RIO country report 2017 : Cyprus.
Date: 2018-03-22
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: Cyprus, EU research policy, innovation, organisation of research, private investment, public investment, research and development, research policy, research report, scientific cooperation

RIO Country Report 2017: 
Cyprus 

Research and Innovation 
Observatory country 
report series 

Demetriades, M.  

Robledo-Bottcher, N.

2018 

EUR 29151 EN 

This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s 
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Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is 
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JRC111279 

EUR 29151 EN 

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ISBN 978-92-79-81194-4 

ISSN 1831-9424 

doi:10.2760/8524 

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How to cite this report: Demetriades, M and Robledo-Bottcher, N, RIO Country Report 2017: Cyprus    
EUR 29151 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2018, ISBN 978-92-79-81194-4, 
doi:10.2760/8524, JRC111279. 

All images © European Union 2018 

RIO Country Report 2017 

The  R&I  Observatory  country  report  2017  provides  a  brief  analysis  of  the  R&I  system 
covering the economic context, main actors, funding trends & human resources, policies 
to  address  R&I  challenges,  and  R&I  in  national  and  regional  smart  specialisation 
strategies.  Data  is  from  Eurostat,  unless  otherwise  referenced  and  is  correct  as  at 
January  2018.  Data  used  from  other  international  sources  is  also  correct  to  that  date. 
The report provides a state-of-play and analysis of the national level R&I system and its 
challenges, to support the European Semester. 

Summary 

This  first  draft  of  the  R&I  Observatory  country  report  2017  provides  a  brief 
analysis of the  Cypriot R&I system covering the economic context, main actors, funding 
trends & human resources, policies to address R&I challenges, and R&I in national smart 
specialisation  strategy.  Data  is from  Eurostat,  unless otherwise  referenced  and  is 
correct as at end November 2017. Data used from other international sources is also 
correct to that date.  

Key findings 

Cyprus saw GDP growth of 3.0% in 2016. Growth is forecast to increase to 3.5% in 2017 
before  easing  to  2.9%  in  2018  and  2.7%  in  2019.  The  public  finances  are  expected  to 
show  a  surplus  of  1.1%  in  2017.  Unemployment  is  expected  to  fall  to  9.3%  in  2019. 
Inflation is forecast to  a modest 1% in 2017 increasing slightly to 1.4% in 2019 due to 
increasing wage pressures.  

The R&D intensity of Cyprus is the lowest in the EU at only 0.5% of GDP. This is due to 
the  pre-dominance  of  non  R&D  intensive  service  sectors  in  the  economy  with 
manufacturing  only  accounting  for  about  5%  of  Gross  Value  Added.  Nevertheless  there 
are some exceptions such as pharmaceuticals.  

Challenges for R&I policy-making in Cyprus 







Establish  a  consolidated  R&I  governance  structure  and  evaluation  mechanism  of
R&I  policies  for  strategic  planning  and  evaluation  of  R&I  policies  and  funding
schemes.

Exploit  research  results  for  creating  economic  and  societal  impact:  The
exploitation  of  research  results  in  Cyprus  is  at  a  very  low  level.  The  Global
Entrepreneurship  Monitor  (GEM)  report  for  2016  ranks  Cyprus  as  41st  out  of  66
countries in R&D transfers for business.

Enhance  R&I  activity  in  the  business  enterprise  sector:  R&D  expenditure  in  the
business enterprise sector of Cyprus is one of the lowest in Europe at 0.10%.

Main R&I developments in 2017 







The  Directorate  General 
for  European  Programmes,  Coordination  and
Development  has  prepared  an  overarching  R&I  policy  document  (ERA  National
Roadmap  for  Cyprus)  with  policy  suggestions  to  address  these  challenges
identified. The Roadmap has been approved by the Council of Ministers on 19th of
July 2017.

The  Action  Plan  of  the Smart  Specialisation  Strategy  of  Cyprus,  S3Cy,  comprises
calls  for  proposals  which  require  or  encourage  collaboration  (Integrated  Projects,
Excellence  Hubs,  New  Strategic  Infrastructures  Units  -  Young  Scientists,
DIDAKTOR-post-doctoral  researchers,  Research  in  Enterprises),  whereas  other
calls refer to a single beneficiary (Research in Start-Ups) and/or come in the form
of  a  small  lump  sum  (Innovation  Vouchers,  Industrial  Property,  Encouragement,
Complementary Funding). Also under the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry
and  Tourism  (MECIT)  “Entrepreneurial  Innovation”  call  for  proposals,  224
proposals  were  submitted,  of  which  84  were  approved  for  funding  with  a  total
budget of €10m.

Tax incentives, for investment by individuals in innovative firms and funding calls
to elevate R&I spending are among the actions to tackle the challenge of low R&I
spending.  The  tax incentives  aim  at  giving  access  to  equity  funding  for  start-ups
and firms with innovative potential. The funding calls are expected to increase R&I

spending in  enterprises  considerably  due  to  the  own  contribution  rule  (usually  of 
the order of 30% of a project’s budget). 



The Research Promotion Foundation underwent a substantial reform in July 2017
aiming a more efficient R&I policy implementation.

Foreword 

The  R&I  Observatory  country  report  2017  provides  a  brief  analysis  of  the  R&I  system 
covering the economic context, main actors, funding trends & human resources, policies 
to  address  R&I  challenges,  and  R&I  in  national  and  regional  smart  specialisation 
strategies.  Data  is  from  Eurostat,  unless  otherwise  referenced  and  is  correct  as  at 
January  2018.  Data  used  from  other  international  sources  is  also  correct  to  that  date. 
The report provides a state-of-play and analysis of the national level R&I system and it's 
challenges, to support the European Semester. 

Acknowledgements 

Marios  Demetriades  would like  to  acknowledge  the  help  of  Mr  Marinos  Portokallides  and 
Mrs  Marcia  Trillidou  from  the  Research  Promotion  Foundation,  Mrs  Irene  Kyriacou,  Mrs 
Irene  Georgalla  and  Mr  Evgenios  Epaminondou  from  DG  for  European  Programmes, 
Coordination  and  Development  of  Cyprus  and  Mr  Nicos  Ioannou  and  Mr  Christos 
Photiades from the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism in providing key 
statistics  as  well  as information  and  clarifications  on  the  latest  R&I  policy  developments 
in Cyprus. 

Authors 

Marios  Demetriades,  Research  and  Innovation  Policy  Unit,  Research  and  Innovation 
Management  and  Support  Office,  The  Cyprus  Institute,  Nicosia,  Cyprus  (until 
31/10/2017),  Research  Support  Service,  University  of  Cyprus,  Nicosia,  Cyprus  (current 
job) 

Nicolas  Robledo  Bottcher,  European  Commission,  Directorate  General  Joint  Research 
Centre, Unit B.7, Knowledge for Finance, Innovation and Growth (Brussels, Belgium) 

Contents 

1  Economic context for R&I .............................................................................. 4 

1.1  Structure of the economy ............................................................................. 4 

1.2  Business environment .................................................................................. 4 

2  Main R&I actors ............................................................................................. 5 

3  R&I policies, funding trends and human resources ........................................ 7 

3.1  Public allocation of R&D and R&D expenditure ................................................. 8 

3.2  Private R&D expenditure ............................................................................... 9 

3.3  Supply of R&I human resources ................................................................... 10 

4  Policies to address innovation challenges .................................................... 11 

Challenge 1: Establish a consolidated R&I governance structure and evaluation 
mechanism of R&I policies ................................................................................ 11 

Description ................................................................................................. 11 

Policy response ........................................................................................... 12 

Assessment ................................................................................................ 13 

Challenge 2: Exploit research results for creating economic and societal impact ...... 13 

Description ................................................................................................. 13 

Policy response ........................................................................................... 14 

Assessment ................................................................................................ 15 

Challenge 3: Enhance R&I activity in the business enterprise sector ....................... 15 

Description ................................................................................................. 15 

Policy response ........................................................................................... 15 

Assessment ................................................................................................ 16 

5  Focus on R&I in National and Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies ...... 17 

References ...................................................................................................... 20 

Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 22 

1  Economic context for R&I 

Cyprus has recovered after the financial crisis. Real GDP growth is forecast to accelerate 
to 3.5% in 2017 from 3% in 2016. For 2018 and 2019 GDP growth is forecast to ease to 
2.9% and 2.7% respectively (Autumn Economic forecast, 2017)1. GDP per capita reached 
€21,000  up  from  €20,800  in  2015.  The  fiscal  performance  of  Cyprus  continues  to  be 
strong  with  total  revenue  expected  to  increase  by  0.8pps  of  GDP.  For  2017  a  general 
budget surplus of 1.1% is expected. As a result the public debt-to-GDP ratio is expected 
to  fall  below  100%  of  GDP  by  2018.    Growth  is  forecast  to  be  driven  by  private 
consumption  and  investments,  the  former  being  supported  by  strong  consumer 
confidence  and  increases  in  disposable  household  income  amid  robust  employment. 
Private  investment  increased  due  to  rising  construction  investment  resulting  from  the 
recovery of the real estate market and sizeable tourist-related projects. Unemployment is 
expected  to  continue  to  its  progressive  fall  to  9.3%  in  2019.  Inflation  is  forecast  to  a 
modest  1%  in  2017  increasing  slightly  to  1.4%  in  2019  due  to  increasing  wage 
pressures. 

