LIMASSOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

The MARITEC-X consortium aims to create a Marine and Maritime Research Innovation and Technology Centre of Excellence based in Cyprus to act as an enabler of scientific and business excellence in Marine and Maritime issues in the Eastern and broader South-eastern Mediterranean. The Centre will be aligned to the overall Smart Specialization Strategy for Cyprus (S3CY) and the European priorities on specific pillars with competitive advantages to the Cypriot economy. Focusing on key priority sectors identified within the Smart Specialization Strategy for Cyprus such as energy, tourism, transport and shipping, MARITEC-X Centre of Excellence will seek partnering relationships with well-known European institutions that will assist to the transfer of knowledge, co-develop sustainability and research programs, handover best practices and consult towards the creation of a critical mass of infrastructure and human capital in the region.

With the economic recession behind it, the economy of Cyprus is expanding at a rate comparable to that of the global economy. Despite this welcoming trend, the investment landscape in research, technology development, and innovation (RTDI), a key factor in the economic competitiveness and sustainability of Cyprus — remains stagnant, with bottom-up initiatives towards a change remaining fragmented and underutilised. As a direct result, the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem of Cyprus remains at an embryonic stage, leaving Cyprus as a low-performing RTDI country within the European Union. Innovation activities in SSP cannot proceed without a solid scientific and research and technology development foundation. Despite Cyprus hosting three state universities (and a number of private ones) with a wealth of excellent research and scientific expertise, this significant resource remains untapped and rarely exploited beyond the confines of academia. To reverse this ultimately detrimental relation between research and innovation, Cyprus is in dire need of an intermediary to help the country rise out of its RTDI slumber. This proposal seeks the European Union’s support to establish in Cyprus a Centre of Excellence that fosters world-class research, technology development, and innovation activities. This will not be another academic entity but an institution developing practical solutions/products addressing the needs of the economy, and society, in Cyprus, the EU and the rest of the world in activities related to the marine and maritime sector. The proposed project, Marine and Maritime Research, Innovation, Technology Centre of Excellence (MARiTeC-X), seeks to play a key role in the country’s economic and social transformation through RTDI transformation, by setting up the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI).