Promotion of innovation in the region of Cyprus

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Promotion of innovation in the region of Cyprus
IRC Cyprus activities

• Antonis Antoniou
• IRC Cyprus Technology Advisor

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Innovation

• Innovation is recognised as a major driver for
• productivity, growth and employment creation
• Innovation ideas can derive from
• Research
• Collaboration between suppliers clients
• Market technology watch
• Competition
• Collaboration with technology transfer centers
• Collaboration with financial institutions
• The benefits of innovation are usually long-
• term

3
Innovation and SMEs

• The innovative capacity of most technology-using
  SMEs remains weak
• SMEs tend to lack both the internal resources and
  the appropriate networking for easy access to the
  knowledge, technologies and finance on which
  innovation depends

4
Barriers in innovation process

• Lack of time We are so busy to work in the
  business that we have no time to work on the
  business
• Organisational structure
• SMEs are resistant to change
• Lack of funds
• High risks
• SMEs infrastructure
• No access to information

5
Failure of innovation

• Innovation has very high rate of failure and this
  is the major reason why companies especially SMEs
  do not innovate
• Only 12-20 of innovations succeed while the
  remaining 88-80 fail (Edwin Mansfield)

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Cyprus general information

• Population 797,800
• Surface area 9,251 km2
• Annual Growth Rate 5,2
• Distribution of the working population
• Agriculture 4
• Industry 20
• Service 76
• GDP per capita 15.000 Euro
• RD rate 0.2

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Cyprus innovation policy

• No single entity responsible for the design,
  promotion coordination of innovation measures
• Innovation system is structured on
• Policy level
• Intermediary level
• Implementation level

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Policy level
• Planning Bureau (PB) is responsible for the
  economic policy of the country
• PB has central role in the RTDI strategy
• Ministry of Commerce, Industry Tourism
  responsible for the promotion of high-tech
  companies, reconstruction of traditional
  industry, attracting foreign investment
  promotion of high-tech industry

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Intermediary level
• Research Promotion Foundation promotes RD
  strategy measures
• Cyprus Institute of Technology promotes the
  technological upgrade of the economy
• IRC Cyprus promotes the development and
  management of innovation in Cyprus
• Other initiatives and projects (RITTS)

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Implementation level
• Cyprus Institute of Neurology Genetics
• University of Cyprus
• Higher Technical Institute
• State General Laboratory
• Agriculture Research Institute
• Cyprus Productivity Center
• Private colleges research centers
• Business Incubators
• Private enterprises

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Innovation policy developments
• Strategic Development Plan 2004- 2006
• priorities
• Extension upgrading of infrastructures
• Boosting competitiveness
• Human resources development-promotion of equal
  opportunities
• Balanced rural development
• Protection of the environment upgrading the
  quality of life

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Strategic Development Plan 2004-2006
• Boosting competitiveness
• Emphasis in strengthening SMEs
• Encouragement of the RD sector
• Exploitation of the information society
• Support of competitiveness
• Exploitation of new technologies
• Promotion of innovation
• Productivity improvement

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Strategic Development Plan 2004-2006
• Encouragement of the RD sector
• Support of research technological
  infrastructure
• Support of research technological development
• Innovation and technology transfer support
• Promotion of the information society

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Cyprus innovation policy

• Support to innovation policy makers
• Policy makers undertake missions abroad to
  promote new collaborations and study specific
  policies
• Systematic collaboration with Greece, Russian
  Federation (innovation issues)
• Frequently visits to the USA, Russian Federation,
  Ireland, Greece and Israel (incubators issues)
• RISC project (transfer experience from the
  regions of Kent, UK Central Macedonia, Greece)

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Cyprus innovation policy

• National framework to foster Innovation
• Business incubators measure
• Youth entrepreneurship measure
• Women entrepreneurship measure
• Subsidisation of studies for the adoption of
  standards
• Guarantees for loans to SMEs measure
• Technology Park in co-operation with Sofia
  Antipolis Technology Park (future action)
• Technology Park for ICT companies in co-operation
  with the Indian government (future action)
• Research Center jointly with the School of Public
  Health of the University of Harvard (future
  action)