1.1  Structure of the economy 

The  Value  added  of  the  service  sector  as  a  share  of  the  total  value  added,  was  86.5% 
and manufacturing 5% in 2016.  Both sectors have had a relatively stable share of value 
since  2012.  Knowledge  intensive  sectors  account  for  the  largest  share  of  the  service 
sector activity even though the share has fallen from 51.3% of GVA in 2015 to 46.9% of 
GVA in 2016 due to the 2013 financial crisis. The opposite trend is observed for high and 
medium-tech manufacturing which accounted for merely 1.1% of GVA in 2015.  

Most of the work force is employed in the service sector which accounted for 80% of total 
employment in 2016. The knowledge-intensive sectors  have employed a stable share  of 
around  37.5%  of  the  labour  force  since  2012.  Employment  in  high  and  medium-high 
technology manufacturing sectors has remained stable since 2009 and was only 0.9% in 
2016.    

The  structure  of  the  Cypriot  economy  in  terms  of  the  size  of  enterprises  consists  of 
93.3%  of  micro  enterprises,  5.6%  of  small  enterprises,  0.9%  of  medium-sized 
enterprises  and  0.1%  of  large  enterprises  (SBA  Factsheet,  2017)2.  There  was  a 
significant increase  in  the  net  number  of  new  firms  in  2016  compared  to  2015  with  the 
net additions reaching 2,401 new companies in 2016 marking an increase of 5.15%.  

After a very small decline of 0.1% from 2013  to 2014, labour productivity measured as 
GDP per employee was 105.3 in 2016 (2010=100) basically unchanged compared to 105 
in 2015. 

1.2  Business environment 

In 2016, Cyprus has increased its position in the Global Innovation Index and is now at 
the  30th  place.  In  the  WB  Doing  Business  rank  Cyprus  has  remained  stable  at  the  45th 
place  in  2017.  As  access  to  finance  is  a  key  weakness  in  Cyprus,  especially  after  the 
financial  crisis  which  dictated  a  stricter  regulatory  framework  for  credit  institutions,  the 
“Ease  of  Getting  Credit”  indicator  of  the  Global  Innovation  Index  has  also  deteriorated, 
with Cyprus falling from the 39th position in rank for 2015 to the 56th position in 2016. An 
encouraging  fact  is  that  the  share  of  SMEs  in  Cyprus  that  reported  access  to  finance 
being its most important problem decreased from 40% in 2014 to 25% in 2015 and 24% 
in 2016. 

A  considerable  fall  is  observed  for  Cyprus  in  the  World  Economic  Forum  Global 
Competitiveness Index (WEF GCI) from the 58th position in the period from 2012 to 2015 

1
 https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/economy-finance/ecfin_forecast_autumn_091117_cy_en.pdf  
2 https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/26562   

4 

 
 
                                           
to the 65th position amongst 140 countries in the 2015-2016 WEF GCI and further down 
to the 83rd position amongst 138 countries in the 2016-2017 rankings3.  

The  overall  impression  is  that  Cyprus  had  been  declining  slowly  in  terms  of  business 
environment  due  to  the  economic  recession  and  the  increasing  unemployment  that 
occurred  as  an  offspring  of  the  2013  financial  crisis  coupled  with  the  small  financial 
market  sector  (Cyprus  ranks  120th  in  this index  of  WEF  GCI).  However,  in  the  next  few 
years  a  fairly  evident  turnaround  should  be  expected  for  this  trend  since  Cyprus  is  now 
back on track in terms of economic growth and job creation as explained in Section 1. 

2  Main R&I actors 

The  R&I  system  in  Cyprus  is  still  in  need  of  development  compared  to  the  more 
developed  systems  of  the  old  Member  States,  albeit  significant  progress  has  been 
achieved  in  the  past  15  years.  The  economic  growth  rates  of  Cyprus  from  the  1980s 
onwards until 2008 were characterised as a growth miracle, but this was not due to R&I 
since the first major research centre (the University of Cyprus) was only established in 
1989  and  commenced  its  operations  officially  in  1992.  Before  Cyprus  had  only  a  small 
number of governmental authorities which carried out research (Agricultural Research 
Institute, State General Laboratory) and a small number of private tertiary education 
institutions.  The  volume  of  research  output  was  considerably  lower  at  the  end  of  1980s 
(63  journal  publications  in  1990  as  per  ISI  Web  of  Science)  compared  to  today’s 
performance  (2,927  journal  publications  in  2016  as  per  ISI  Web  of  Science  and  nearly 
20,000  journal  publications  for  the  period  1996-2016  according  to  Scimago4).  Figure  1 
below shows the structure of the Cypriot R&I system as it looks in 2017. 

The  Council  of  Ministers  currently  acts  as  the  political  decision  making  body  for  R&I 
policy as the existing Governance system has proven to be rather inflexible and has been 
inactive  for  the  past  few  years.  However,  this  is  meant  to  be  a  temporary  arrangement 
and  the  lack  of  a  concrete  R&I  governance  structure  remains  a  key  shortcoming  of  the 
Cyprus R&I system which needs to be addressed (see Challenge 1).  

The  Directorate  General 
for  European  Programmes,  Coordination  and 
Development  (DG  EPCD),  is  responsible  for  the  design  of  R&I  policy,  the  funding  of 
which relies heavily on EU Structural Funds (ESIF). The area of responsibility of DG EPCD 
involves  initiatives  such  as  the  European  Research  Area,  Open  Access  to  Science, 
Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), representation of Cyprus in EU Institutions at strategic 
level, including H2020 and other major European Funding Initiatives. 

R&I  policy  in  Cyprus  is  largely  implemented  by  the  Research  Promotion  Foundation 
(RPF),  which  is  the  main  R&I  funding  agency  in  Cyprus.  The  RPF  is  an  autonomous 
agency under private law, but fully financed by the government. Since its establishment 
in  1996,  the  RPF  is  the  main  institution  responsible  for  competitive  funding  of  research 
activities  in  Cyprus  and  organises  the  participation  of  Cyprus  in  the  EU  Framework 
Programmes  for  Research  and  Innovation.  Its  Board  of  Directors  is  presided  by  the 
Permanent  Secretary  of  DG  EPCD,  while  ex-officio  directors  of  the  main  Ministries 
involved  in  R&I  matters  alongside  representatives  from  the  business,  academic  and 
research community are also members of the Board.  

The  design  of  the  specific  area  of  entrepreneurial  innovation  is  carried  out  by  the 
Industry and Technology Service of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry 
and Tourism (MECIT), on the basis of the relevant overall national policy. The Industry 
and  Technology  Service  launches,  among  others,  the  business  innovation  policy 
measures  which  are  included  in  the  Action  Plan  of  the  Smart  Specialization  Strategy  of 
Cyprus  (S3Cy)  and  is  responsible  for  the  formulation  of  industrial  policy,  including  the 

3 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-

2017_FINAL.pdf  

4 http://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?order=ci&ord=desc  

5 

 
 
 
                                           
promotion  of  technology  and  entrepreneurship  and  the  implementation  of  Business 
Innovation Policy.  

 As  far  as  the  higher-education  sector  (HES)  is  concerned,  there  are  three  public 
universities  in  Cyprus  (University  of  Cyprus,  Cyprus  University  of  Technology  and 
Open  University  of  Cyprus),  which  carry  out  the  core  of  the  country’s  R&I  activities, 
and five private universities (University of  Nicosia, European  University of  Cyprus, 
Frederick University, Neapolis University and University of Central Lancashire in 
Cyprus) which are heavily devoted to teaching and  less focused on  R&I activities (total 
R&D  expenditure  of private universities  around €7m in 2015 compared to around €35m 
of  public  universities)  (CySTAT,  2017)5.  The  R&I  strategic  plans  of  the  three  public 
universities  have  been  adjusted  in  the  last  two  years  to  become  more  directed  towards 
the  Smart  Specialisation  Strategy  priorities,  but  their  R&I  orientation  is  still  based  on 
traditional  research  areas  (such  as  theoretical  sciences)  only  remotely  related  to  the 
S3Cy  priorities.  Another  issue  is  that  innovation  is  still  underdeveloped  in  public 
universities mainly due to legislative barriers. A new legislation, currently at the House of 
Representatives  for  discussion  and  approval,  that  promotes  commercialisation  of 
research results by public Universities approved by the Council of Ministers is expected to 
mitigate  this  gap  and  increase  the  contribution  of  public  universities  to  producing 
exploitable knowledge for the real economy.  

