Thessaloniki inventors and startuppers fighting Covid-19

It's Sunday afternoon. For our interview we've adapted to the conditions imposed by the pandemic, so it's conducted from home via the internet. On the screen of my computer I see the tired but satisfied faces of three volunteers in the Covid-19 Response Greece initiative, which a mere 10 days after getting together had managed to provide thousands of face shields for doctors on the front line of the battle against the coronavirus.

Startuppers and scientists based in Thessaloniki joined forces in an attempt to do that which they know best: provide immediate and practical solutions. "From the start we said that we are not interested in wasting energy on theoretical solutions," says Dimitris Kourtesis, an entrepreneur and the coordinator of the initiative, explaining that the team decided to focus initially on the manufacture of face shields in order to address the pressing...