Cyprus has a long way to go in the field of Research and Innovation

 

Meeting between the General Secretary of AKEL and the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy

21 April 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, had a meeting today with the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Filippos Hadjizaharias.

In his statements afterwards, the General Secretary of AKEL wished the Deputy Minister well, pointing out the critical importance of the Research, Innovation and Digital Policy sector. He noted that “a country that invests and manages in practice to be at the head to a great extent subsequently ensures its progress”, indicating that “Cyprus needs to do a lot in these sectors, so the Deputy Minister has a lot of work ahead of him”. Furthermore, S. Stefanou said that “Cyprus is at the bottom of the table regarding the role, intervention and promotion of research by the state, whose role is very crucial if we want to have a comprehensive and coherent policy and strategy in the field of research, innovation and digital transition, which also needs a lot of work to be done”.

The General Secretary of AKEL stressed that “Mr. Hadjizaharias has assumed the Deputy Ministry at a time when certain incidents have occurred that have revealed that despite what was being said in recent years, unfortunately, either what needed to be done did not happen or we have a long way to go in this direction, both with regards security issues and the security of infrastructures”.

The General Secretary of AKEL noted that the discussion with the Deputy Minister was very interesting and constructive, but also very specific as it took place in the presence of the Head of the Research, Innovation and Digital Policy of AKEL, Angelos Kassianos, and so there was an exchange of views at a very concrete level.

“We want Cyprus to be at the forefront of countries on the issues of research, innovation and digital transition,” underlined the General Secretary of AKEL “and we are ready within our own capabilities to really help so that Cyprus is at the forefront [of this effort].”