Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias, who has been in the United States since Sunday, Nov. 16, toured Matternet’s drone-manufacturing facilities in California on Tuesday, Nov. 18, as part of a trip focused on defense technology and innovation.
In a post on X, Dendias said he was guided through the site by the company’s CEO, Andreas Raptopoulos, adding that he observed a demonstration of “the multiple capabilities and applications of unmanned aerial systems.”
A day earlier, the minister visited Stanford University in San Francisco. Writing again on X, he described Stanford as “one of the world’s leading academic institutions in research, technology, and innovation, particularly in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, and Data Applications.”
During his visit, Dendias met with Greek professors Christos Kozyrakis, director of the Stanford Platform Lab; Nicholaos Bambos, head of the Computer Systems Performance Engineering Lab; and Vasilis Syrgkanis, associate professor of Management Science and Engineering.
The discussions, he noted, centered on Greece’s defense-innovation ecosystem within the framework of the “Agenda 2030” initiative, as well as “the future use of artificial intelligence in addressing security challenges.”
Dendias also visited Stanford’s Hoover Institution, where he exchanged views on key global and regional developments. According to his post, the talks focused on security challenges facing the European Union and the Eastern Mediterranean, and on the role of Greece and the United States as “pillars of stability” in the region.
