Nicodemos Damianou: 2025 will be a year of technological upgrades, including to i-justice

With digital transformation high among the Government's priorities, advanced technologies are already being implemented, aiming to reduce bureaucratic procedures in the public sector and to offer the appropriate tools to both citizens and companies, so that actions that were once time-consuming can be carried out more easily and faster.

The Digital Citizen, Digital Assistant, Electronic ID, and ‘Hippodamus-Ippodamos’, are just some of the systems being implemented, with their further upgrade planned for 2025.

In an interview with Reporter, Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Nicodemos Damianou, analyses the state's technological development goals for this year, while also providing answers to pending issues, such as the digitalisation of the Fan Card.

At the same time, he clarifies that within February, the announcement of the competition for the upgrade of i-justice is expected, after last year's “shipwreck” with the e-justice system, in an effort to develop Electronic Justice. At the same time, he responds to the presidents of the District Local Government Organisations (EOA) for what they have held him accountable for, regarding the shortcomings of the ‘Ippodamos’ system for the submission for building permits and suggestions/objections during the process of generation/revision of Development Plans.

Digital transformation is high on the Government's agenda, as we saw with the announcements of the President of the Republic during his outline of the Government's agenda for 2025. What are the Deputy Ministry's goals for this year?

If one looks carefully at the President of the Republic's speech, one will find many references to technological upgrading and digital transformation, in various thematic areas and sectors, starting from shipping, health, agriculture, and even culture. So yes, the issue of digital transformation is generally a priority for the Government and for the President of the Republic himself.

Regarding public services, we are in the midst of a very large digital transition programme, which is largely funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, and which covers the entire spectrum of upgrading government infrastructure and systems. In particular, we are focusing on digital services, as we now feel that we need to offer citizens some modern and secure tools, in order to facilitate their interaction with the Government and to strengthen and push the digital economy.

In this context, we launched the Digital Citizen programme, which consists of four main actions.

The first is the central government portal gov.cy, which is based on cloud technologies and gives us greater flexibility. Since 16 December (2024), when we announced this specific programme, there have been approximately 770,000 visits to the portal, a number that is constantly increasing and which shows the significant interest citizens have in it.

Within gov.cy, as a second action, we have the Digital Assistant which is the first artificial intelligence tool in the public sector, of the ChatGPT type, with the ability to answer citizens' questions. We started with the topics of Social Insurance and electronic identity, while soon it will also be able to answer simple questions about TAKATA airbag issues, such as whether a vehicle is included in the recall lists, what the next steps are, etc. We want and intend to utilise this specific tool for other topics, about which citizens often have questions.

As you can see, what we are trying to do is to give citizens new, more effective communication channels. Every action, however small, will help substantially.

The third action is the Digital Citizen application, which is a wallet-type application for official documents. We started with the ID card, the driver's license and the MOT. This means that there is the possibility of creating a digital copy of the official plastic or paper document, to be used instead of the paper in the physical world. We want to expand this specific application, within 2025, by adding other documents and functions.

The fourth action is the electronic ID that we announced at the beginning of the year and has to do with the electronic world.

We are therefore moving fast in 2025 to build on these Digital Citizen tools, while continuing to upgrade the systems and the broader technological infrastructure of the state machine. As for the upgrades and major systems that are currently in progress, these will yield tangible results in a period of 18 to 24 months from today. For example, the new school management system which will enable, within the year, school registrations for all levels of pupils. It has already started as a pilot scheme with the first class of Primary School with very satisfactory results, while we will then proceed with the creation of the pupil's electronic file.

Examples of such systems are also the new automation system for postal services, which will be completed this year, Social Insurance, the Registrar of Companies, the Tax Department, TaxForAll, which will begin to have results this year, although their implementation will continue in 2026.

The implementation of the Digital Citizen is one of the most important reforms that has been implemented, which aims to open the way for citizens through access to official documents. Where have the registration numbers reached today and when are other documents expected to be added, such as the Fan Card?

Registrations have reached 30,000. Regarding the Fan Card, we have started contacts with the Cyprus Sports Organisation and I estimate that we will be ready around April or May, so that we can launch it on the market.

This week, together with a team from the Deputy Ministry, we were in Greece for a meeting with my counterpart, the Minister of State and Digital Governance of Greece, and we discussed the next steps regarding interoperability. That is, to enable the Digital Citizen and gov.gr wallet applications to talk to each other, so that Cypriot citizens can present the digital form of their document in Greece and have it accepted, and vice versa. This can be implemented earlier than the timeframe for the Fan Card.

We are also looking into the possibility of the Digital Citizen application being used by minors, however there are some issues that still need to be addressed. We are also exploring the inclusion of foreign persons permanently residing in Cyprus, as currently the application is only available for Cypriot citizens.

One of the first moves of the Deputy Ministry for 2025 was the availability of electronic IDs. Was there a response from the public?

By Thursday, 6 February, we had seven thousand applications. If one takes into account the specificity and the very specific use that this tool has, we are satisfied with the response so far. Approximately 2,000 citizens have already gone through the identification at the Citizen Service Centres, as required by the procedure, and as many others have scheduled appointments. So the Centres are adequately responding to the need and I generally believe that a very good start has been made.

For us, it is important that people, businesses, organisations, banks, insurance companies, understand the importance of this tool and use it to expand their electronic relationship with their customers. That is, the citizen, instead of having to sign a form or a contract by hand, has the opportunity to sign it online. This will push citizens to use their electronic identity and companies to develop new digital solutions. It is a valuable tool for the digital economy, and I hope that this interest will continue, so that the goal of 100,000 users is also met.

What is the process, in simple words, for the electronic ID and what are the benefits for citizens?