There  are  also  two  public  benefit  research  institutes  (The  Cyprus  Institute  and  the 
Cyprus  Institute  for  Neurology  and  Genetics)  supported  financially  by  the 
Government,  and  which  offer  Master’s  and  PhD  degrees,  but  their  main  purpose  is  to 
perform R&I activities. These are analysed further under Private Non Profit organisations 
(PNPs) below.  

A  small  number  of  public  research  performing  organisations  such  as  the  Agricultural 
Research Institute, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, the Department of 
Meteorology  and  the  State  General  Laboratory  constitute  the  last  piece  of  public  R&I 
activity in Cyprus.    

In the business sector, a paradox of having a number of particularly successful actors in 
attracting  external  R&I  funding  combined  with the  very  low  level  of  own  contribution in 
R&I  spending,  is  present.  While  Cypriot  SMEs  perform  considerably  well  in  attracting 
H2020 funding (as of July 2017, amongst the ten top organisations in Cyprus that benefit 
from H2020 funding, five are SMEs6), they spend only a trivial amount on R&I activities 
from  their  own  sources  (0.10%  of  GDP  in  2015).  An  exception  are  SMEs  active  in  the 
Information  and  Communication  Technologies  sector  (CETRI,  SIGNALGENERIX, 
CY.R.I.C, ADITESS) and two large domestic pharmaceutical companies (MEDOCHEMIE 
and REMEDICA). Another reason for the low R&I spending of the business sector is that 
almost all multinational companies that have an active presence in Cyprus are focused on 
sales and marketing, whereas their R&I activities are carried out in their headquarters or 
in other countries than Cyprus.   

In 2015, the rate of R&D performed by PNPs in Cyprus (0.07% of GDP) was significantly 
higher than the EU average level of R&D by PNPs (0.02%  of GDP). This owes largely to 
the activities of two high performing private non-profit research institutions (The Cyprus 
Institute-CyI and the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics-CING). CyI was ranked 
second in funds secured from FP7 and fourth in H2020 despite its small size compared to 
public  universities  and  CING  excels  in  health-related  R&I  activities.  A  reason  for  the 
success of the two research institutes is that they are heavily focused on multidisciplinary 
R&I  activities  which  closely  match  S3Cy  priorities  and  the  H2020  grand  societal 
challenges.  

5 

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/science_technology_91main_gr/science_technology_91ma
in_gr?OpenForm&sub=1&sel=2 

6 https://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/pdf/country-

profiles/cy_country_profile_and_featured_projects.pdf#zoom=125&pagemode=none   

6 

 
 
                                           
Figure 1: R&I system in Cyprus as in 2017: Policy-making bodies, funding instruments 
and key stakeholders 

3  R&I policies, funding trends and human resources  

Main R&I policy developments in 2017 

Document  title,  hyperlink  and  date 
of publication/announcement 

Short description 

‘European  Research 
National 
Area’ (ERA) Roadmap for Cyprus 
2016 – 2020 (May 2017) 

Legislation for the establishment 
of  a  National  Academy  of 
Sciences, 
Letters  and  Arts 
approved  by  the  Council  of 
Ministers  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  

Reform 
Promotion 
2017) 

of 

the 
Foundation 

Research 
(July 

The  National  ERA  Roadmap 
for  Cyprus 
consolidates the R&I strategy of Cyprus in a single 
document  providing 
for 
improving the five ERA pillars. It was approved by 
the Council of Ministers on the 19/07/2017. 

tangible  suggestions 

Cyprus  is  one  of  the  few  countries  that  did  not 
have a National Academy for Sciences Letters and 
Arts  until  the  end  of  2017.  This  gap  was 
addressed  with  this  policy  development  which  is 
expected  to  increase  R&I  spending  and  activities 
in  Cyprus  yet  further  and  provide  scientific 
guidance to R&I policy-makers in designing future 
R&I  policies  and  funding  schemes.  The  legislation 
was  approved  by  the  Council  of  Ministers  on  the 
31/05/2017  and  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
on 10/11/2017. 

The  Research  Promotion  Foundation  underwent  a 
substantial  reform  on  12  July  2017  aiming  at 
establishing  more  efficient  R&I  implementation 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
mechanisms in Cyprus. 

R&I funding trends 

Cyprus  managed to reach its EU 2020 R&D intensity target  of 0.5% of GDP in 2016.  In 
absolute  terms,  R&D  expenditure  has  increased  to  €91m  in  2016  up  from  €85.2m  in 
2015.  Cyprus  is  ranked  second-to-last  amongst  EU  member  states  in  terms  of  R&D 
intensity  (Romania  0.49%,  Latvia,  0.63%  and  Malta  0.77%)  and  far  below  the  EU 
average  of  2.03%.  This  outlook  is  expected  to  change  with  the  funding  brought  by  the 
RESTART  2016-2020  funding  scheme  which  is  the  first  nationally  coordinated  R&I 
Funding Programme since 2011 with a total budget of €100m for the period. It should be 
noted  that  as  the  size  of  the  Cypriot  economy  is  small,  a  high  GDP  growth  rate  may 
overshadow the rate of increase in absolute R&I spending and R&D intensity may appear 
lower than in previous years even though absolute real spending levels increase.   

The very good performance of Cyprus in securing funding from Horizon 2020  also bodes 
well for an increase of R&D intensity in the next years. Cyprus has secured  for example 
in 2017 two Teaming Phase-2 projects which have a total budget of €100m (€30m from 
the  EC  another  €30m  from  the  government  and  €40m  from  own  contribution  and  other 
sources). The impact of this funding on R&D intensity can be substantial since it can add 
around €10m to annual R&D expenditure and ceteris paribus can increase R&D intensity 
up to 0.54%. 

Figure 2: GERD by source of funds 

Data source: Eurostat, November 2017. 

Figure  2  illustrates  the  trends  of  R&D  expenditure  by  source  of  funds.  In  2015  the 
government spent €43.1m on R&D (50.6% of total spending on R&D), the private sector 
spent  €17.6m  (20.7%  of  total  spending  on  R&D)  whereas  €17.4m  came  from  the  EU 
(total from abroad at €19.6m).   

3.1  Public allocation of R&D and R&D expenditure 

In  2015,  27.4%  of  R&D  expenditures  (€23.3m)  were  financed  by  public  resources, 
compared  to  €27.7m  or  30,9%  in  2014,  while  €19.8m  came  from  the  budget  of  public 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
universities.  Public  funding  of  R&D  was  estimated  at  0.24%  of  GDP  in  2015,  and  R&D 
performed  by  the  public  sector  in  2015  at  0.06%  of  GDP.  Public  funding  has  been 
steadily decreasing since 2011 mostly because of the financial crisis. More than 86% of 
the funding for the R&D activities of the public sector comes from the government budget 
(€9.55m) whereas €0.6m comes from abroad and a negligible amount (€0.015m) comes 
from the private sector. The HES received funding to the amount of about €20m from the 
government  sector  whereas  the  R&D  activity  carried  out  by  HES  constituted  0.24%  of 
GDP  in  2015.  Funding  from  abroad  accounted  for  23%  of  total  GERD  in  2015  of  which 
88.9% concerned EU funding through ESIF for R&D and participation in Horizon 2020 and 
FP7.  

Figure 3: R&D funding by government 

Data source: Eurostat, November 2017 

3.2  Private R&D expenditure 

BERD  reached  0.10%  of  GDP  in  2015.    The  business  enterprise  sector,  Information  and 
Communication  Technologies  account  for  the  core  of  the  research  activity  with 
expenditures of €10.1m, while the contribution of the manufacturing industry (especially 
the basic pharmaceutical products and preparations industry)  amounts to €7.3m. Figure 
3 shows that the pharmaceutical industry has increased its R&D expenditure from €3.8m 
in 2014 to €5.8m in 2015 and it is the top of the manufacturing sector in R&I activities. 
This striking increase is due to the rapid development and investment in R&D by the two 
dominant  pharmaceutical  firms  of  Cyprus  (Medochemie  and  Remedica).    In  the  services 
sector, the ICT sector has also presented a notable increase from €6m in 2013 to €8m in 
2014 and to €10.1m in 2015.  

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 4: Top sectors in BERD for manufacturing and services in Cyprus 

Note: Top sectors in manufacturing (C20: Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products; C21: manufacture 
of  basic  pharmaceutical  products  and  pharmaceutical  preparations;  C26:  Manufacture  of  computer,  electronic 
and  optical  products).  Top  service  sectors  (G=wholesale  and  retail  trade,  repair  of  motor  vehicles  and 
motorcycles, J=information and communication, M=professional, scientific and technical activities). 

