Cyprus Business Now

The Paphos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Evep) on Monday vowed to provide training resources for SMEs and entrepreneurs, including both existing and future ones, as well as examples, best practices, and case studies during the inaugural meeting of Green Synergy, a project co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme.

The meeting, which took place in Brussels and was hosted by IHF asbl, a platform created to disseminate European cultural and entrepreneurial values and enhance integration within and outside the EU by promoting the exchange of knowledge, as well as networking opportunities.

The project involves the participation of eight partners from a respective number of countries, including Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Romania, and Spain.

The project will also see the creation of a virtual community which will also help to support the above effort.

Furthermore, as stated by the chamber, the aim is to provide high-quality post-Covid education to meet any educational needs that arose during the pandemic and to encourage a greener and more environmentally friendly development.

“The objective is to empower people to achieve sustainable development, to change mindsets, and to make businesses operate in accordance with environmental protection,” the chamber explained.

“In addition, Green Synergy will support and prepare European SMEs, micro-enterprises, family businesses and potential and existing entrepreneurs for future challenges such as combating climate change, as well as any contributing effort in economic recovery after the covid-19 pandemic crisis,” it added.

During the meeting, the consortium as a whole discussed the overall project implementation schedule, defining timelines and respective tasks.

During the lifetime of the project, partners will carry out research and analysis activities aimed at the development and delivery of the Green Synergy Model, which will be available on the OER Green Synergy Platform.

The Research and Innovation Foundation (Idek) and the Employers and Industrialists Federation (Oev) last week held this year’s edition of the Cyprus Innovation Awards, an event first launched in 2006, aiming to promote entrepreneurship and competitiveness among Cypriot businesses and organisations, both in the public and private sector.

In terms of the Employers and Industrialists Federation (Oev) side of things, awards were awarded to a number of recipients. For the primary sector, Adelfi Andreou Hoirostasia Ltd received an award for their innovative method of air conditioning used in the farrowing building in which sows are housed.

For the manufacturing sector, Hellenic Minerals Ltd received an award for the production of high-purity nickel sulfate hexahydrate from ore using a hydrometallurgical method.

Moreover, Infocredit Group Ltd received the services sector award for their innovative trading behaviour evaluation platform.

In terms of the social innovation sector, Oev presented an award to the Karaiskakio Foundation for the creation of the Cyprus Genome Project genome recording tool.

Regarding the Research and Innovation Foundation (Idek), the ‘Cyprus Research Award – Distinguished Researcher 2022’ award in the social sciences and humanities section was awarded to Thilo Rehren, professor at the Cyprus Institute and holder of the AG Leventis foundation in Archaeological Sciences.

The ‘Cyprus Research Award – New Researcher 2022’ for natural sciences and engineering was awarded to Lenos Hadjidemetriou, research lecturer at the KIOS Centre of Excellence for Research and Innovation of the University of Cyprus and head of the centre’s research infrastructure in intelligent electric power systems.

What is more, the ‘Cyprus Research Award – New Researcher 2022’, in the thematic category of life sciences, was also received by Vasileia Tamamounas, postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the Study of Hematological and Other Malignancies and research associate at the University of Cambridge.

Finally, Ioanna Hatzigianni, assistant professor at the Law Department of the University of Cyprus was honoured with the ‘Cyprus Research Award – New Researcher 2022’ award, in the social sciences and humanities thematic category.

The awards with presented by House Speaker Annita Demetriou.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Monday, December 19 with profits.

The general Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 88.35 points at 13:59 during the day, reflecting a rise of 0.25 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 53.26 points, representing an increase of 0.28 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €155,058.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main, investment firm and hotel indexes rose by 0.5 per cent, 1.39 per cent and 0.76 per cent. The alternative index fell by 0.03 per cent.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (-1.47 per cent), Hellenic Bank (-1.8 per cent), Demetra Holdings (+2.09 per cent), Salamis Tours (no change), and the Cyprus Cement Company (+0.92 per cent).