Athens is set to host the inaugural Panathēnea Festival from May 7–9, 2025, convening some 2,000 carefully curated founders, investors, artists and innovators. Reimagined from its ancient roots, the event brings together three core ecosystems—technology, art and startups—in a bid to spark interdisciplinary collaborations and elevate Athens’s standing within Europe’s innovation landscape.
Over three days, Panathēnea’s main stage will feature visionary founders and world-renowned speakers alongside art installations and live music, while a dedicated competition for emerging founders offers real-world prizes to help launch the next wave of high-impact companies. More than 30 headline speakers are confirmed, among them Canva founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, Slush founder Peter Vesterbacka, OpenAI’s Laura Modiano and Microsoft’s Eve Psalti—underscoring the festival’s ambition to bridge mature global players with rising talent.
Evening programming extends across Athens, with over 20 side events hosted by leading venture capital firms and other ecosystem actors. Held in cafés, galleries and co-working spaces, these gatherings aim to weave the festival into the city’s cultural fabric and generate targeted networking opportunities beyond the main venue.
As a not-for-profit, student-led initiative guided by an advisory board of seasoned investors and entrepreneurs, Panathēnea combines grassroots energy with institutional support. Its founding sponsors—the National Bank of Greece and Aegean Airlines—signal growing local buy-in for entrepreneurship as a driver of economic renewal.
“I’m honoured to be speaking at the inaugural Panathēnea this May and sharing Canva’s story as part of this incredible celebration. I love the idea of Greek students reimagining the ancient Panathēnea Festival, bringing history to life while making history!”Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO at Canva, said.
“A reimagined Panathēnea in springtime Athens—organized entirely by an incredibly talented team of Greek students and new grads—is an idea so powerful that we believe Greece will build Europe’s top innovation festival in just a few years,” Elomida Visviki and Lars Rasmussen (co-founder of Google Maps), Athens-based tech angel investors and co-founding mentors of the Panathēnea team affirmed.
