STELIOS ACHNIOTIS, President of Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK)
Interview to Dr Georgia Kouta, Post-Doctoral Researcher, ERC
How do you perceive the impact of the establishment of an Earth Observation Centre of Excellence in Cyprus, on both the domestic and international level?
I believe this is a very innovative endeavor, as such a Centre is much needed in Cyprus. The establishment of an Earth Observation Centre of Excellence in Cyprus will have tremendous impact not only in Cyprus but also in Europe, the Middle East and globally. The Centre of Excellence will be ideally suited to encourage innovation in both research and industry through the use of Earth Observation. This is an excellent opportunity to create more jobs in which Earth Observation techniques can be applied to resolve issues. The integration of different Earth Observation techniques for a better understanding, monitoring and consequently better exploitation and protection of the physical, built and human environment provide critical information through end user products that are crucial for more informed decision making oriented towards protection and management of environment and resources.
The Government of Cyprus and many semi government agencies, as well as industry and our members, will definitely benefit from the establishment of the Centre of Excellence, as it will provide them with resources to ensure public health and safety.
It is my opinion that such a Centre can also prove invaluable to engineers and other professionals, as it will provide them with new data that they can incorporate into their practices. This will also have a positive impact on the economy, as it will provide new jobs and opportunities to young professionals in the fields of engineering.
Considering that the ERATOSTHENES CoE objectives fully comply with the Smart Specialisation Strategy for Cyprus, which would you consider to be the economic benefits from the establishment of this CoE for Cyprus in the forthcoming years?
The economic benefits of the Centre of Excellence are quite substantial, considering that the Centre is in full compliance with the Smart Specialisation Strategy for Cyprus, which includes Tourism, Energy, Agriculture & Food Industry, Built Environment & Construction Industry, Transportation & Maritime Industry and Health.
As engineers, we are primarily focused on the Built Environment/Construction industry and the Transportation/ Maritime industry, which in turn affect the Tourism industry, which is the main industry in Cyprus.
Earth Observation applications that can be developed for the Built Environment & Construction industry and the Transportation & Maritime industry will significantly affect the productivity of engineers in a positive way, by providing them with the necessary information and tools to do their jobs more efficiently and ensure public safety.
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Professor Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis provided a thorough presentation of the EXCELSIOR project during the final meeting of the DECATASTROPHIZE project on 4th and 5th of December 2017. The DECATASTROPHIZE demonstrated a Command Post / Table Top Exercise in Aloe hotel, in Paphos, while in the following day a workshop was organized. Both the exercise and the workshop concerned the use / demonstration of the final product of the EU co-funded project (DECATASTROPHIZE) which is an online platform to be used in preparation and prevention multi-hazards, i.e. natural disasters.
This project deals with the creation of an online platform for the early warning, preparation and prevention of natural disasters. The use of the platform helps the decision makers (e.g., Civil Defence, Fire Brigade, Department of Forests, etc.) to take the right decisions in disaster management and which are required to take thorough decisions under the pressure of time.
The partners involved in the project are: Cyprus University of Technology (Coordinator), Cyprus Civil Defence, Atlantis Consulting Company (Cyprus), French Geological Survey (Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières), Foundation for Research & Technology (Greece), Technical University of Crete (Greece), Geoview Systems Számítástechnikai Kft. (Hungary), European Research Institute (Italy), Geosolutions (Italy) and University of Alcala (Spain).
Prof. Hadjimitsis, Dr Kouta, Dr Papoutsa and Mr Mettas had the opportunity to promote EXCELSIOR during the workshop and the final exercise. Prof. Hadjimitsis presented the 10 years activities of the ERATOSTHENES R.C in the areas of space, remote sensing and geoinformatics. He demonstrated the importance of using Copernicus data for the disaster management.
DECATASTROPHIZE’s budget amounts to € 875,000 and is co-funded by 75% of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) and 25% by own contribution.
The EXCELSIOR project was presented at the 2nd Pan-Hellenic Conference on Digital Cultural Heritage (EUROMED 2017) conference that took place in Volos, Greece from 1-3 December, 2017. Dr Kyriacos Themistocleous presented a paper on “Earth Observation and Space-based applied to Cultural Heritage: current capabilities and future perspectives”, which included a poster presentation and discussion on the EXCELSIOR project and future collaboration. During the EUROMED2017 Conference, Dr Themistocleous presented also other running projects of the ERASTOTHENES Research Centre in which Earth observation is used for cultural heritage such as the ATHENA Twinning Project ‘From space to ground. Digital techniques for the investigation of monuments and sites’ , the CLIMA ‘Cultural Landscape risk Identification, Management and Assessment’ and PROTHEGO, ‘PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards’.
Paper presentation:
The Establishment of the EXcellence Research Centre for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment (EXCELSIOR) for the eastern Mediterranean Region
http://euromed2017.eu/euromed2017-conference-proceedingsboa/
Our recent international ranking in The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018, in the top position among the local institutions in Cyprus and between the 350 and 400 best Universities in the world is a vindication of our relentless efforts to implement our vision.” The Rector also mentioned that, CUT supports EXELSIOR which has received full marks in the overall evaluation at the pan-European level. Specifically, he mentioned that “we are confident that all these efforts will boost our country’s performance in research and expand its innovation ecosystem.”
