Innoetics

People starting businesses in Greece over the last few years have required the kind of fearlessness that one usually associates with extreme sports. The country's longstanding problems in fostering entrepreneurship along with the challenges generated by the crisis have combined to make Greece a testing place in which to do business.

Pioneering ideas, companies that aspire to change the world, and stories from cities and states that have succeeded in becoming tech hubs were the subject of discussion at the fourth Reload Greece conference, which took place last weekend at the London Business School in the UK capital.

"We are thrilled that our technology will be used on such a large scale," says Aimilios Chalamandaris, a scientist at the Athena center of research and CEO of Innoetics, barely hiding his enthusiasm.

One more high-technology company in Greece has been bought out by foreign investors, as South Korean giant Samsung is taking over Innoetics, a small local firm specializing in voice technologies.