The Chief Scientist for Research, Innovation, and Technology, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF), Demetris Skourides held a meeting with Deemah AlYahya, Secretary General of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) during her visit to Cyprus.

According to a press release, Skourides explained the driving factors, tools and policies that have placed Cyprus  10th in the European Innovation Scoreboard and 28th globally in the Global Innovation Index. The Chief Scientist emphasized the strong foundation that has been laid to boost the Research & Innovation ecosystem. The Chief Scientist provided an in-depth overview of how capital, talent, and resources contribute to the competitive advantage that Cyprus has, and shared how the ecosystem has taken strategic options to enhance the build-up of skills and resources required for the future. 

Skourides also presented the 7 Centers of Excellence and how these are focused on specific industries and thematic priorities such as Biobanking and Genetic diseases, Maritime sciences, Earth observation, Climate change, Technology including Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality and others. He said that these Centers of Excellence are co-funded by the European Teaming and supported by the Government of Cyprus with a strong focus on establishing sustainability. "These Centers are built up to serve as ecosystem accelerators and engage in fundamental research, applied research and commercialization of products and services", he noted. 

The Chief Scientist also provided a thorough introduction of the key RIF funding tools that support the Research and innovation strategy referring to main Knowledge Transfer and Collaboration programs such as the ‘Co-develop’ and ‘Research in Enterprises’, programs supporting the internationalization of the ecosystem in key areas including the European Partnerships on Key Digital Technologies, Urban Transitions, the Blue Economy, Clean Energy Transition, Rare Diseases and Agroecology as well as programs that allow enterprises across EU member states and beyond to co-develop innovative solutions.

He also focused on the Excellence hubs funding excellence research and programs supporting innovative entrepreneurship from very early stages to scale-up  companies internationally: Pre-seed, Seed, Innovate, Disrupt. Skourides highlighted that through these programs, start-ups and scale-ups receive equity free support from the government and are supported by additional tools that aim at creating a stronger, digital savvy, innovation ecosystem.

Furthermore, he introduced the strategic infrastructures recently funded by the RIF in the areas of Environment/Energy, Agrifood, Health, Maritime and Space where he introduced C-SpaRC, Cyprus’s Space research center inaugurated last week in collaboration with several partners including Nasa’s Translational Research Institute, Sondankyla geophysical observatory from Finland, Aretaeio Hospital, University of Cyprus, Cyprus institute of Neurology, and Cyprus space solutions under the coordination of Cyprus space exploration organization. 

In conclusion, the Chief Scientist highlighted the importance of gender equality in advancing science affirming that over 60% of the RIF’s staff are women. Building on the strategic agenda discussed between AlYahya and Deputy Minister of research innovation and digital policy, Nicodemos Damianou, the Chief Scientist confirmed the maturity of the Research, Innovation and Technology ecosystem, welcoming the future establishment of a DCO branch in Cyprus, the press release concluded.