Among the invited guests, Prof. Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis had the opportunity to discuss with the participants the benefits of the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence for Cyprus and the wider Eastern Mediterranean Region.
The largest research project in Cyprus, RISE, a Research Centre on Interactive Media, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies has officially been launched (Phase 2), during a well-attended event that was held on the 29th November 2017. The event was greeted by the Rector of the Cyprus University of Technology Prof. Andreas Anayiotos who mentioned in his speech that : “The Cyprus University of Technology is very proud to be part of this effort and have a substantial contribution with its knowhow. Our University is committed to the funding of the project with a significant cash contribution as well as an in kind contribution. The project’s aims, to have great impact through excellence in research and innovation, are aligned with the vision of our institution to promote excellence in research and innovation and acquire international recognition.
EXCELSIOR organized successfuly its first Stakeholder Meeting entitled “Space technologies and Earth observation’s benefits for Cyprus and Eastern Mediterranean” in Nicosia on November 23rd. More than 100 National Stakeholders attended the event which was under the auspices of the Honorable Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr Marios Demetriades
The objective of the meeting was to inform National Stakeholders form the Private and Public sector, the Industry and the Academia regarding the benefits arising from collaboration with EXCELSIOR and its impact in Cyprus and the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean. It also aimed in fostering partnerships and collaborations as well as common actions between the National Stakeholders and the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence.
PROTHEGO workshop and 5th consortium meeting — Petra, Jordan.
The EXCELSIOR project was presented at the 5th Internal meeting of the PROTHEGO project in Petra, Jordan. The participants included representatives from Al – Hussein Bin Talal University, Petra archeological park, CH European Joint Program Initiative on Cultural Heritage, the Italian scientific attaché Il Cairo Embassy, the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research in Italy, the British Geological Survey, Natural Environment Research Council in the UK, the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy and the Geological Survey of Spain. The PROTHEGO project is funded in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPICH) – HERITAGE PLUS, under ERA-NET Plus and the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission and aims to make an innovative contribution towards the analysis of geohazards in areas of cultural heritage in Europe.
Paper presentation
1/ The Establishment of the Excellence Research Centre for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment (EXCELSIOR) for the eastern Mediterranean Region
http://euromed2017.eu/euromed2017-conference-proceedingsboa/
Mr. Marios Tzouvaras, Research Associate at the Eratosthenes Research Centre (CUT) presented the current activities of the Eratosthenes Research Centre and described the vision to upgrade the existing Research Centre into a sustainable and autonomous Centre of Excellence in the field of Earth Observation and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment, in the framework of EXCELSIOR project. The importance of collaboration with acknowledged research centres was also highlighted. Participants came together from the Università degli Studi della Tuscia, University of Stirling, University of Copenhagen and Alma Sistemi SAS.
Mr. Marios Tzouvaras, Research Associate at the ERATOSTHENES Research Centre (CUT) presented the current activities of the Eratosthenes Research Centre and described the vision to upgrade the existing Research Centre into a sustainable and autonomous Centre of Excellence in the field of Earth Observation and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment, in the framework of EXCELSIOR project. The importance of collaboration with acknowledged research centres was also highlighted. Participants were from the Università degli Studi della Tuscia, University of Stirling, University of Copenhagen and Alma Sistemi SAS.
Professor Diofantos Hadjimitsis (EXCELSIOR’s coordinator) and Dr Kyriacos Neocleous (member of EXCELSIOR’s quality assurance team) attended the Teaming Phase 1 Coordinators Meeting, an event organised on 9th November 2017 by the EC’s Research Executive Agency in Brussels (Covent Garden Building). The meeting included welcome speeches by Marc Bellens (Head of Department REA-B) and Mr. Peter van De Zandt (Head of Unit REA-B5) as well as presentations on a range of aspects relating to Phase 1 and Phase 2 Teaming projects. Professor Andreja Kutnar (Director of the ongoing InnoRenew Centre of Excellence) also made a presentation on her experience as coordinator of a Teaming Phase 2 project, while Inka Vaverkova (representative of the Czech Ministry of Education) made a presentation on the role of managing authorities in Teaming projects. At the end of the meeting, Professor Hadjimitsis and Dr Neocleous had a bilateral meeting with Mr Yiannis Vacondios (EXCELSIOR’s EC project officer) to discuss the progress of the EXCELSIOR project. During the event, the EXCELSIOR team also had the opportunity to meet the coordinators of other ongoing Teaming Phase 1 projects.
Dr Christiana Papoutsa from the Eratosthenes Research Centre, Cyprus University of Technology visited the Maxwell Centre where she met with the Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Computing, Cambridge University, Dr Nikos Nikiforakis and his team members. During this meeting Dr Papoutsa presented the existing activities of the Eratosthenes Research Centre and described the vision of the EXCELSIOR project to upgrade the existing Eratosthenes Research Centre into a sustainable and autonomous Centre of Excellence in the field of Earth Observation and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment. She focused on the importance of collaborating with acknowledged research centres which have an extensive experience in working with partners from the industrial sector. During this meeting, Dr Nikos Nikiforakis gave helpful comments and insightful suggestions based on his broad experience for which we would like to thank him.
