Deloitte Opens Thessaloniki Hub to Drive AI Innovation

Deloitte Greece has opened new facilities for its Deloitte Competence Center (DACC) at the historic PAEGAE building in Thessaloniki’s port, alongside the company’s new Solaria AI Hub, which develops artificial intelligence solutions for international markets.

Deloitte Greece CEO Dimitris Koutsopoulos said the investment in Thessaloniki represents more than a choice of location. He said it forms part of the company’s goal to bring international expertise to Greece, helping Greek businesses become more competitive while creating more opportunities for local talent.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Koutsopoulos said Greece’s major opportunity lies not simply in using technologies developed elsewhere, but in developing its own expertise and actively contributing to the creation of future technologies.

He highlighted the Solaria AI Hub, Deloitte’s third such hub in Europe, as an example of that approach.

“This is precisely the significance of developing the Solaria AI Hub at the new facilities,” Koutsopoulos said. “It shows that AI solutions with European and international reach can be designed and developed here. Thessaloniki can become not simply a place where new technology is applied, but a place where it is created.”

Koutsopoulos also recalled that Deloitte established the DACC in 2017-18, based on the belief that Thessaloniki could support international projects and high-level technological work for both Greece and the global market.

“The developments of recent years have shown that this was more than possible,” he said, noting that Deloitte employed around 650 people when the DACC began, while thousands now work at the centre alone.

He added that Greece’s development cannot and should not remain concentrated in one geographic area. Deloitte has therefore maintained a wider presence across the country, including Thessaloniki, Patras, Ioannina and Crete.

Koutsopoulos also pointed to Thessaloniki’s combination of universities, high-level research institutions, skilled personnel, strategic geographic position and rapidly developing business and technology ecosystem as strong foundations for innovation.

“This dynamic has real economic weight,” he said. “Northern Greece produces more than one-fifth of the country’s GDP, while Central Macedonia alone contributes around 14% of GDP.”

He added that the presence of international companies and technology investments in Thessaloniki further demonstrates the region’s economic and technological potential.

Economic impact projected at more than €1 billion

Vassilis Kafatos, president of the Deloitte Competence Center, said more than 1,400 highly specialised technology professionals have worked from the DACC’s new facilities for around three months.

He said the centre has become one of Deloitte’s most important facilities of its kind in Europe.

Kafatos said Deloitte wants the new premises to operate as a living space that remains open to the city and connected with its community.

“The investment already has a significant social and economic impact and many multiplier benefits, creating estimated additional economic activity in the country exceeding €1 billion during the 2020-2030 decade,” he said.

Kafatos also described Deloitte’s three-decade journey in Thessaloniki, from the small office it occupied 30 years ago to the fully renovated 1927 building it now occupies, as a symbol of the city’s broader transformation.

He said Thessaloniki has evolved from an international port for goods into a global gateway for talent, knowledge, technology and innovation.

Kafatos recalled that Deloitte hired 500 new employees in 2020-21 during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2024, as AI began rapidly changing the way people work and create, the company began redesigning its services, culminating in the creation of the Solaria hub for the research, development and application of AI solutions across Europe.

He also highlighted Deloitte’s new professional postgraduate programme, which allows professionals from other academic fields to retrain in information technology based on the latest needs of the technology market.

Kalafatis calls opening a moment of confidence

Deputy Minister for Development Stavros Kalafatis, who represented Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the ceremony, described the opening as a moment of national and local confidence.

He said the development reflects Thessaloniki’s transformation from a “co-capital of promises” into a regional capital of innovation and a digital gateway to Southeast Europe.

Kalafatis said the DACC has become the largest employer of scientific personnel in Northern Greece and Deloitte’s most important European skills centre for cutting-edge technologies.

He also said national spending on research and development had reached a record €3.66 billion and argued that Greece’s brain drain has begun to reverse, citing government figures showing that 86% of new PhD graduates now choose to remain and build their careers in Greece.

Kalafatis said the Solaria AI Hub places Thessaloniki on the European map of productive and applied artificial intelligence.

He also addressed opposition criticism concerning the government’s policy on public property and cooperation with international groups. Referring to the Deloitte project, he said a century-old abandoned building had not been sold or left to deteriorate but had instead undergone a full restoration with private capital and now houses 1,400 young scientists.

Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports Nikos Papaioannou also highlighted the cooperation with Deloitte. He said the government’s policy since 2019 of developing technology hubs for young scientists was producing results.

Papaioannou particularly highlighted the professional postgraduate programme that allows scientists from other disciplines to retrain in information technology. He said the era when people remained in the same profession throughout their working lives had passed.

Nicholas Tzollas, deputy regional governor for Digital Governance of Central Macedonia, said Thessaloniki can now create reasons for young people to remain in the city.

He expressed hope that the city would become a place where people come to live, work, invest and create.

US Consul General in Thessaloniki Matt Haggengruber also pointed to the prospects for further growth, using the Greek words “innovation” and “cooperation” during his remarks.

Haggengruber said US Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle, who could not attend the opening, was aware of the important work taking place at the DACC and would visit Thessaloniki soon.

The ceremony also featured online messages from Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou. Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki conducted the blessing ceremony.

The historic building

The nearly century-old industrial landmark that now houses Deloitte’s Competence Center and Solaria AI Hub has undergone a transformation into a bioclimatic building, with the company aiming to secure LEED Gold certification.

Built in 1927 on an area of almost 10 acres, the building has a total floor area of approximately 14,000 square metres.

The ground floor includes a gym, wellness facilities, a restaurant, support areas and office zones. The three upper floors contain open and enclosed workspaces, meeting rooms, event and seminar areas and an amphitheatre.

A central atrium with a glass façade overlooking the sea serves as a circulation hub while also creating a vertical visual connection throughout the building.

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