3.3  Supply of R&I human resources 

The latest statistics for on job-to-job mobility of human resources in science & technology 
show  a  mobility  rate  of  8,6%  in  2016  with  respect  to  2015,  marking  an  improvement 
compared to 7.4% of the same rate in 2015 with respect to the previous year7.   

In 2015 the number of persons (head-count) employed in the R&D sector was 2,921. In 
full-time  equivalent  (FTE)  terms,  this  number  is  translated  in  1,246  persons,  of  which 
509  (40,9%)  were  female  and  40,4%  were  PhD  holders.  Of  these  1,246  persons,  47% 
are employed in the tertiary education sector (universities, research institutes, colleges), 
21% in business enterprises, 18% in the public sector (excl. public universities) and 14% 
in  the  private  non-profit  sector  (CySTAT,  20178).  There  is  an  increasing  trend  for 
researchers to work in the tertiary education sector as in the period 2005-2015 there was 
an  increase  of  32%.  In  the  same  period,  employment  of  researchers  in  the  business 
sector has decreased by  2%  whereas this decrease is much higher for the public  sector 
at 38% and is probably due to the austerity measures, which resulted in drastic budget 
reduction in public authorities that carry out research. The employment of researchers in 
the private non-profit sector has more than doubled since 2005 with a 103% increase. 

DIDAKTOR (Post-Docs) is an action under the RESTART 2016-2020 Funding  Programme 
for  R&I  which  entails  the  submission  of  proposals  in  order  to  employ  post-doctorates  in 
Cypriot  organisations.  This  action  promotes  inter-sectoral  mobility  and  more  specifically 
the employment of post-doctoral fellows by business enterprises.  In the same rationale; 
the  “Integrated  Projects”  call  for  proposals  of  the  RESTART  2016-2020  Funding 
Programme,  which  promotes  the  collaboration  between  all  members  of  the  quadruple 
helix  (academia/research,  business  enterprises,  government  &  societal  stakeholders), 
includes a provision for a budget  share  floor of 35% of  each  funded  project  of business 
enterprises, with the aim to create new working positions for  early stage researchers in 
enterprises9. 

Another  important  initiative  for  inter-sectoral  mobility  at  the  early  stages  of  higher 
education  is  the  “Liaison  Offices”  project,  which  is  coordinated  by  University  of  Cyprus 
(UCY)  and  is  active  in 7  out  of  8  universities  of  Cyprus,  and  which  is  funded  by  the  EU 

7 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/hrst_fl_mobsect2  
8 

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/D858CAC4B4C0CE48C225816300308DD9/$file/R_AND
_D-DETAILED_TABLES-2015-200717.xls?OpenElement  

9 https://iris.research.org.cy/file/public/010a37d0-e404-e711-8118-005056ab0fd1  

10 

 
 
 
 
                                           
Structural  Funds  and  particularly  the  European  Social  Fund.  It  aims  at  bridging  the  gap 
between  academia  and  business  enterprises  by  matching  the  demand  and  supply  of 
specialised  human  resources.  This  takes  place  through  placements  of  university 
graduates in business enterprises, thus enabling the acquisition of working experience for 
the students and specialised expertise supply for the employers.  

The number of students in Cyprus stood at 37,166 persons for the academic year 2014-
2015  of  which  the  majority  were  females  (21,099  or  57%)  and  1,109  (3%)  were  PhD 
students10 (out of those, 619 or 56% were females). There is an increasing trend in the 
number  of  doctorate  students  between  2013  and  2015  from  829  to  1109  respectively. 
This  is  corroborated  by  the  2017  European  Innovation  Scoreboard  which  shows  that 
Cyprus  has  improved  in  2016  for  new  doctorate  students  by  27%  compared  to  the  EU 
average of 2010. More than 60% of R&D personnel employed in Cyprus is in STEM fields 
and  this  opposes  to  the  percentage  of  active  population  who  are  STEM  degree  holders 
which has been decreasing slowly but steadily from 2004 to 2013 with a total decrease of 
5.8% (from 24.2% to 22.8%). There nevertheless seems to be an improvement as far as 
the number of new graduates is concerned. Since 2015, Cyprus had 1.63 new graduates 
in  STEM  fields  per  1000s  of  population  compared  to  1.54  in  2014,  while  the 
corresponding  figure  for  the  EU28  was  2.2  (Eurostat,  201711).  An  action  plan  has  been 
put  in  place  to  increase  the  number  of  students  selecting  STEM  fields,  with  the  target 
being  20-22%  STEM  students  out  of  the  total  by  2020  (Theocharous  et  al,  2017). 
Although Cyprus has the EU's second highest tertiary education attainment rate (54.6%, 
EU  average:  38.7%)  in  2015  and  well  above  its  Europe  2020  national target  of  46%,  it 
lacks  both  STEM  graduates  and  more  importantly  employability  prospects  for  persons 
with these specialisations. This applies for younger generations as Cyprus has the highest 
level of underachievement in sciences from all EU member states, the second highest in 
Mathematics  and  the  third  highest  in  Reading12.  Also,  Cyprus  has  the  second  lowest 
employment rate (73.6%) of recent graduates of tertiary education amongst EU member 
states and compared to the EU average of 81.9%. 

4  Policies to address innovation challenges 

Challenge  1:  Establish  a  consolidated  R&I  governance  structure 
and evaluation mechanism of R&I policies 

Description 

The R&I policy system lacks systematic  long term  strategic planning based on the input 
of  all  relevant  stakeholders  and  the  outcome  of  regular  evaluation  exercises.  The  main 
R&I  policy  design  bodies  foreseen  in  the  existing  national  R&I  governance  structure, 
namely  the  National  Research  and  Innovation  Council  (NRIC)  and  the  Cyprus  Scientific 
the 
Council  (CSC)  are  currently 
aforementioned top level policy-making bodies, R&I policies are handled, to some extent, 
by the Council of Ministers and are guided primarily by the Smart Specialisation Strategy 
for  Cyprus  and  its  accompanying  Action  Plan  as  well  as  by  policy  developments  in 
associated particularly relevant areas. The Action Plan for Growth of November 2016 still 
refers  to  the  intention  to  improve  the  Research  &  Innovation  Governance  System  and 
notes that discussions on this issue are underway and are based  on  the study prepared 
by  the  National  Committee  for  Research,  Innovation  and  Technological  Development 
(NCRITD).  The  measure  that  is  related  to  the  creation  of  a  Deputy-Ministry  for  Growth 

inactive.  Therefore,  given 

inactivity  of 

the 

10 

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/D52970139DB3F939C22577300038E1AB/$file/EDUC-

TERTIARY-A2014_15-EL-161216.xls?OpenElement  

11http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php/File:Number_of_tertiary_education_graduates_by_field,_2015_(thousands)_YB17.png 

12 http://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/monitor2016_en.pdf p.86 

11 

 
 
  
                                           
and Competitiveness is also relevant as  R&I policy-making might be incorporated in the 
main duties of the aforementioned Deputy Ministry.   

The  2016  Country  Semester  report  for  Cyprus  underlines  the  need  for  a  more  concrete 
R&I  governance  structure  which  will  enable  efficient  and  focused  spending  on  R&I 
activities13. 

On top of these weaknesses there is a gap in the evaluation of R&I policies as well as an 
evaluation  of  the  impact  of  block  grants  earmarked  to  public  Universities  and  public 
benefit research institutes. As regards the evaluation of all national R&I funding schemes, 
it is noted that the National Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism which was established 
in 2015 foresees the monitoring and evaluation of all funding schemes that are included 
in the Action Plan of the Smart Specialisation Strategy. It is expected that monitoring and 
assessment will be enhanced in the near future through the use of indicators in addition 
to  progress  reports.  Furthermore,  for  the  implementation  of  the  RESTART  2016-2020 
Programme,  RPF  is  in  the  process  of  developing  a  specific  monitoring  and  evaluation 
mechanism  which  will  include  an  interim  and  final  Programme  evaluation  based  on 
analysis  of  specific  data  and  predefined  Key  Performance  Indicators,  providing  an 
independent view on the effectiveness of the Programme and the degree of achievement 
of  its  predefined  objectives.  Additionally,  the  evaluation  process  will  aim  to  capture  and 
highlight the impact and the benefit emerging from program implementation.  

Policy response 

The  competent  authority  (DG  EPCD)  has  prepared  an  overarching  R&I  policy  document 
(ERA National Roadmap for Cyprus) which comprises a number of policy suggestions that 
address  to  a  great  extent  the  challenges  identified  in  the  previous  and  current  RIO 
report. The suggestions are as follows:  

  Explore  the  possibility  of  the  establishment  of  an  Assessment  Mechanism  for 
organisations  receiving  institutional  funding,  based  on  core  principles  of 
international peer review. 

