The Athens Fireside Chat on the Agent Economy
The Agent Economy is being built. This week, the people building the next wave are physically here at Panathēnea.
It is the operating layer between humans and autonomous work. The layer that turns finished work — a report, a contract, a regulatory filing, a logistics plan — into a unit of trade between organisations.
The Mediterranean sits next to one of the largest unbuilt opportunities in computing: world-class engineering talent, underpriced assets, and entire labour-heavy industries where Silicon Valley is not going to show up and do the transformation work.
We are gathering a small, curated group to ask the question that decides the next decade for this region: what does it actually take to build the Agent Economy from here.
→ Nilson Kufus — Co-Founder & President, Agent Economy Association · Co-Founder & CEO, Rebels.tech - Building "Multiplayer AI Agents" — the operating layer for autonomous work between organisations. Former Swiss Digital Shaper.
→ Alex Vamvakas — GP & Co-Founder, Evercurious VC. Greek engineer (Imperial College, five years at CERN), now running one of Europe's most conviction-driven deep tech funds. Anchored by the Hellenic Development Bank. Explicit thesis: avoid vibe-coded AI, fund the hardware-software intersection, back high-touch service-as-product plays.
→ Alkinoos Sarioglou — Co-Founder & CEO, Purpose:Labs. Building LifeOS — AI agents that find the people you need right now and make the connection at the exact moment it matters. As agents take over the productive side of the economy, people will still need the right relationships, collaborators, and partners. That human layer is what Purpose:Labs brings to the world.
Themes we'll go deep on:
→ Where capital meets engineering. Service-as-Product.
→ The Mediterranean opening. Labour-heavy industries Silicon Valley is not coming for — shipping, tourism, energy, hospitality, professional services. What does it cost to be first?
→ The human layer. As work changes, who builds what's next?
In the room:
Mediterranean operators across, anyone whose firm has more demand than their team can serve.
Deep tech and pre-seed VCs at the hardware-software intersection, AI engineers and agent-system builders, policymakers and ecosystem builders.
Format:
45 minutes. Doors 14:00 · conversation 14:15 · close 15:00. No slides. No panel sterility. Three speakers in conversation, audience question slot in the back half. We hand you back to the afternoon side-event wave at 15:00 — and to the Zappeion closing party that evening.
Friday 29 May 2026 · doors 14:00 · 14:15–15:00 · Athens · venue walking distance to Zappeion. Apply here via Luma.