“The EIT Community is unanimous in its strong interest to better engage with the local innovation ecosystem and boost Cyprus’ participation in its activities”, said Marton Herczeg, Head of Innovation Unit of the EIT, when opening the EIT Community Info Day in Nicosia. A good example is the EIT Jumpstarter, where you can see tangible results fairly quickly – established new innovative ventures.
EIT Jumpstarter is not a new opportunity for Cypriot talents. Already three teams got into this year’s first phase of the programme – online bootcamps. But we are looking for more. The scientific potential is still untapped there, and that is why EIT Community decided to strengthen its presence in the local ecosystem. During the event the EIT has announced that the EIT Community RIS Hub will be established in Cyprus in 2023, followed by similar hubs in Malta, Ukraine and Montenegro. (You can find the respective calls by clicking on the country.)
These innovation hubs will act like the EIT Jumpstarter on steroids and more. By connecting regional actors, innovators, and partners to Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem, the new EIT Community RIS Hubs will strengthen cooperation among leading business, education and research organisations and contribute to increasing the countries’ competitiveness and sustainable economic growth. The new Hubs will be part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) programme designed to tackle Europe’s persistent innovation divide.
The EIT Community RIS Hubs will represent all Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), and its opportunities such as EIT Jumpstarter. Their main task will be attracting and engaging more participants in the EIT Community activities.
The EIT Community opened its first ‘EIT Community RIS Hub’ in Skopje, North Macedonia, on 13 June.
The EIT Jumpstarter on Cyprus and wider context
620 applications were received for the 2023 EIT Jumpstarter call of our which 9 were from Cyprus. 4 of these 44% success rate were selected and are currently participating in online bootcamps 3 in the Food category and 1 in the Manufacturing category ( 2% participation rate ).
These successes will contribute to EIT’s deep tech talent initiative, as part of the New European Innovation Agenda. The EIT
Community’s goal is to skill 1 million European specialists in deep tech ( AI, cleantech, quantum computing, and more).
Why?
To fill critical labour gaps to
What we’ll do
Create trainings and courses with direct industry input and built in pipelines for our learners to join the EU innovation ecosystem
How?
Interested organisations can take the Pledge to help develop the courses and trainings for our deep tech learners
