if you value my content each week, consider pledging your support. Thanks!
Greece has always produced an impressive cadre of graduates and post-graduates. During my time at the Computer Science department in Crete, I observed professors with credentials that far exceeded requirements and PhD students working on cutting-edge projects—innovations that only appeared in Silicon Valley years later.
The tuition-free university system offers Greek students a tremendous advantage, allowing many to truly excel academically, as you pointed out. Yet this intellectual wealth faces a persistent structural problem: the country lacks the corporate fabric and startup ecosystem necessary to absorb this talent and channel it into productive economic contribution.
This remains, unless I'm mistaken, the fundamental challenge. What compelling reasons exist for brilliant, passionate individuals to remain in Greece and develop products there?
I am myself investigating whether incorporating in Greece makes business sense for my new startup/product, and the incentives are vanishingly small. Beyond patriotic sentiment, practical advantages are scarce. There are no meaningful grants, no "Innovation Greece" investment programs (unlike what Nordic countries offer), and an entrepreneurial ecosystem disproportionately undersized relative to both the country's dimensions and its economic trajectory.
Given all that, these graduates inevitably gravitate toward opportunities in America or elsewhere in Europe—continuing a pattern established decades ago. I sincerely hope my assessment proves incorrect.
Greece—like other smaller European nations—should be capitalising on its younger generation rather than subsidising pensioners for electoral advantage.
Could it be done at an EU level? Maybe. Should they try? Absolutely!
_Suggestion_
Try to interview any of those small companies you mentioned. We'd learn a ton from them and their journeys so far.
I remember a conversation (over a decade ago) when a Greek politician (can't remember the name, but a national figure that was in a small party) came to the LSE for a talk and declared Greece's competitive advantage are: sea, sun and orthodoxy (the Russian tourism). I nearly choked. I'm glad we moved past that; bring on the rockets!