The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias visited yesterday, Tuesday 18 November 2025, the Stanford University in California, where he had a meeting with top academics and was informed on the automations and robotics innovations, applied in standard defence systems and the safe management of operational data and communications.

Mr Dendias met, among others, with Greek Professors of the Stanford University and specifically with the Director of the Stanford Platform Lab Christos Kozyrakis, the Director of the Computer Systems Performance Engineering Lab Nikolaos Babos, as well as the Assistant Professor of Management Science and Engineering Vasilis Syrganis. During the discussion, he had a fruitful exchange of views for the Greek defence innovation ecosystem, in the context of the “Agenda 2030” reformation of the Armed Forces.

The Minister also participated in a discussion with visiting fellows of the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, among whom was the former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, on the subject of international and regional matters, as well as the security challenges in EU and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Next, Mr Dendias went to the premises of the “Matternet” Unmanned Aerial Vehicles construction company, where he was given a tour by its CEO Andreas Raftopoulos and attended a demonstration of multiple capabilities of the unmanned aerial systems.

Afterwards, the Minister of National Defence met with the His Eminence the Metropolitan of San Francisco Gerasimos at the offices of the Holy Metropolis.

Soon after, he went to the Greek Consulate in San Francisco, where he was welcomed by the General Consul Grigoris Tassiopoulos and a meeting took place with expatriates who work in California in the fields of high technology, research, energy and finance. The meeting was also attended by Messrs Peter Perlegos, Alexandros Papalexopoulos, Giorgos Zagganas, Ippokratis Pandis, Ioannis Papapanagiotou, Panagiotis Papadimitriou, Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Anastasios Zografos, Nikos Kyrpidis, Andreas Stavropoulos, Nikos Bonatsos, Giorgos Panagiotakopoulos, Tassos Roumeliotis, Mike Kassiolas and Kostis Laskaris.

The Greek Minister also discussed with them their capabilities for contribution to the Greek innovation ecosystem and the Hellenic Centre for Defence Innovation.

Finally, Mr Dendias had a working dinner with the Lieutenant Governor of the State of California Eleni Kounalakis and her husband, visiting fellow in the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, Markos Kounalakis. They discussed, among other things, the dynamic of the Greek-American community in the American society and its decisive role as a bridge of cooperation between Greece and the United States.