  Establishment  of  a  Monitoring  and  Evaluation  mechanism  for  the  implementation 

of national R&I policy. 

  Take political decision on the upgrade of the R&I Governance structure based on 

the recommendations of the relevant studies conducted.  

  Support  Policy  making  by  setting  up  of  Scientific  Advisory  Committee  on  R&I 

issues. 

  Use  of  indicators  in  the  monitoring  mechanism  for  the  implementation  of  the 

national Smart Specialization Strategy. 

  Evaluation  of  the  national  Framework  Programmes  through  the  systematic 
Monitoring  and  set-up  of  an  Evaluation  Mechanism  which  will  include  Annual 
Monitoring  Reports,  an  Interim  Evaluation  (by  external  experts)  in  2018  and  an 
Ex-Post Evaluation in 2023.   

In  addition,  the  Research  Promotion  Foundation  underwent  a  substantial  reform  in  July 
2017 to meet the vision of establishing more efficient R&I implementation mechanisms in 
Cyprus. 

On top of that a Bill for the creation of a Deputy Ministry for Growth and Competitiveness 
(which might also include, inter alia, the issues of research and innovation) is at the time 
of writing under discussion at the House of Representatives. 

Finally,  the  study  prepared  by  the  NCRITD  (“Innovate  Cyprus”  study)  proposes  policy 
actions towards setting a concrete R&I governance system and evaluation mechanism for 
R&I policies and funding schemes.  

13 https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2017-european-semester-country-report-cyprus-en.pdf  

12 

 
 
 
 
                                           
Assessment 

The  above  suggestions  are  still  in  the  planning  phase  with  no  tangible  actions  having 
taken  place,  yet.  The  Bill  for  the  creation  of  a  Deputy  Ministry  for  Development  and 
Competitiveness,  which  forms  an  umbrella  for  all  development-related  policies  including 
R&I, does not explicitly state that R&I will form a core part of its portfolio of activities. In 
contrast,  political  statements  of  the  Minister  responsible  for  the  Bill  have  directed 
otherwise14.  As  regards  the  current  governance  system,  it  is  noted  that  the  National 
Research  and  Innovation  Council  (NRIC)  and  the  Cyprus  Scientific  Council  (CSC)  are 
inactive and unlikely to be revived since it was judged as too bureaucratic. In reality, the 
system  stopped  operating  when  the  Chair  of  CSC  resigned  in  2014  and  from  that  point 
onwards no actions were taken at the political level to provide a replacement and sustain 
the important role that CSC could play in shaping R&I policies in Cyprus. The absence of 
an executive political supervisor for R&I seems to be the key point in establishing a solid 
R&I  governance  structure.  To  some  extent,  the  existing  gap  is  currently  filled,  by  the 
Council of Ministers. 

As  regards  the  evaluation  framework,  the  performance  indicators  set  under  different 
policy initiatives which have  significant overlap (S3Cy, National Policy Statement for the 
Enhancement  of  the  Entrepreneurial  Ecosystem,  ERA  National  Roadmap,  ESIF 
Operational Plans) could be utilised temporarily as replacement for assessment exercises 
but the need for a more comprehensive R&I evaluation mechanism remains.  

Challenge  2:  Exploit  research  results  for  creating  economic  and 

societal impact 

Description  

The  exploitation  of  research  results  in  Cyprus  is  at  a  very  low  level.  The  Global 
Entrepreneurship  Monitor  (GEM)  report  for  201615  ranks  Cyprus  as  41st  out  of  66 
countries  in  R&D  transfer  whereas  the  2016-2017  WEF  GCI  puts  Cyprus  in  the  76th 
position among 138 countries in terms of University-Industry collaboration in R&D16. The 
country’s  remarkable  score  on  community  trademarks  (275.8%  of  the  EU  average  in 
2016  based  on  EIS)  is  mainly  due  to  the  Intellectual  Property  Rights  Box  scheme, 
whereas  in  reality  the  overall  support  for  entrepreneurship  stemming  from  scientific 
knowledge  is  almost  non-existent  (Theocharous  et  al,  2017).  The  causes  for  this 
underperformance  may  lie  in  various  factors  such  as  the  very  small  size  of  the  Cypriot 
industry,  the  weakness  of  the  services  sector  to  accommodate  university-based 
innovations  (incremental  innovations  such  as  process  innovations  are  dominant  in  the 
services  sector),  the  lack  of  a  legislative  framework  which  would  allow  the  inventors  of 
public  academic  and 
the 
commercialisation of their research results and the geographical distance from the centre 
of  knowledge-intensive  industry  and  services  in  Europe.  These  factors  overshadow  the 
significant  improvement  of  Cyprus  in  terms  of  scientific  research  output  (most  cited 
publications as a % of total publications in 2016 is equal to the EU average, compared to 
53.6%  of  the  EU  average  in  2010  according  to  EIS  2017).    Also  Cyprus'  innovation 
potential  is  in  principle  high  being  ranked  at  the  17th  position  among  127  countries  for 
the  “Knowledge  and  Technology  Outputs”  category  of  the  2017  Global  Innovation 
Index17.  

to  participate 

in  Cyprus 

institutions 

research 

in 

14 

https://inbusinessnews.reporter.com.cy/financials/cyprus/article/173635/ypes-kamia-allag-sto-yfypoyrgio-
anaptyxis 

15 http://www.c4e.org.cy/reports/2017/gem-2016-2017-global-report-web-version-1486181226.pdf  
16 

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-

2017_FINAL.pdf 

17 https://www.insead.edu/sites/default/files/assets/dept/globalindices/docs/GII-2017-report.pdf  

13 

 
 
 
                                           
Finance  for  the  exploitation  of  new  science-based  knowledge  is  negligible  in  Cyprus  as 
venture  capital  and  business  angel  funding  are  still  at  an  early  stage.  Cyprus  is  ranked 
56th  out  of  66  countries  by  the  GEM  2016  report  in  entrepreneurial  finance.  Currently 
there  is  only  one  business  angel  network  operating  in  Cyprus,  the  Cyprus  Business 
Angels Network (CyBAN) which comprises 45 investors who have invested in 7 innovative 
enterprises an amount of approximately €3.6 m in the last three yearsAn amount of the 
order  of  €40  m  is  assumed  to  be  available  for  further  investments  via  this  business 
angels network18 but the time period within which it is intended to be exploited is not yet 
defined.  

Policy response  

A  Bill  for  the  modification  of  the  existing  national  legislation  governing  the  operation  of 
public universities has been forwarded to the House of Representatives for discussion and 
approval.  The  modification  aims  to  facilitate  and  encourage  the  participation  of  public 
universities  and  their  members  in  activities  to  exploit  their  scientific  findings  and 
knowledge through various channels including participation in spin-offs and start-ups.  

Along  with  the  Bill,    a  Framework  of  Principles  has  been  developed  by  the  Ministry  of 
Finance,  with  the  participation  of  stakeholders  (Ministry  of  Education  and  Culture, 
Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, DG EPCD, RPF and the three public 
Universities),  that  will  govern  activities  for  exploitation  of  scientific  findings  and 
knowledge  developed  within  public  universities.  The  objective  of  the  Framework  of 
Principles is the optimization of results and the provision of substantial flexibility to public 
universities,  while  ensuring  conformity  to  the  fundamental  missions  of  the  Universities 
(education,  research  and  innovation),  as  well  as  transparency,  control  and  absence  of 
conflict of interest.  The proposal received approval by the Council of Ministers οn 26 July 
201719. This policy development addresses to a significant extent the weakness identified 
in  the  2017  European  Semester  report  about  complex  and  lengthy  procedures  in  the 
system, lack of incentives and lack of policies promoting cooperation between academia 
(universities and research centres) and businesses. 

The RPF and MECIT have also initiated actions and policy measures under S3Cy that are 
expected  to  enhance  exploitation  and  commercialization  of  research  results.  MECIT  has 
launched  the  “Entrepreneurial  Innovation”  call  for  proposals  in  2014,  where  the 
evaluation was completed in 2017 and the first projects started at the end of 2017. The 
RPF  has  launched  a  number  of  calls  in  2017  under  the  RESTART  2016-2020  Funding 
Programme,  such  as  “Research  in  Start-Ups”,  “Industrial  Property  (Patents)”,  “Social 
Innovation”, “Proof of Concept for Technological/Knowhow Applications”, and “Innovation 
Coupons”. More calls are expected to be  launched in 2018, such as “Commercialisation 
of  Research  Results  by  Research  Organisations”  and  “Commercialisation  of  Research 
Results by Enterprises”. The National Policy of the Republic of Cyprus for Open Access to 
Scientific  Information20  was  approved  by  the  Council  of  Ministers  in  2016  and  it  will 
contribute further to enriching the levels of scientific knowledge produced and its use in 
the  creation  of  innovations  and  results  worth  commercializing  both  by  academia  and 
business enterprises. 

