In the latest evaluation results for the Second Funding Cycle for Cyprus Seeds, the non-profit organisation with the mission to help commercialize innovative academic research in Cypriot universities and research institutions, two projects submitted by CyI researchers were awarded funding out of a total of five projects funded. It is remarkable that a third CyI project was also ranked among the top five, even if it couldn’t be awarded funding as it has already reached the level of an established spin-off company. The 2020-2021 Grantees were announced on the 7th of October.

The aim of Cyprus Seeds is to fund research in Cyprus, from any area/field, with market potential and with the goal to reduce uncertainty so that an external party would invest in the technology. In addition to grants, Cyprus Seeds offers mentoring, business skills training and networking with the business community and possible investors outside Cyprus. Cyprus Seeds is therefore more than just a grant program. It is a unique initiative to create a hub of excellence in which academic research teams will get top-tier business education and mentor support to create successful businesses. Within the framework and the mission to turn scientific research into entrepreneurial innovation, Cyprus Seeds offers annually a wide range of resources and activities, aiming to help research teams advance their research in order to become attractive propositions to private investors. During its 12-month funding program, the most successful applicants will receive funding in the form of grants, mentoring, entrepreneurial training and networking with potential customers and investors in Cyprus and abroad.

For the second funding cycle, Cyprus Seeds received 53 Pre-Proposals, which originated from talented Cypriots within all the universities and research institutions on the island. They were evaluated by more than 40 highly qualified experts from Europe, USA, and Israel: 25 applications were invited to submit Full-Proposals, and the 14 research projects that scored the highest in their Full-Proposals were invited to Web-Interviews, in front of 22 experienced evaluators from the USA, Europe, Israel and Australia. Each of the 14 research teams were asked to give a 7-minute presentation on their project, followed by a Q&A session.

The CyI project ARTES, promoted by STARC Associate Professors Sorin Hermon and Nikolas Bakirtzis as a novel commercial service unit of The Cyprus Institute, will offer an integrated workflow that investigates and documents the materiality, the artistic technique and the preservation conditions in the emerging field of art and heritage assets management.

The HPC enabled Image Reconstruction for Low Dose and High Contrast PET and SPECT applications project, promoted by Prof. Costas N. Papanicolas and Dr. Loizos Koutsantonis, will provide superior quality tomographic medical images by post processing data already obtained using conventional scanners.

Both projects will receive a grant and access to the coaching services.

Finally, ranked in the top 5 but not awarded funding, is GAIA, promoted by Assistant Professors Mihalis Nicolaou and Theodoros Christoudias, a Hybrid Geospatial Artificial Intelligence Analytics platform, which will provide robust solutions that facilitate critical decision-making supported by data-driven evidence to enhance fundamental operational tasks in the insurance industry. GAIA, which is already established as a spin-off company of CyI, will get access to the coaching services.

Read more info here.