The Secretary General for Research and Innovation, Dimitrios Terzis, is a Computer Engineer (PhD) and a Political Scientist (MSc), with extensive academic and professional activity in both these fields.
In Informatics, his areas of specialization and scientific interest are the Internet, the Cloud, Big Data, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and other Dual-Use Technologies. In Political Sciences, he is mainly active in projects related to Strategy, Communication, Social Research, the use of technology, Government and E-Government, International Relations, and Defense.
He was born in 1970 and grew up in the Municipality of Gortynia, Arcadia. He has been involved in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) since 1984, when he acquired his first computer and began programming, self-taught. In 1988, he was admitted through National Examinations to the Polytechnic School of the University of Patras, from where he received the five-year Diploma in Computer Engineering and Informatics in 1993. Immediately afterwards, he worked for two years as Director of the Western Greece Branch of a leading business group, which he led to a top position in the local market, delivering major public and private sector projects.
From 1995 to 2007 he lived in Great Britain where, funded via a scholarship from the Bodossaki Foundation and employment in the private sector, he obtained a PhD in Computer Science from University College London (UCL), University of London, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, in the field of Networked Multimedia.
While a doctoral student he worked as a researcher for British Telecom (BT Labs, Ipswich) and Nortel Networks (Harlow Labs, Essex), as well as a Software Engineer in more than 10 technology startups in England. Furthermore, he taught a wide range of Computer Science subjects as a Teaching Assistant, Visiting Lecturer, Lecturer, and Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at London universities (UCL, City, LSBU), participating in scientific conferences and major research projects, supervising more than 20 MSc dissertations, and serving as a Business Consultant for cutting-edge technologies.
During the 2003-2004 academic year he took an unpaid sabbatical to complete his military service in the Greek Navy, immediately after which he served as a volunteer in the preparation of the Athens Olympic Games.
He subsequently obtained 3 postgraduate degrees (Masters) in Political Sciences from the University of London and specifically in Political Communication (Department of Sociology, City University), Social Research (Department of Methodology, London School of Economics) and Strategy in International Relations and Defense (Department of War Studies, King’s College London), fields in which he has been professionally active since 1999, in collaborations (projects) with personalities from Greece and abroad, in parallel with his main occupation in the field of Informatics.
As a Political Scientist, he has worked, among other things, on a series of national issues, such as Culture (Greek Language, Ancient Greek Literature, Byzantine Hellenism, Modern Greek History), demographics, migration, security and defense. At the same time, in the 2000s, he served on the Board of Directors of high-profile international political organizations, participating in and organizing events, conferences and field work with senior government officials and leaders of states in the Greek Parliament, the European Parliament and in approximately 40 countries worldwide.
From 1995 to 2025, he also worked as an Instructor and Coach for executives of large corporations, organizations, and governments in Europe and America (including the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO), delivering, together with his university tenure, more than 2,500 hours of lectures and seminars to more than 2,000 trainees.
Over his 25-year stay abroad, he has been elected as head or board member in diaspora associations and international political organizations, with broad consensus.
In December 2025, by decision of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Development, he was appointed Secretary General of Research and Innovation of Greece.
He has been an active citizen since his school years. He perceives politics as a social service, to which he has systematically contributed since 1984 as a volunteer, activist, and policy maker.
