By the Press and Information Office of the Republic of Cyprus
The “PHAETHON” proposal secured the highest score in the EU for the creation of a Centre of Excellence in the field of Green and Sustainable Energy.
Cyprus has been successful in participating in the competitive programme of the European Union (EU) for Research and Innovation (R&I), “Horizon Europe”, specifically in the context of the programme “Teaming for Excellence”, where the PHAETHON proposal under the coordination of the University of Cyprus and Professors Constantinos Christofides and George E. Georghiou, secured a total funding of €15 million, and an equal amount of national funding, as well as significant funding from the private sector, for the upgrade of the existing “FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy” of the University of Cyprus, into a Centre of Excellence in the field of green and sustainable energy. The consortium of the PHAETHON proposal further includes the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation “Cyprus Seeds”, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Groningen of the Netherlands.
More specifically, the research activities of the “PHAETHON” Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence for Intelligent, Efficient and Sustainable Energy Systems, will focus on the development of solutions and applications that can address a wide range of contemporary global energy challenges, and holistically target technological, socio-economic, political and environmental aspects. The main pillars of PHAETHON constitute green development, sustainable energy, storage systems, green hydrogen technologies and the development of intelligent energy systems, in alignment with the European Green Deal policy goals for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050.
It is worth mentioning that the Cypriot proposal obtained the highest ranking in the evaluation with a score of 14.5/15, the same score with another proposal, out of 110 proposals which were submitted at a European level. This rewarding distinction provides evidence of the excellence of the academic and research community of our country, and further reflects the state’s commitment and effective intervention towards the establishment of Cyprus as a peripheral centre of research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
While congratulating all the involved partners, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Mr Kyriakos Kokkinos, mentioned that this is an additional commendable success of our country, which has made significant steps towards its development into a dynamic society of knowledge. “Our top priority”, the Deputy Minister noted, “is taking advantage of the momentum created, and achieving, through the support of the progress and sustainability of all the Centres of Excellence currently in operation in our country, long-term and substantial benefits both for the Centres and for the economy and society of Cyprus”.
Currently, there are already six Centres of Excellence in operation in Cyprus, which were created in the context of the two previous calls of the “Teaming” programme, placing our country in the first place in Europe, having secured 7 out of 38 in total Centres of Excellence that were funded to date.
The “Teaming for Excellence” programme aims at bridging the gap between countries, through the development of new collaborations and scientific networks for the creation of new Centres of Excellence or for the radical upgrading of existing ones.