Two calls for the development and  operation of the Science and Technology Park in the 
area  of  Pentakomo,  Limassol,  were  launched  by  the  Ministry  of  Energy,  Commerce, 
Industry  and  Tourism  has  announced  (in  2016  and  2017  respectively).  As  both  rounds 
did  not  manage  to  attract  enough  tenders,  the  procedure  ended  with  the  temporary 
suspension  of  the  creation  a  Science  and  Technology  park.  .    The  Government  is 

18 

en.pdf  

https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2017-european-semester-national-reform-programme-cyprus-

19 http://www.cm.gov.cy/cm/cm_2013/cm.nsf/63B79BE6918CC616C22581B8003759D1/$file/83.028.pdf  
20 

http://www.dgepcd.gov.cy/dgepcd/dgepcd.nsf/B6E053491803C681C2257C7D004841CA/$file/Cyprus%20O
A%20Policy%20to%20Scientific%20Info.pdf  

14 

 
 
 
                                           
currently  examining  alternative  ways  for  enhancing  investments  in  Science  and 
Technology. 

Assessment 

Combined with the new legislation approved by the Council of Ministers (and provided it 
will  be  approved  by  the  Parliament),  which  opens  the  door  to  public  academic/research 
institutions to create spin-offs, the funding actions of RESTART 2016-2020 are expected 
to create significant demand for commercialising research results. However, the approval 
of the legislation is  an absolute prerequisite and securing that  potential modifications to 
its  provisions  will  not  hinder  full  functionality  of  the  research  results  commercialisation 
system is crucial. This undertaking has higher chances of being achieved since it does not 
require  the  existing  business  enterprise  sector  to  exceed  its  limited  capacity  and 
commercialise research results, but on the contrary, provides opportunities for new start-
ups, spin-outs and other forms of new firms to be established thus increasing the critical 
mass  of  the  business  enterprise  sector.  It  is  very  important  that  the  S3Cy  identified 
sectors are prioritised in order to improve prospects for growth and jobs. 

Challenge  3:  Enhance  R&I  activity  in  the  business  enterprise 

sector 

Description  

R&D expenditures in the business enterprise sector of Cyprus stands at only 4.7% of the 
EU average, which is one of the lowest in Europe and has slipped further below the 2010 
performance of 5.6% (EIS, 2017) while the contribution of the business enterprise sector 
in R&I expenditure is limited at only 0.10% of GDP. The WEF GCI ranking places Cyprus 
on  the  107th  position  amongst  138  countries  in  terms  of  R&D  spending  of  companies21 
which shows that Cyprus underperforms on this index. The main cause is the structure of 
the  economy  of  Cyprus  which  is  heavily  oriented  towards  services  and  very  little  on 
industry,  let  alone  high  technology  industry.  Private  R&I  investment  in  the  dominant 
economic sector of Cyprus (services) is underdeveloped and, as mentioned in Challenge 
2, innovations in the service sector are largely incremental and do not rely on R&D. The 
lack of R&I culture amongst the stakeholders  of the business enterprise sector is widely 
identified as a significant  impediment for increasing R&I activities.  Another key  obstacle 
to business R&I spending is the lack of a strong finance mechanism for providing capital 
to ambitious enterprises seeking to innovate.   

Policy response 

The  tax  incentives  for  investment  by  individuals  in  innovative  firms  adopted  in  January 
2017 are expected to increase R&I in the private sector22. These amendments to the law 
are foreseen to enhance access to equity funding for start-ups and firms with innovative 
potential,  which  will  mitigate  to  a  considerable  extent  the  inaccessibility  of  high  risk 
lending from credit institutions to these firms. 

The  establishment  of  the  Cyprus  Entrepreneurship  Fund  (CYPEF)  is  based  on  a  joint 
initiative of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Government of the Republic of 
Cyprus  (RoC)  through  DG  EPCD.  CYPEF  aims  at  facilitating  and  enhancing  access  to 
finance for SMEs through loans offered on softer terms, including reduced interest rates, 
potentially  reduced  collateral  requirements,  extended  loan  maturities  and  longer  grace 
periods.  

21 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-

2017_FINAL.pdf 

22 

http://www.dgepcd.gov.cy/dgepcd/dgepcd.nsf/All/B6BF6F86DC481EA74225811B003F8E43/$file/ERA%20R
OADMAP-FINAL%20(for%20Consultation).docx  

15 

 
 
                                           
Furthermore, the RPF has launched a number of calls in 2017 under the RESTART 2016-
2020  Funding  Programmes  which  are  expected  to  increase  R&I  spending  in  enterprises 
considerably due to the own contribution rule (usually of the order of 30% of a project’s 
budget).  The  most  important  are  “Research  in  Enterprises”  and  “Research  in  Start-Ups” 
followed  by  the  “Integrated  Projects”  (minimum  35%  of  the  call  budget  must  go  to 
enterprises).  The  presence  of  SMEs  will  also  be  important  in  the  “DIDAKTOR-Post-
Doctoral Researchers” call (the first 10 eligible proposals out of around 32  budgeted will 
go to enterprises) as well as the “Excellence Hubs” call, where the participation of SMEs 
is  encouraged.  Other  enterprise  related  significant  calls  are  currently  open  such  as  the 
“Industrial  Property 
for 
Technological/Knowhow  Applications”  and  “Eurostars  Cyprus”.  Furthermore,  “Innovation 
Coupons” call was announced in December 2017.  

“Proof  of  Concept 

Innovation”, 

(Patents)”, 

“Social 

In addition, MECIT is managing the “Entrepreneurial Innovation” call for proposals which 
announced  the  results  to  the  beneficiaries  in  March  2017.  The  first  grant  agreements 
have been signed in the period from June-August 2017 with a total budget of over €9m.  

Assessment 

All initiatives  undertaken  to  enhance  the  innovation  activities  of  the  business  enterprise 
sector  go  in  the  right  direction  and  are  likely  to  produce  visible  difference  in  R&I 
spending,  despite  the  MECIT  calls  for  proposals  which  had  significant  delays  in  being 
launched.  However,  the  full  impact  is  only  expected  in  the  long-term.  The  very  limited 
size  of  the  manufacturing  sector  coupled  with  the  nature  of  innovations  taking  place  in 
the  services  sector,  which  result  mostly  from  management  initiatives  for  improving 
processes, leave little room  for immediate improvement in increasing R&I spending in a 
robust  manner.  Beyond  the  short-term  targets  set  by  the  relevant  policies  (S3Cy, 
National Policy Statement for the Enhancement of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem) which 
are  likely  to  be  achieved,  a  major  structural  reorientation  of  the  economic  activities  of 
Cyprus  is  needed  to  change  the  landscape  in  the  next  10  years,  should  the  target  for 
increasing R&I  activities in the business sector remain as a core priority. A  strong basis 
was  created  with  the  rapid  improvement  of  the  science  infrastructures,  the  success  in 
securing  funding  from  Horizon  2020  (total  funding  and  for  the  creation  of  new  research 
centres under the Teaming call for proposals), and the quality of knowledge produced by 
the academic sector. The newly established “Open Access to Scientific Information” policy 
alongside the legislation for the creation of spin-offs and start-ups by public universities 
will also help to progressively channel this knowledge towards the creation of innovative 
products  and  services.  The  measures  taken  to  enhance  the  commercialisation  and 
exploitation  of  research  results  produced  by  academia  and  research  organisations  are 
likely  to  help  in  the  effort  of  increasing  the  size  of  the  knowledge  intensive  business 
enterprise  sector.  An  excellent  success  story  is  found  in  the  pharmaceutical  industry 
which  is  specialised  in  the  production  of  high  quality  generic  drugs  and  has  created  a 
niche  in  this  area,  exporting  to  many  other  countries  and  investing  substantially  in  R&I 
activities. 

16 

 
 
5  Focus on R&I in National and Regional Smart 

Specialisation Strategies  

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.    

New policy developments 

The most  recent developments in the implementation of S3Cy is the  successful opening 
and closing of a number of calls for proposals, especially under the RESTART 2016-2020 
Funding  Programme23  for  R&I  of  the  RPF  whereby  14  calls  are  now  closed  with  758 
proposals  received  and  a  planned  budget  of  over  €45m  (see  Table  2  in  Appendix. 
Although the remainder of the planned calls  were  expected to open by the  end  of 2017 
this did not happen for technical reasons. All remaining calls are expected to open within 
2018  with  the  exception  of  the  Central  Technology  Transfer  Office  for  which  RPF  is 
currently examining legal and State aid aspects. 

