Our vision is to strengthen Cyprus as innovation and technology hub, President Christodoulides says

Our vision is to truly strengthen Cyprus’ position as an innovation and technology hub, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Wednesday, addressing the 2024 Cyprus Innovation Awards of the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) and the Cyprus Research Awards of the Research and Innovation Foundation ceremony, in Nicosia.

He also said that together with competent Ministers he would travel to the US in the first week of April, specifically to New York, Texas and San Francisco to attract investments in shipping, technology and the energy sector, while that on May 21 he would be in London with some members of the Council of Ministers to present tax and other incentives to attract back to the country Cypriots who excel abroad.

In his speech, President Christodoulides said that this event has become an institution, and that it honours and highlights the decisive role of research and innovation in the development of the country.

“And precisely within this context, we have an obligation as State to encourage and support innovation, in every area, thus essentially redefining our production model, so that it focuses more on knowledge and technological development,” he added. Only in this way will we build a sustainable and more resilient economy, capable of successfully meeting any challenges, he noted.

The President referred to a Government decision to allocate an additional 15 million euros to two innovation programmes. The first, he said, concerns the STEP programme, which provides for the creation of facilities and production lines for the development and manufacture of innovative products and services, while the second focuses on the development of innovative solutions utilizing Artificial Intelligence, to address many challenges facing the public sector.

He also noted that the research, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem of Cyprus is included for the third consecutive year among the Strong Innovators of Europe, “while it has emerged as the fastest growing startup ecosystem across Europe.”

President Christodoulides said that the Government’s strategic direction was “clear”. “Our vision is to truly strengthen Cyprus’ position as a hub of innovation and technology”, he said, noting that very important work has been done in previous years and that the Government was building on this work and moving even further.

In his speech, OEB President, Antonis Antoniou, said that the Innovation Awards were introduced in Cyprus in 2006 and that hey were among the first in Europe. He noted that this awards institution has been acknowledged by the European Commission as a best practice in promoting innovation in businesses, while that the competition was under the auspices of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, thus “giving it additional prestige”.

“Constant resilience and adaptability have made it clear that innovation is not an option, but an imperative necessity for survival and prosperity”, he said, noting that businesses that invest in research and development managed to turn challenges into opportunities, creating new markets, products and services.

Innovation, therefore, does not only concern technological developments, but also new business strategies, flexible operation models and applications that improve our daily lives, he said.

Vice President of the Research and Innovation Foundation, Andreas Efstathiou, said in his greeting that the constant search for new solutions was the only way to the success and sustainability of every organisation, adding that Cypriot businesses have proven that they understand this need and are demonstrating it in practice with their participation in the competition “which this year is recording an increase again”. He noted that from green development and sustainable entrepreneurship to artificial intelligence applications and disruptive changes in production and services, this year’s awardees “confirm that Cyprus can be a leading force in innovation”.

He noted that the award categories cover a wide range of activities from the primary sector to manufacturing, services and social innovation.

(Sources: CNA/InBusinessNews)