Cyprus Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriakos Kokkinos and Greek counterpart Christos Dimas have discussed joint synergies and partnerships to deepen and broaden cooperation in these fields.
Kokkinos said that they discussed how the two countries` research and technology ecosystems could be even closer.
“We have common goals, common visions, common challenges and common problems regarding our young people, our research world, the business innovation and the business community.”
The Greek Deputy Minister said that the goal was to further deepen and expand cooperation between Greece and Cyprus in the field of research and innovation.
Dimas said that they discussed ways to update the Greece-Cyprus Agreement in the field of research and innovation and the two Ministries are working on that issue.
He added that the goal of innovation was to change the know-how, to bring the two ecosystems closer and to create meaningful actions with mutual benefit.
Kokkinos said there was very well-established cooperation in the scientific, research and business world in the pursuit of European programs and the participation in them, noting that Greece was the second largest ally of Cyprus after the UK.
He argued what was missing was the support of the state to strengthen that cooperation.
Both countries suffer from the same problem, they invest in young people to study, who eventually stay abroad because they do not have opportunities in Cyprus or Greece to capitalise on their knowledge skills.
Dimas said that in recent years there is a large number of academics and students in Cyprus, that unlike Greece, also has private universities.
“The aim is to see how we can make the most of the presence of the Greek scientific community in Cyprus, for closer relations that we believe will result in a direct benefit for both countries.”
He also noted that in Greece, due to the financial crisis, many scientists are working abroad and that there should be substantial incentives in order to repatriate them.
Kokkinos said the aim was also to make synergies and collaborations with Greek and Cypriot scientist abroad.