The MECIT “Entrepreneurial Innovation” call for proposals which was launched in 2014, is 
progressing with the first evaluation results of the submitted proposals announced to the 
beneficiaries  in  March  2017  and  the  first  grant  agreements  were  signed  in  the  period 
from  June-August  2017.  All  other  S3Cy  calls  under  MECIT  (Innovation  Houses, 
Innovation  Packages,  Access  to  Computational  Cloud  for  SMEs,  Business  Innovation 
Centre,  and  Innovation  Clusters)  have  not  been  launched  yet  and  there  is  an  on-going 
discussion on the form they should take and when their opening and management would 
be viable. It is highly likely given the 2017 conditions, that some of the calls will not be 
launched before late 2018 which would endanger their feasibility. 

The MARDE call (RTDI collaboration in Agriculture) was launched on the 15th of January 
2018, whereas the preparatory steps for launching the University Labour Market Liaison 
Offices scheme are underway.  

Progress on implementation 

The  S3Cy  measures  consist  of  a  mixture  of  collaborative  research  projects,  mono-
beneficiary grants and indirect funding with the lion’s share of budget being allocated to 
collaboration.  Integrated  projects  are  calls  for  proposals  which  require  or  encourage 
collaboration  (Excellence  Hubs,  New  Strategic  Infrastructures,  Post-docs,  Research  in 

23 Figures related to the implementation of RESTART 2016-2020 Programmes of the RPF, cover the period from 

September 2016 to May 2017. 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Enterprises)  whereas  other  calls  refer  to  a  single  beneficiary  (Research  in  Start-Ups) 
and/or come in the form of a small lump sum (Innovation Vouchers, Industrial Property, 
Encouragement, Complementary Funding).  

6 

under 

Environment, 

Construction/Built 

For  the  MECIT  “Entrepreneurial  Innovation”  call  for  proposals,  224  proposals  were 
submitted, of which 84 were approved for funding with a total budget of €10m. Of these 
84  proposals,  8  fall  under  the  Tourism  priority,  6  under  “Energy”,  9  under 
Agriculture/Food, 
under 
Transportation/Shipping  and  7  under  Health.  Thirty-nine  proposals  fall  under  the 
horizontal priority of IT/KET. The “Entrepreneurial Innovation” call is expected to enhance 
R&I  and  competitiveness  of  SMEs  by  strengthening  the  potential  for  private  investment 
through  own  capital  investment  for  carrying  out  the  project,  and  by  attracting  external 
investments to the enterprises that bring innovation products/services to the market. In 
terms  of  S3Cy  priorities,  Figure  4  shows  their  allocation under  the  RESTART  2016-2020 
scheme24.  24  proposals  were  received  under  Tourism,  77  proposals  under  Energy,  47 
proposals under Agriculture/Food, 39 proposals under Construction/Built Environment, 20 
proposals  under  Transport/Shipping  and  232  proposals  under  Health.  The  Horizontal 
priorities were also of increased interest since ICT attracted 122 proposals whereas under 
Environment  42  proposals  were  submitted.  As  some  calls  allowed  the  free  selection  of 
thematic  orientation  without  the  prerequisite  of  focusing  on  an  S3Cy  priority,  120 
proposals were classified as “Other”, meaning that they fell outside the S3Cy priorities.   

6 

Not classified, 1 

Tourism, 24 

Energy , 77 

Agriculture - 
Food Industry, 
47  Built 
Environment - 
Construction 
Industry, 39 

Transport - 
Shipping, 20 

Health, 232 

Other, 120 

Information 
and 
Communication 
Technologies, 
122 

Sustainable 
Growth - 
Environment, 
42 

Figure  5:  Number  of  total  proposals  submitted  under  RESTART  2016-2020  per  S3Cy 
sector of priority (available only for 11 calls and 724 proposals) 

From  the  proposals  submitted  under  RESTART  2016-2020  it  is  obvious  that  the  top 
priority (Tourism) has not attracted much interest by the R&I stakeholders (24 proposals, 
penultimate  amongst  S3Cy  priorities).  On  contrary  Health  is  by  far  the  sector  with  the 
highest  number  of  proposals  received  (232),  which  are  almost  double  the  next  highest 
S3Cy priority (ICT, 122 proposals). Also, the placement of ICT as horizontal priority may 
need  to  be  reconsidered  since  it  constitutes  a  key  strength  for  Cyprus  in  terms  of  R&I 
capacity and its inclusion as main S3Cy priority could be the way forward to reflect this 
high potential. 

In  terms  of  the  type  of  organisation,  with  specific  interest  in  entrepreneurs,  out  of  the 
1672 participants, 502 or 30% were enterprises, 521 or 31.2% were Universities, 306 or 
18.3%  were  research  institutes,  195  or  11.7%  were  other  public  organisations  and  147 
or 8.8% were from the private sector (but not enterprises). This distribution shows that 
enterprises form the second highest participant almost on par with the academic sector. 

24 Figures related to the implementation of RESTART 2016-2020 Programmes of the RPF, cover the period from 

September 2016 to May 2017. 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                           
From  the  502  participations  of  enterprises,  408  were  from  small  enterprises,  40  from 
medium  enterprises,  12  from  enterprises  under  establishment  (start-ups)  and  42  from 
large enterprises. The total budget requested by enterprises was €63.4m with their own 
potential contribution amounting to nearly €16m (25%)25.  

Monitoring mechanisms and the feedback loop 

The S3Cy monitoring mechanism for Cyprus relies on periodic evaluations by the National 
Monitoring and Evaluation Committee consisting of DG EPCD and the involved policy and 
implementation bodies (RPF, MECIT, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cyprus 
Employers  and  Industrialists  Federation,  Rectors’  Synod  and  Synod  of  Directors  of 
Research  Institutes,).  The  last  meeting  of  the Committee  took  place in  March  2017  and 
so  far  the  feedback  provided  to  the  Committee  was  related  to  the  progress  in  terms  of 
the  opening  of  the  planned  calls,  since  the  first  projects  will  commence  officially  by  the 
end  of  2017  (Entrepreneurial  Innovation  call  for  proposals).  The  corrective  actions  that 
are likely to occur in 2018 concern the MECIT calls for proposals not yet launched, in the 
form  of  restructuring  for  efficiency  reasons.  MECIT  is  understaffed,  due  to  personnel 
reductions  that  took  place  to  tackle  the  financial  crisis,  and  the  processes  for  the  final 
design  of  the  schemes  along  with  the  submission,  evaluation  and  monitoring  of  the 
proposals to be  received are heavily bureaucratic. The foreseen solution is an electronic 
submission  system  which  has  already  been  introduced  for  the  call  of Youth  and  Women 
Entrepreneurship as a pilot project to be used for the rest of the calls.  

Evidence of impact 

There is no evidence of impact at this stage since all S3Cy-related calls for proposals that 
were  launched  are  either  at  the  phase  of  proposal  evaluation  (RESTART  2016-2020)  or 
initial funding allocation (MECIT-Entrepreneurial Innovation). This is demonstrated in the 
interim evaluations of the S3Cy and the ESIF Operational Programmes of Cyprus, which 
include  the  S3Cy  calls  and  mark  all  key  performance  indicators  as  being  non-applicable 
or null. The expected impact can be estimated judging on the volume of response by the 
Cypriot R&I community to the S3Cy calls for proposals per S3Cy priority, technology area 
and other horizontal priorities as analysed above.  

25 

http://www.research.org.cy/images/media/assetfile/%CE%91%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%
81%CE%AC_0916_0517.pdf 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
References 

DG  EPCD  National  ‘European  Research  Area’  (ERA)  Roadmap  for  Cyprus  2016  –  2020, 
(2017) 

National ‘European Research Area’ (ERA) Roadmap for Cyprus 2016 – 2020 (May 2017)  

European  Commission  (2017),  European  Semester  Country  Report  -  Autumn  forecast 
2017, 
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2017-european-semester-
Cyprus: 
country-report-cyprus-en.pdf  

European 
https://ec.europa.eu/digitalsingle-market/en/scoreboard/cyprus   

Commission 

(2016), 

Digital 

Scoreboard, 

Cyprus: 

Commission 

European 
2015: 
Education 
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/tools/docs/2015/monito 
r2015-cyprus_en.pdf    

Training  monitor 

(2015), 

and 

European  Commission  (2016),  Commission  Staff  Working  Document,  Country  Report 
Cyprus 2016: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/csr2016/cr2016_cyprus_en.pdf   

European Innovation Scoreboard (2017) 

http://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/23882  

JRC-IPTS (2015), Stairway to Excellence Facts and Figures: Cyprus 

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/20182/117536/S2E_CY_national_profile.p
df/0e48b26a-e213-4d56-9fa8-9b7b82b6643b   

National  Committee  for  Research  Innovation  and  Technological  Development,  “Innovate 
Cyprus”:  Proposal  for  the  Creation  for  a  New  Unified  National  Framework  for  Research, 
Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Cyprus (2014)  

National Strategy for Smart Specialisation for Cyprus -S3Cy (2015) 

http://www.DGEPCD.gov.cy/DGEPCD/DGEPCD.nsf/8D2524E208568FECC2257C7D004872
29/$file/S3CY_FINAL%20corrections%2031032015.pdf  

Research Promotion Foundation (2017): http://www.research.org.cy/  

Research Promotion Foundation (2017), “RESTART 2016-2020 funding scheme for RTDI: 
Work  Programme”  https://iris.research.org.cy/file/public/010a37d0-e404-e711-8118-
005056ab0fd1  

(2014), 
S3 
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/peer-reviews-cases   

Platform 

RIS3 

Peer-Review 

Report 

Cyprus. 

