The Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB) and the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF), with support from the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation & Digital Policy (DMRID), held their Research and Innovation Awards on 20 December 2021, highlighting the achievements of innovative companies and researchers of Cyprus. The event was attended by President Nikos Anastasiades, President of the House of Representatives Annita Demetriou, President of OEB Antonis Antoniou and Chief Scientist Nikolas Mastroyiannopoulos.

During his opening speech, President Anastasiades highlighted the fact that ‘Cyprus is ranked first in Europe among the countries that secured funding for the establishment of Research Centres of Excellence, under the "Teaming for Excellence" Program, while also recording one of the largest absorptions of projects from the Horizon 2020 Program’. Additionally, he noted RIF’s latest funding accomplishments, namely its business innovation programmes benefiting 85 Cypriot companies, 60 of which were start-ups, with total funding reaching €20m. These programmes have also boosted local start-ups’ international competitiveness, who went on to secure over €12m of high-risk capital. The Restart 2016-2020 programme was also, noted in the President’s speech, emphasising its achievements, including the financing of 724 projects, benefiting over 500 companies, and creating over 1,200 jobs. Lastly, while addressing future funding plans, digitisation was singled out as a key priority, with 23% of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan’s investments earmarked for Cyprus’s digital transition, amounting to €282m.

Following the various speeches, the awards were presented to this year’s winners, listed below:

• Planty Aeroponics Mediterranean Ltd
• AmaDema-Advanced Materials Design & Manufacturing Ltd
• NIPD Genetics Public Company Ltd
• Odyssey Consultants
• Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation