Address by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr Nicos A. Rolandis

at the International Symposium on Rapid Prototyping Techniques in Automation and Medicine organised by the Medressa Concortium.

(Holiday Inn Hotel, Nicosia - Friday 6 September 2002 at 8:30 am)

(The address was read by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry
of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr Sotiris Sotiriou)

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to be here this morning to address this International Workshop on Rapid Prototyping in Automation and Medicine.

It is indeed very encouraging to witness once more that other people share my views about the importance of high technology in the restructuring of the manufacturing industry.

Today information and communication technologies are developing at a breath-taking pace and they represent the foundation of the Information Society which establishes completely new structures in the economy and society and offers possibilities for the future, limited only by the boundaries of our imagination.

These technologies are already part of our everyday life. They are fundamentally changing the way people work, have access to goods and services and communicate from practically any point on earth, as well as re-defining the rules of business.

The information age has the potential to benefit everyone in their day-to-day lives. Whether old or young, in cities or rural communities, in education or at work, people have the opportunity to gain real social and economic benefits. These benefits will be realised by the hard work, skills and innovative talents of the people in our country and abroad.

This transformation we are witnessing, requires a major rethinking of the skill requirements at all levels of our society. And our concern should be that this new Society of Information that is being formed will be a society for everybody.

The responsibility for creating the information society must be an ongoing partnership between the public and the private sector.  The private sector must take primary responsibility for developing new technologies and for promoting their widespread application in the market place.  The public sector has an important complementary role to play in terms of facilitating an environment in which citizens are both able and actively encouraged to use technologies that can improve their lives.

With the diffusion of new technologies and globalisation, the economies that were previously based on industrial activities are now transformed to economies that are based on the production, dissemination and use of knowledge, and on information. The form of these new technologies creates possibilities and opportunities for equal participation in the world market even to small countries like Cyprus. It is therefore a unique opportunity for Cyprus to upgrade its position in the global economy and improve the quality of life of its people.

Bearing in mind this challenge for the promotion of new high tech industries and the fact that small and medium enterprises constitute the backbone of the Cyprus economy, the Cyprus Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism introduced in June 1999 its New Industrial Policy, which consists of 12 Chapters and addresses the following broad goals:

·               to offer assistance to existing and attract and develop new high tech industries

·               to conduce to the restructuring of the traditional manufacturing industry

·               to attract foreign investment, and

·               to improve productivity

The first two Chapters aim at the creation of new high technology industrial units through the setting up and operation of business incubators, and the enhancement of the applied research capability of the country.

A technology-incubating program is an innovative system designed to assist entrepreneurs and inventors in the development of new technology-based firms and the extraction of maximum commercial benefit. It seeks to effectively link talent, technology, capital and know-how to leverage entrepreneurial talent in order to accelerate the development of new high risk, high-potential enterprises in high growth sectors, and thus speed the commercialisation of technology. It is a facility that aids the early-stage growth of technology-based companies by providing shared facilities such as space and office services, and business consulting assistance.

The Government of Cyprus, under the Programme for the creation of new enterprises of high technology and innovation through the institution of business incubators, will provide part financing to the incubatees of up to CY£120.000 for projects aiming at the development of new high technology products, for a period of up to two years.

In the context of this programme, we have already signed a contract for the creation of the first High Technology Business Incubator and we are assessing the applications of another ten companies for the creation of four more incubators before the end of this year.

In order to establish links with scientists and other interested parties which will be beneficial to our programme for promoting the high tech industry, we are in contact with foreign Governments, Technology and Research Centres, Universities and Academies and Techno Parks around the world.

We have already signed a protocol for cooperation in the field of science and technology with Greece and we are in the process of signing similar agreements with the Russian Federation, India, the University of New York at Albany and others.

It is expected that very soon a total of 50-60 groups of scientists will be hosted in the incubator programmes and will be engaged in the development of High Tech products in various fields, like information technology and telecommunications, electronics, biotechnology, chemical industry, renewable energy sources and environment.

In concluding, I wish to congratulate the organisers of this International Conference and at the same time express my sincere thanks for this opportunity to communicate with you.  I wish you success in your deliberations.