€120 million to be spent on centres of excellence

A total of €120 million will be used to create new centres of excellence in Cyprus, after the country secured €30 million under the ‘Teaming’ action of the European Union programme for research and innovation ‘Horizon 2020’.

The funding follows the selection of acceptance of another three proposals in April for the creation of such centres in April totaling €90 million. For the establishment of each centre, a total of €30 million will be allocated, €15 million from the Horizon 2020 programme and €15 million from the government.

According to a press release from the Foundation for Research and Innovation, the Foundation and the directorate-general for European Coordination and Development Programmes as the national bodies responsible for the participation of Cyprus in the Horizon 2020 programme, announced the selection of the Eratosthenes: Excellence Research Centre for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment (Excelsior), coordinated by the Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak).

The aim of the project is to upgrade the existing Eratosthenes Research Centre of Tepak to a viable centre of excellence, aiming to conduct a high level of basic and applied research in the fields related to Earth observation.