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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - KIOS CoE (KIOS Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence)

Teaser

Summary

The KIOS Center of Excellence (KIOS CoE)Teaming project involves its significant upgrade from a research center at the University of Cyprus into a world-class Center of Excellence in Cyprus. The project involves the teaming with Imperial College London an institution with advanced research and innovation capabilities. The project is a significant and an exceptional opportunity to establish a flagship research and innovation Center of excellence capable of stimulating the creation and growth of a regional industrial ecosystem with major economic and societal benefits for Cyprus and Europe. In the next few years, KIOS will employ 150-200 researchers, will develop significant infrastructure, new research activities, collaborations with industry and will capture new opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. The project will help to create a Center of Excellence capable of boosting performance in research and innovation in Cyprus and most importantly provide employment opportunities for young researchers. The vision is to develop excellent interdisciplinary research on a global scale and produce new knowledge and important tools that can be applied to solve real-life problems by conducting cutting-edge multidisciplinary research and innovation in the area with emphasis on the Monitoring, Control, Security and Management of Critical Infrastructure Systems (e.g. power and energy systems, water networks, transportation networks, telecommunication networks and emergency management and response). The KIOS CoE involves the development of a critical mass of highly qualified researchers to address challenges that are at the forefront of technology, both at the research and innovation levels. Moreover, the project is helping to establish significant infrastructure to support the development of innovative research and in turn enable KIOS to secure further research funding and to become sustainable in the long term.
Strategic objectives: Grow and enhance the human resources capacity of the KIOS CoE;Build the infrastructure capacity of the KIOS CoE; Expand the scope of research excellence in monitoring, control, management and security of critical infrastructure systems ; Pioneer high-impact innovation and entrepreneurship in Critical Infrastructure Systems applications ;Achieve long-term sustainability of the KIOS CoE ; Contribute towards the transformation of the research and innovation culture of Cyprus ; Establish an expanded and versatile organisational structure to support the KIOS CoE activities.

Work performed

In the 2nd period, the KIOS CoE has made key advancements across all pillars of its transformation to a world-class center of excellence with a visible impact, both at the research level, as well as at the socio-economic level.
Organizational Transformation: Currently, KIOS CoE is the only research unit at the University of Cyprus that operates in this way and as a Center of Excellence.The KIOS CoE has established decision making structures, particularly in the areas of strategic planning and prioritising, recruitment and hiring, management of resources, and financing ( its own electoral body for hiring new personnel). Furthermore, a layer of administration has been removed enabling decisions to be taken by the KIOS Executive Committee.
During the first project period, the Center accomplished to hire administrative and research personnel of high caliber, enriching its organizational structure with highly qualified personnel (administrators, Communication Manager, Innovation Hub Manager), top class researchers (post-doctoral researchers and Ph.D. students), as well as software developers to transform the research results to tools that can be used in practice by the Centerâ€™s industrial partners. Currently, the Center employs 87 researchers and 17 faculty members (at various ranks/levels). At the KIOS CoE spoke there are a further 4 researchers, 5 Faculty members and 3 administrators supporting the project.
Education and Training: One of the most important highlights is the development of the post-graduate program â€œMaster of Science in Intelligent Critical Infrastructure Systemsâ€, in collaboration with the advanced partner, Imperial College London. The program has been evaluated by an international expert evaluation committee and has been approved with high accolades from the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education. The approval is a pre-requisite for new degree programs in Cyprus. The program will admit its first students in September 2019 and will run in the English language.
Innovation Hub (IH): KIOS CoE strives to create a regional research and innovation ecosystem in the area of ICT, resulting in major economic and societal benefits for Cyprus and Europe as a whole, by cultivating a vibrant research and innovation cluster in high technology areas linking universities, technology companies and end users, government agencies, as well as enterprise support companies. A major pillar of KIOS comprises the KIOS Innovation Hub, which involves the significant expansion of the Centerâ€™s activities in the areas of innovation and technology transfer. The IH was established, hiring key personnel and signing agreements with six governmental and private organisations.
Critical Infrastructure Systems Testbeds:As one of the pillars of the KIOS CoE, the Testbeds serve several objectives that contribute towards achieving excellence in both Research and Innovation, and are expected to contribute significantly towards the sustainability of the KIOS CoE. Five main testbeds are being developed, each one of which will be related to one of the main application areas of KIOS, namely power systems, water networks, transportation systems, water networks and cyber-physical system security.For each individual testbed, detailed functional requirements, user and system-level require-ments, and front-end specifications have been developed. Furthermore, the testbed implementation has also been initiated. For example, the power systems testbed is already partly implemented in the KIOS CoE laboratory, while the procurement process for part of the systems equipment has been completed. A task force is also working on the cyber-physical system security testbed that is expected to be a horizontal testbed linking all the critical infrastructure testbeds.
Open Knowledge: To initiate the Open Knowledge pillar, an Open Access Committee (OAC) has been formed and has created the KIOS CoE Open Knowledge Portal on the

Final results

The activity KIOS CoE project contribute significantly to research and innovation in Cyprus with the following expected impacts: A. Increase the Scientific Capabilities of Cyprus through education and training programs, the KIOS CIS testbeds, the Open Knowledge pillar as well as though networking and links to innovations clusters. B. Increase the competitive funding received from International fora again through training, networking and the KIOS Innovation Hub, and the KIOS CoE testbeds. C.Significantly improve the research and innovation culture of Cyprus by engaging other Cyprus-based organizations in research and innovation activities, networking and the KIOS Innovation Hub activities as well as the Open Knowledge pillar.