The process consists of three steps. The first is to create an account on the platform of the approved provider. The second step is to complete the user's application online, which essentially concerns their data, while the citizen must also upload a photo of their ID card. The third step is that, due to a requirement of the European Commission and precisely because it is a tool that can be used cross-border within the member states, the application must be printed from the platform, citizens must present themselves at the Citizen Service Centres by appointment and sign it before an officer, while at the same time showing their ID card. The reason is because it is a tool with serious substance, we must know that we are giving it to the right person.

This completes the process and all that remains is for users to receive an SMS message and an approval email and within five days to log back into the platform to activate their electronic ID.

To clarify, signing a document electronically does not mean that users should have a special device or USB or anything else with them. What they need to know are their credentials, i.e. username and password, and have in their possession the device (mobile phone for example) that is “tied” to the electronic signature. They upload the document they want to sign, select the signing point, enter the details and then a push notification comes for confirmation, also with biometric data, of the use of the electronic signature.

When this process is complete, the document is locked and neither the document itself nor the signature can be altered, which in the physical world can be done through forgery. If either is altered, then the signature is invalidated. Also, beyond all doubt, there is a digital trail and we can know with precision and certainty when it was signed.

We, as a Government, have already integrated the electronic signature into the ‘Ippodamos’ platform for the approval and submission of building and urban planning permits. This means that paperwork and the responsibility of having the supporting documents with you is gone, while the EOA officers issue the permits with an electronic signature. This will also be applied to the system of the Department of Road Transport and the Registrar of Companies.

In addition, CY Login users can access government systems with their electronic ID credentials. At the same time, a series of forms and applications that have not yet been digitised will be available for citizens to complete, sign electronically and send via email to the relevant service. Until now, citizens would have to print them, fill them out by hand, sign them, possibly have to certify their signature and go to the Citizen Service Centre or elsewhere to submit them. It is this entire process that we want to simplify, until these services are digitised.

We are starting with 21 such Social Security applications, of which 10 are already available, while we will add others later. It is a simple form of digitisation, but one that has benefits for the citizen and their daily life.

The Council of Ministers has given the green light for the creation of the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Taskforce. Does Cyprus currently have the means to develop artificial intelligence? What are these means and are there any weaknesses?

First of all, the establishment of this specialised committee, the AI ​​Taskforce, is of immense importance. I believe it shows our commitment as a Government to take the issue of artificial intelligence seriously, because any state that is left out will be at a significant disadvantage.

According to a recent survey by the International Monetary Fund on the maturity and readiness of countries to be able to shape and implement artificial intelligence, Cyprus is in 35th place among 174 countries. Artificial intelligence, this is its nature as a technology, can be used easily and directly, as long as one finds the right applications for it. Of course, it requires talent and expertise, which I believe are two of Cyprus' strengths.

As a percentage of the population, we have a high number of technology and artificial intelligence specialists. The issue is to be able to utilise this human potential. Also, computing power, that is, infrastructure, is necessary to be able to train these large language models, but that does not mean that they need to be developed by all countries to the same extent.

At the same time, data is required that is available and it is the responsibility of the Deputy Ministry to build a better framework for managing public data, which is in our plans for 2025. The conditions are there, a large part of the business community is already utilising artificial intelligence, but we still have a long way to go in this area, especially when it comes to small and medium-sized enterprises. This is the one weakness.

The other weakness is the public sector. We need to make better use of artificial intelligence in this sector, something that we will build through the work of the taskforce. We want to formulate an implemented strategy within the year on how we can utilise artificial intelligence in the public sector and more broadly in the economy.

The countries that will win in this effort will not necessarily be the ones that will build the large language models from scratch. The winners will be those that will be able to properly implement this specific technology.

In 2024, an attempt was made to transfer to electronic justice with the e-justice platform. However, the contract with the contracting company was terminated after it did not comply with the terms of the agreement. What is your plan for the next steps?

We estimate that within the month, a tender will be issued for the upgrade of the i-justice platform. We have gone through a short period of investigation during which it was confirmed that this particular system can meet the needs of the sector, which was done in collaboration with the two major categories of users, the Cyprus Bar Association and the Judicial Service. Once this has been done, we will proceed shortly with the tender, in order to expand the capabilities and functions of i-justice.

But there was also the scenario of developing another platform.

We considered it much wiser to utiliσe a system that already exists and covers a large part of the needs. The users are satisfied, which was proven by a brief investigation and study. So it was considered more cost-effective and practical to build on that, rather than starting the process from scratch for a new system that will obviously take more time.

The Presidents of the District Local Government Organisations (EOAs) have declared their dissatisfaction with the goals and objectives of ‘Ippodamos’ platform. How do you respond?

I recently had a meeting with the presidents of the EOAs in the presence of both the Ministry of Interior and the Department of Urban Planning teams. The truth is that the picture I got from the discussion was different from what I saw in the media after the meeting. I have discussed it with the presidents.

It is legitimate to have needs and concerns for further improvement of the system, but I believe that there are no longer problems in terms of the responsiveness of the system, although there is a plan for continuous upgrading within the year, in coordination with the EOAs. The issues that have arisen concern improvements that are now being identified through interaction with the system.

We are in the fourth package of deliverable changes and there are three more planned, which also include the decisions of the Ministry of Interior for the rapid and automatic implementation of building and urban planning permits, which will give a huge boost to the sector.

So my answer is that we need to support the system, and that's what I took away from the meeting to be honest. There are some improvements that need to be made and we've committed to implementing them, but I feel like we ended up - which was perhaps justified at the beginning because there were indeed problems - only referring to the system, while the problems seem to be not about the system but about other factors.

(Source: Reporter)