Gov’t to establish research and innovation council
GreenForest, Aerotechniki opt for greener business
A foreign exchange trading platform, a landscaping and garden centre, an eco-friendly odour filtering system and the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics were the four winners of the annual Innovation Awards announced last week. In all, 26 companies and organisations had applied.
The awards, organised by the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Research Promotion Foundation and the University of Cyprus were presented in four categories representing each sector of the economy: Primary (Green Forest Nursery), Manufacturing (ZZ Aerotechniki), Services (FxPro Financial Services) and Public (CING).
In his address read at the awards ceremony, Commerce and Industry Minister Antonis Paschalides announced that the government has decided to double the state grant for next year’s awards as part of its contribution towards achieving the European Union’s “2020 Development Strategy” to ‘promote innovation’ through “the successful creation, incorporation and use of something new, in an economic and social level”.
Within this policy, the government plans to establish a National Research and Innovation Council, as well as the Cyprus Scientific Council, both of which will operate under the direct authority of the president of the Republic.
In his speech, Paschalides reiterated the government’s commitment to investment in research, adding that such measures would help widen the country’s research, technological and innovation boundaries.
He concluded that the ministry is going ahead with plans to set up the technology park at Pentakomo, near Limassol, that will include research facilities and incubator programmes.
BLOW TO ECONOMY
However, in his response, OEV chairman Philios Zachariades criticised government plans that “will increase taxation and the cost of operation of businesses which is contrary to all efforts to promote research and innovation.”
“Beyond the blow that many companies have received because of the worldwide economic crisis, any proposals to hike taxes is a further blow from the home front,” Zachariades said.
“The economic crisis can only be overcome through development and innovation is the vehicle that will drive us towards the path of development and growth. Innovation helps improve competitiveness, raises levels of productivity, quality and added value, projecting a healthy image in the marketplace to the satisfaction of customers and associates,” he said.
The OEV chairman added that the employers’ federation has initiated its own “Innovation Society” programme that aims to streamline all innovative efforts through one channel, utilise links between professionals and interested parties in order to achieve productive levels of innovation, and the exchange of experiences and solutions among professionals in the field.
In his comments, the chairman of selection committee, Dr Andreas Moleskis, said that “innovation should be our response to the challenges of the world financial crisis.”
THE WINNERS
Green Forest Nursery in Paphos, is a landscaping and maintenance company estabslihed by Tryfonas Tryfonos that developed an innovative garden centre that includes the cultivation and resale of plants, as well as nursery and gardening services.
ZZ Aerotechniki in Nicosia, founded by Zenios Zeniou, has developed, designed and manufactured a unique odour filtering system that helps resolve the problem of smells emitted by organic substances.
The Cyprus Institute of Neurological and Genetic Studies is based in Nicosia and has developed DNA research in diagnostics for common and rare diseases, many of which are clearly unique to the Cypriot community and region.
MARKET LEADER
Finally, Limassol-based FxPro has grown in the past three years from a small team of 20 staff to a rapidly expanding family of 180 people with a presence in seven countries.
“FxPro is a global success story… but the real innovation was within our IT – we developed processes to enable clients who needed one or two days to initiate an account to go down to 5 minutes… and that truly gave global exposure to FxPro, which is why our services are preferred by traders from 120 countries and in 17 different languages,” explained the company’s Director of International Operations, George Xydas.
“We listened to our clients and addressed issues through innovation”, he said, adding that “our vision is to become the world’s preferred FX broker. We’re not there yet… we see ourselves growing into an even stronger company in the next 2-3 years, so that’s our challenge!”
FxPro is authorised and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and operates under the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) with a presence in the UK, France, Spain, Austria, Russia, Greece and Cyprus.
