]PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE
(translation)
Wednesday,
3 April 2002
Signing
of the contract for the establishment and operation of the first
High Technology and Innovation Business Incubator in Cyprus
The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr. Nicos A. Rolandis has signed today during a special ceremony the cooperation contract documents with the Cypriot company PROPLAN Ltd and the Greek company i-Cube Á.Ĺ for the establishment and operation of the High Tech and Innovation Business Incubator based on the Programme for the Creation of New Enterprises of High Technology and Innovation that is operating at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
The contracts were signed on behalf of PROPLAN Ltd by Dr. Yiannis Fessas and on behalf of i-Cube by Dr. Constantinos Theiopoulos. Dr Theiopoulos' company operates a similar technological incubator in Greece and has a European network of investors, sources of innovation and strategic partners.
The signing of this Agreement opens the way for the implementation of the major chapter of the New Industrial Policy of Cyprus, which refers to the promotion of the establishment of High Technology units in Cyprus, a fact that will contribute to the upgrading of the manufacturing sector, so that it will be in a position to compete successfully in the new globalised environment.
With this Agreement, the two companies undertake to create the necessary material and technical infrastructure (buildings and equipment) for the housing of inventors and the provision of services to them so as to develop innovative ideas or results from basic research to High Tech products that will be put on the international market.
The inventors who will be housed in the incubators can be Cypriot scientists working in Cyprus or abroad as well as scientists from other countries with which relevant cooperation agreements are pursued, such as countries of the European Union, the United States of America, the Russian Federation and others.
In the meantime the establishment of at least another four business incubators is pursued by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, which in a recent press release has invited interested parties to submit their applications by 17 May, 2002. With the operation of these four additional incubators it is expected that a total of 50-60 groups of scientists will be hosted, that will be engaged with the development of High Tech products in various fields, like information technology and telecommunications, electronics, biotechnology, chemical industry, renewable energy sources and environment.