ATHENS – The new identity cards will be available at the end of 2021, Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said on Thursday at the conference “Industry 4.0: A growth opportunity Greece should not miss” organised by SEV.

The tender for the new identities will be launched on Friday or Monday.

The operation of the state’s single digital portal for citizens will start in the first half of 2020, he added.

The single digital portal will be based on the design of the corresponding UK government portal and citizens will have access to it through Taxis or bank passwords.

Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) executive vice-chairman Konstantinos Bitsios said that new technologies create opportunities for those who dare but also impasses forthose that will not follow, adding that SEV’s proposal for the digital transition is based on programmes in other countries.

Siemens CEO Kai Schneiderwind described digitisation as an existential issue for businesses, noting that new technologies could increase productivity by up to 13 times through the reduction of production time and damage while ensuring flexibility, quality and environmental protection.

Deloitte’s Digital Transformation manager Nick Davis referred to specific benefits of digitisation such as preventing machine failures, reducing inventory costs, real time monitoring of the plant and taking decisions based on real data.