Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RISE (Research Center on Interactive Media, Smart System and Emerging Technologies)

Teaser

Ivory-tower research and business, as usual, will not help Cyprus rise out of the RTDI (research, technology development and innovation) doldrums in which it has found itself, with the fourth lowest R&D intensity score in Europe (Eurostat, 2019). However, innovative innovation...

Summary

Ivory-tower research and business, as usual, will not help Cyprus rise out of the RTDI (research, technology development and innovation) doldrums in which it has found itself, with the fourth lowest R&D intensity score in Europe (Eurostat, 2019). However, innovative innovation instigated by centres of excellence such as the Research centre on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies—or, RISE—will bring research and industry together to boost economic growth and ensure long-term prosperity.

In the heart of the capital city of an island at the geographic crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa, RISE’s unparalleled team strives to harness the power of cutting-edge research for wider advancement, beyond the confines of academia or any laboratory. Led by the Municipality of Nicosia, RISE links Cyprus’ three public universities (the University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology and the Open University of Cyprus) with two of Europe’s leading science and innovation centres, University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. Together, this powerhouse of organizations will design human-inspired technologies to work “in the wild”.

Hosted in the historic centre of Nicosia with an island-wide view of development and a regional perspective, RISE is part of the city’s wider strategy of promoting inclusive innovation and an entrepreneurial ecosystem—both key aspects of economic competitiveness and sustainability in today’s world. RISE will be catalytic, complementing other infrastructures and services while mobilizing significant knowledge networks, engaging underutilized social capital and reversing brain drain. Further, it will provide a solid scientific base and an enabling environment in which start-ups and other innovators can experiment and ultimately flourish. Appropriately located within Nicosia’s designated Quarter of Creative Industries, RISE will become a hub of activity that bridges the unproductive gaps between mindsets, sectors, communities and regions.

Specifically, RISE’s overarching goals can be summarized as (a) scientific: increasing research relevance and performance; (b) economic: supporting innovation and competitiveness and (c) societal: stoking the fires of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Work performed

During this reporting period, RISE did the painstaking work of laying its all-important foundations and solidifying its relationship with its founding partners who have supported it administratively and operationally. RISE was founded in early 2018 as a non-profit legal entity in the Republic of Cyprus and joined the Consortium as an autonomous and equal beneficiary in mid-2018. The Board of Directors has been seeded with senior members of the founding partners and supplemented with independent non-executive directors. In turn, the Board of Directors has recruited a senior executive team made up the General Director (CEO), as well as Research, Innovation and Operations Directors, each responsible for their respective departments. The Centre’s Board and its executive team operate autonomously with their own decision-making processes. With guidance and assistance from the Consortium, essential institutional procedures and processes have been put into place to ensure effective operations and goal-oriented success. These will be refined going forward.

Importantly, RISE has drafted its first biennial strategic plan outlining the focus and direction of activity across the Research, Innovation and Operations departments. Administratively, the Board has been supported by the Consortium, as well as PwC Cyprus who has expertise in accounting and recruitment.

Also, within this first reporting period, RISE began to bring its various teams online. The Research Department has formed 10 Multidisciplinary Research Groups (MRG). Each MRG team is led by an academic from one of the Cypriot public universities and together they employ 22 researchers. In addition, the Research Support Unit has been created; its 2 staff members support RISE’s participation in the Teaming action, as well as the MRGs with preparation and submission of grant applications. The Operations Department has employed 5 persons. Additional roles across all departments have been identified, defined and announced; they will be filled in within the next reporting period, with particular emphasis on initializing the Innovation Department. Overall, RISE currently has 41 members of staff and expects to grow 86 by the end of the second reporting period.

In terms of premises, the Consortium has secured the in-kind contribution of PwC Cyprus in the form of a serviced open-plan office and meeting rooms in central Nicosia. These premises were used for the entirety of the first reporting period while others were being readied to meet RISE’s growing need for renovated and well-equipped offices and labs. A makerspace and co-working area will continue to be hosted in PwC’s Julia House, but starting in the second quarter of 2019, RISE will occupy two floors of the Tryfonos building in the central square of Nicosia where it plans to inaugurate a set of dedicated laboratories including the Fabrication Lab, Virtual Reality Studio and Smart and Robotics Lab

Programmatically, RISE has already begun to act as a centre of scientific exchange and entrepreneurial thinking. It has organized two international scientific conferences, multiple invited talks, a science communication talk and a workshop on innovation in agriculture, one of Cyprus’ Smart Specialization Strategy areas. RISE’s associates have also participated in several related workshops on scientific topics and in policy areas. RISE has also been earnest and consistent in its efforts to engage Turkish Cypriots in all aspects of its work from direct employment to public outreach, not as add-ons but as an integral part of its development and success.

At the policy level, the Consortium has engaged Cypriot and European policy-makers to promote its transformative agenda and kick-start the dialogue necessary for improving the research and innovation landscape in Cyprus and the broader region. RISE has been influential at different policy levels (a) promoting good practices of synergistic mobilization of H2020 and ESIF funding (b

Final results

RISE aspires to become a self-sustainable and fully independent research organization; as a centre of excellence, it will have significant impact across science, innovation and society. It is anticipated that it will employ a critical mass of over 130 researchers and innovators problem-solving and creating collaboratively in state-of-the-art facilities strategically positioned in the city centre of Nicosia, the capital of geographically central Cyprus.

RISE, further to excellence in research, will (a) bridge the gap between academia and industry, (b) fuel an innovation-driven cultural shift for academics and industry, (c) establish a knowledge/technology driven entrepreneurial ecosystem, and (d) provide attractive employment opportunities for researchers and creators.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.rise.org.cy.