RIO Country Report Cyprus 2017

The National Strategy on Smart Specialisation (Cyprus being a single region), S3Cy, was approved by the Council of Ministers on 26 March 2015. The priority areas identified through S3Cy are: 1. Tourism, 2. Energy 3. Structured Environment/Construction Industry, 4. Transport/Marine, 5. Agriculture/Food Industry and 6. Health. Information and Communication Technologies, Environment and Key Enabling Technologies have been identified as horizontal priorities. The implementation of the S3Cy for Research and Innovation in Cyprus relies on an Action Plan, which is planned to be implemented over the period 2016–2020, with a total budget of €143.9m (stand 2017 -the proportion between ESIF and national funds is yet to be finalised). The implementation of S3Cy will be carried out by RPF (RESTART 2016-2020 Funding Programme) and MECIT (Entrepreneurial Innovation related actions). The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment (MARDE) and alongside UCY will be responsible for one action each (Research in Agriculture & University labour market Liaison Offices).

The strategy aims at exploiting the advantages and promising sectors of the economy by leveraging high-quality research results that can be transformed into value added innovations in the selected sectors. At the same time, S3Cy aims to achieve a tangible change of the R&I culture in the business sector to generate a new series of knowledge-based start-ups, whilst tackling the low investment of existing enterprises in R&I activities.