20 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
SBA Fact Sheet Cyprus (2016) 

http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/22382/attachments/6/translations/en/renditi
ons/pdf  

Statistical 
http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/B49A931B5B13AB74C225815D0031
89DF?OpenDocument&sub=1&sel=1&e=&print  

consulted 

Service 

Cyprus 

August 

(last 

of 

2017): 

Strogylopoulos, G. and Harrap, N. (2015), Stairway to Excellence country report Cyprus. 
European Commission, Joint Research Centre: 

http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC97918/s2e%20report%20cy
prus%20-%20final.pdf    

Theocharous, A., Gampfer, R. and Robledo-Bottcher, N. (2017) RIO Country Report 2016 
Cyprus: https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/file/10749/download?token=lIER9-5k 

Tsipouri,  L.,  Athanassopoulou,  S.  and  Gampfer,  R.  (2016),  RIO  Country  Report  2015 
Cyprus: https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/file/9457/download?token=_ThM2erZ   

Unit  of  Administrative  Reform  Presidency  (2015),  National  Policy  Statement  for  the 
Enhancement of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Cyprus. 

http://www.reform.gov.cy/en/growthreform/entrepreneurship-and-investments/setting-
up-a-policy-framework-for-theenhancement-of-the-entrepreneurial-ecosystem  

Unit  for  Administrative  Reform  Presidency  (2016):    Revised  Action  Plan  for  Growth 
https://issuu.com/presidency-reform-cyprus/docs/revised_action_plan_for_growth  

Unit for Administrative Reform Presidency (2015): Action Plan for Growth, Third Progress 
Report, 
https://issuu.com/presidency-reform-
cyprus/docs/apologismos_nov._2016  

November 

2016. 

World Bank (2016), Doing Business 2017 

 http://www.doingbusiness.org/~/media/WBG/DoingBusiness/Documents/Annual-
Reports/English/DB17-Report.pdf  

World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index 2016-2017 (2017)  

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-
2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-2017_FINAL.pdf  

21 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
Abbreviations 

BERD: Business Expenditure for Research and Development  

CTTO: Central Technology Transfer Office  

CSC: Cyprus Scientific Council 

CyBAN: Cyprus Business Angels Network 

CYPEF: Cyprus Entrepreneurship Fund  

DG EPCD: Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development  

EC: European Commission 

EIS: European Innovation Scoreboard  

ERA: European Research Area  

EU: European Union  

EU28: European Union 28 Member States  

GDP: Gross Domestic Product  

GEM: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report 

GERD: Government Expenditure for Research and Development 

GII: Global Innovation Index  

GVA: Gross Value Added 

HEI: Higher Education Institution  

HES: Higher Education Sector  

ICT: Information and Communications Technology  

IPR: Intellectual Property Rights 

ISI: Institute for Scientific Information 

MARDE: Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment  

MECIT: Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism 

NRIC: National Research and Innovation Council 

NCRITD: National Committee for Research, Innovation and Technological Development  

PCT: Patent Cooperation Treaty 

RESTART 2016-2020: Funding Programme for Research, Technological Development and 

Innovation for the period 2016-2020 

RoC: Republic of Cyprus 

RTDI: Research, Technological Development and Innovation  

R&D: Research and Development  

R&I: Research and Innovation  

RPF: Research Promotion Foundation  

SAFE: Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises 

SME: Small and Medium-sized Enterprise  

STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics  

S3Cy: Smart Specialisation Strategy of Cyprus 

UCY: University of Cyprus 

WEF GCI: World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index 

22 

 
 
  
 
 
Factsheet 

23 

2009201020112012201320142015201620172018GDP per capita (euro per capita)2310023300232002260021000207002090021300Value added of services as share of the total value added (% of total)79.5980.983.2384.9586.4987.2386.886.51Value added of manufacturing as share of the total value added (%)6.125.815.214.674.324.654.845.03Employment in manufacturing as share of total employment (%)9.368.988.698.327.977.737.757.77Employment in services as share of total employment (%)73.6374.5575.877.0679.0479.9680.0580.08Share of Foreign controlled enterprises in the total nb of enterprises (%)0.590.630.650.640.650.630.63Labour productivity (Index, 2010=100)98.4100101.1101.6103.3104.3105105.3New doctorate graduates (ISCED 6) per 1000 population aged 25-340.180.150.260.260.260.340.310.47Summary Innovation Index (rank)1514131414181820Innovative enterprises as a share of total number of enterprises (CIS data) (%)42.141.8Innovation output indicator (Rank, Intra-EU Comparison)12131210Turnover from innovation as % of total turnover (Eurostat)14.711.4Country position in Doing Business (Ease of doing business index WB)(1=most business-friendly regulations)6047454553Ease of getting credit (WB GII) (Rank)563955EC Digital Economy & Society Index (DESI) (Rank) 23222122E-Government Development Index Rank64Online availability of public services – Percentage of individuals having interactions with public authorities via Internet (last 12 months)242529303041343842GERD (as % of GDP)0.440.450.460.440.480.510.480.5GBAORD (as % of GDP)0.450.420.410.360.330.350.340.33R&D funded by GOV (% of GDP)0.310.310.320.280.290.270.24BERD (% of GDP)0.090.080.070.070.090.110.110.17Research excellence composite indicator (Rank)171817171717Percentage of scientific publications among the top 10% most cited publications worldwide as % of total scientific publications of the country7.479.497.028.859.62Public-private co-publications per million population17.5728.0822.6319.7213.866.997.08World Share of PCT applications0.010.0100.0100.010.01Global Innovation Index2730343130 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table  1:  Number  of  submitted  proposals,  budget  and  requested  funding  per  RESTART 
2016-2020 call for proposals that closed in 2017 

No. 

Call for proposals  

Call budget (€) 

No. of 
submitted 
proposals 

Budget of 
submitted 
proposals (€) 

Requested 
funding (€) 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

INTEGRATED PROJECTS 

12,000,000 

COMPLEMENTARY FUNDING 

4,000,000 

RESEARCH IN 
ENTERPRISES 

POST-DOCs 

BILATERAL-FRANCE 

NEW INFRASTRUCTURES 

EXCELLENCE HUBS 

RESEARCH IN START-UPS 

PPSUGI 

EUROSTARS CYPRUS (0117) 

PPSOLAR 

SOCIAL INNOVATION 

PROOF OF CONCEPT 

EUROSTARS CYPRUS (0717) 

4,000,000 

4,800,000 

30,000 

8,000,000 

10,100,000 

250,000 

400,000 

400,000 

400,000 

600.000 

250,000 

400,000 

53 

1 

77 

193 

4 

63 

284 

31 

3 

6 

9 

14 

13 

7 

56,279,238 

47,047,743 

34,213 

34,212 

19,790,258 

15,479,237 

28,716,629 

28,189,706 

19,904 

19,904 

63,818,865 

62,372,845 

64,202,335 

62,951,480 

1,870,408 

1,515,132 

482,293 

1,248,574 

482,293 

881,028 

1,695,549 

1,451,149 

1,400,000e 

1,400,000e 

464,300e 

325,000e 

1,750,000e 

1,225,000e 

TOTAL 

45,630,000 

758 

241,872,566 

223,374,729 

e=estimate 

24 

 
 
 
 
 
 
List of figures 

Figure 1: R&I system in Cyprus as in 2017: Policy-making bodies, funding instruments 
and key stakeholders ............................................................................................. 7 

Figure 2: GERD by source of funds ......................................................................... 8 

Figure 3: R&D funding by government .................................................................... 9 

Figure 3: Top sectors in BERD for manufacturing and services in Cyprus ....................10 

Figure 4: Number of total proposals submitted under RESTART 2016-2020 per S3Cy 
sector of priority (available only for 11 calls and 724 proposals) .................................18 

List of tables 

Table 1: Number of submitted proposals, budget and requested funding per RESTART 
2016-2020 call for proposals that closed in 2017 ......................................................24 

25 

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doi:10.2760/8524 

ISBN 978-92-79-81194-4