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• IRC Cyprus was established in April 2000
• Sole partner consortium
• The host organization of the IRC is the Cyprus
  Institute of Technology
• Members of the host organization's Board of
  Directors is the Ministry of Commerce Industry
  Tourism, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce, Employers
  and Industrialists Federation, Planning Bureau,
  Ministry of Finance, Human Development Authority
• Chairperson of the Cyprus Institute of Technology
  (host organization) is the Minister of Commerce
  Industry and Tourism

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• IRC Cyprus has very good knowledge of the Cyprus
  market
• The IRC team is consisted of 9 members including
  the IRC Manager and Coordinator
• The IRC staff is very experienced and works on
  the project since 2001
• The IRC team works on a sectoral / Thematic Group
  basis

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Technology Transfer

• Technology Transfer assist companies and
• institutions to
• Share risks
• Share costs
• Gain technological knowledge
• Develop common industry standards
• Gain additional markets
• Improve the product cycle
• Help to the product development

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Regional Constraints

• The local demand from SMEs is not specialised and
  the overall competitive industrial environment is
  fragmented in traditional sectors SMEs show
  limited propension to innovation.
• The overall RD performance is lower than in the
  rest of Europe and sectoral specialisation is
  possible for the Tourism which is the key
  economic driver of the Island.
• The average time to reach a TTT substantially
  reduced during the last years because the local
  companies are keen to get first hand information
  about the most recent technology developments in
  Europe.

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• The IRC staff carry out
• (i) a standard technology orientation visit
  based on a standard check list assessing the
  production process, the competitive advantages
  and problems through a SWOT analysis ,
• (ii) followed by a follow-up visit.

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• The IRC standard service package includes (i)
  the free registration to the Bulletin,(ii) TO/TR
  Automatic Matching Tool,(iii) participation to
  brokerage events and (iv)sign-posting to other
  Government supports.
• There is no charging policy, At present the
  service promotion orientation is not encouraged
  and there is a strong reliance on Regional and
  European RD funding as key lever to involve
  SMEs in Innovation and TT initiatives.
• Local SMEs need to be coached in improving their
  perception of the technology transfer related
  services.

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• The IRC staff works on a sectoral base. The IRC
  Advisors are working on the following economy
  sectors
• ICT
• Fisheries
• Agrofood
• Textiles Wood
• Environment
• Energy
• Marine Materials

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• Activity results for the periods 12 of the
  current
• contract
• 50 Technology Audits 128 Preliminary Technology
  Audits
• 253 Company visits
• Organisation of 4 info days, 4 workshops (Good
  practices, 6FP, fisheries etc)
• Organization of 2 workshops for IPR issues, 2
  workshops for funding innovation
• 7 Meetings with Business Associations
• Participation 9 in Brokerage Events and
  organization of 3 brokerage events
• Distribution of the Monthly Bulletin (1500
  recipients)

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• Activity results for the periods 12 of the
  current
• contract
• Automatic Matching Tool (Diffusion of European
  technology profiles 340 registered clients)
• 16 TTT agreements (13 inward and 3 outward
  agreements)
• 90 Negotiations (29 outward and 61 inward
  negotiations)
• Organization of 8 company missions
• Organization of 7 staff placements
• Participation in Thematic Groups (Agrofood, ICT,
  Fish Technology, Environment, Marine, Wood)

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• Negotiations TT Agreements in the first two
  years of
• operations

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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• Profiles processed and TTT Agreements (2005-2006)

Profiles processed into EoIs12.89 EOIs into
negotiations13.4 Negotiations into TTT
Agreements22
Profiles processed and TTT Agreements (2004-2005)
Profiles processed into EoIs13 EOIs into
negotiations12,7 Negotiations into TTT
Agreements12,5
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Cyprus Innovation Relay Center

• Review of the Activity Report 2005-
• 2006
• Very good knowledge of the Cyprus market and
  needs of the IRC clients
• Good to excellent project
• The project has fully achieved its objectives and
  technical goals for the period and has even
  exceeded expectations