The Wheeler Institute for Business and Development, in collaboration with the Data Science & AI Initiative at LBS, is honoured to welcome Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Minister of Economy and Finance of Greece and President of the Eurogroup, to London Business School for a keynote speech and conversation on Frontier Artificial Intelligence: Global Governance, Political Economy and Financial Stability. The conversation will be moderated by Elias Papaioannou, Professor of Economics, Alex Knaster Chair in Economics and Co-Academic Director of the Wheeler Institute.
The event will explore how frontier artificial intelligence is becoming a macroeconomic force, reshaping productivity, business competitiveness, labour markets and public finances. It will examine the investment needed to spread AI’s benefits across the economy, Europe’s challenge in financing innovation, and the implications of massive AI infrastructure spending for capital markets, interest rates and sovereign debt. It will also address the distribution of economic gains, cybersecurity threats and the capacity of public institutions to adapt, concluding with the need for effective governance and international cooperation to control AI’s risks.
Date: Monday 30 November 2026
Time: 5:15pm – 6:45pm
Location: LT18 and LT19, Sammy Ofer Centre, London Business School, W1H 1FP
About the speaker
Kyriakos Pierrakakis is the Minister of Economy and Finance of the Hellenic Republic since March 2025. In December 2025, he was elected President of the Eurogroup and Chairperson of the European Stability Mechanism, becoming the first Greek Μinister to lead the eurozone’s top economic body. From 2023–2025, he served as Minister of Education, leading digital innovation and legislative reforms for university autonomy. Previously, as Minister of Digital Governance (2019–2023), he spearheaded Greece’s digital transformation, launching gov.gr and flagship apps including Gov.gr Wallet and MyHealth. He holds an MSc in Technology and Policy from MIT, an MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a BSc in Computer Science from Athens University of Economics and Business. Born in 1983 in Athens, he is fluent in English and French.
About the moderator
Elias Papaioannou is Professor of Economics and holds the Alex Knaster Chair in Economics at London Business School, where he is Co-Academic Director of the Wheeler Institute for Business and Development. He is President-Elect of the European Economic Association, a Fellow of the British Academy and Joint Managing Editor of the Review of Economic Studies. His research on international finance, political economy, economic history and development has appeared in leading journals including Nature, Econometrica and the American Economic Review. Before joining LBS, he worked at the European Central Bank and taught at Dartmouth and Harvard. He holds a PhD in Economics from London Business School, an MPA from Columbia University and an LLB from the University of Athens.