Blockchain and DLTs as part of the National Strategy

The Council of Ministers approved the National strategy on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) on the 18th of June 2019. Following the announcement of the National Strategy on Blockchain and DLTs the sub-committees on both the technological and the legal and regulatory framework are intensively working on implementing the National Strategy.

Among the first steps of the implementation of the National Strategy is the identification and selection of the most prominent use cases in order to proceed with the formation of Proof of Concepts. This effort is led by The Chief Scientist for Research and Innovation and his team. Moreover, there is work in progress for introducing the legal framework for blockchain technologies.

Finally, a call for interest will be announced within September for stakeholders in Cyprus that have an interest in these technologies, in order to initiate the formation of a community of practice for Blockchain and DLTs.

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships for Foreign Scholars and Artists

The Ministry of Education announced that Switzerland grants scholarships to foreign students including citizens of the Republic of Cyprus for studies in Universities and Research Swiss centers for the academic year 2020-2021 in the following:

Swiss Government Excellence Arts Scholarships for foreign students
PhD Scholarships
Postdoctoral Scholarships
Research Fellowship

More information can be found on http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/scholar
ships_eng

Those interested should email Swiss Embassy in Nicosia at nicosia@eda.admin.ch for further documentation.
Deadline for submission of applications electronic applications October 1st 2019.

European Researcher’s Night coming up in September

A great opportunity for creative night-time dedicated to science and research will take place on September 27th during the “European Researchers’ Night” an event organized by the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) in collaboration with academic and research institutions as well as other organisations in Cyprus.

The event is an initiative of the European Commission and takes place simultaneously in almost all European countries.

Audiences of different ages will have the opportunity to meet up with Cypriot researchers and see their work, in a festive, friendly atmosphere. In each stand researchers will present their work and inform the public about the role and importance of research in the modern world as well as the practical applications of their research results in everyday life. At the same time, participants will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on experiments and become researchers for one night!

The “European Researchers’ Night 2019” in Cyprus is funded by the European Commission under the “Horizon 2020” Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (Project No. 818355).

Cabinet approves creation of investment fund

The cabinet on Wednesday 21st of August approved the creation of an investment fund aimed at boosting economic growth, support startups and foster business innovation, according to a proposal put forth by Finance Minister Harris Georgiades.

The fund, which will fall under the regulation and framework of the Securities and Exchange Commission, will receive an initial sum of €20 million from the state, government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said, but he specified the government will have no say in the fund, which will operate on strictly business criteria and will follow international standards on management and investment.

“It will be an innovation, a mechanism which will support efforts for growth and in particular innovation, startups, given that the state can take the initiative but will have no say in the decision making,” spokesman said to the reporters.

The proposal was put forth by Mr. Georgiades and is set to be an alternative source of funding so as to ensure the banking sector is not the only source of funds to entrepreneurship, according to Mr. Prodromou and is a practice carried out in several economically developed countries.

According to Mr. Prodromou, the finance minister had also told the council of ministers that the state revenues were significantly increasing in the first six months, with lower expenditures – or more specifically, half the expenditures.

This allowed the state to have a significant surplus during this period, with a low inflation rate of about 0.5 per cent, while public debt is around 96 per cent but falling – after a spike, following the co-op bank demise.

Philippos Patsalis interviewed about PreSENTIA

NBRI President and NIPD Genetics Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Philippos Patsalis has given an interview to philenews.com discussing about PreSENTIA a new generation test for identifying genetic mutations with cancer susceptibility.

Among other, Dr Patsalis explains that PreSENTIA has an extensive portfolio of 19 hereditary cancer panels. Each panel focuses on a specific set of genes that have high susceptibility to cancer predisposing syndromes, that in turn have increased risk of causing cancer.

Read the full interview here.

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