The RIF’s Central Knowledge Transfer Office (CKTO) operates as a central ‘Hub’, to which local units (‘Spokes’) operating within stakeholder Organisations are connected.
The RIF’s Central Knowledge Transfer Office’s objective is to support Knowledge Transfer (KT) and commercialisation of research results generated by the research and business community in Cyprus, contributing to building a national innovation ecosystem with robust knowledge and IP supply chains.
The CKTO services are provided free of charge and are available to Universities, Research Organisations and Enterprises that are legally established and are active in territories under the control of the Republic of Cyprus. The services are provided based on state aid rules, fulfilling the requirements of Article 28 of the European Commission’s General Block Exemption Regulation (651/2014) for SMEs and the De Minimis Regulation (1407/2013) for large enterprises.
The services include:
A. Activities for Culture, Awareness and Capacity Building in KT and Commercialisation
Support includes activities for culture, awareness and training in KT and Commercialisation, facilitation of networking between academia and industry, and the development of supporting material (Guides, Templates for KT Agreements, etc).
Additionally, it includes capacity building in KT and commercialisation, including support for the development of Institutional Knowledge Transfer Offices / Units («Spokes») within the main research Organisations. Within this context, the RIF will proceed with the announcement of relevant Calls for Expressions of Interest by interested organisations.
The activities are open to all interested stakeholder Organisations of the Cyprus R&I ecosystem, while content of relevant activities may be customised based on the needs of specific groups of Organisations and individuals of the R&I ecosystem.
Click here for the Call for Expression of Interest for Capacity Building Support for the Development of Institutional Knowledge Transfer Offices / Units in Universities and Research Organisations (RIF-KTO/EOI/1022).
B. KT Support Services
KT support Services will be available to Consortia of Organisations implementing R&I Projects, and will include the following services:
Access to the KT Support Services will depend on the type of R&I projects and will be available through three (3) distinct paths:
Access to the KT Support Services will depend on the type of R&I projects and will be available through three (3) distinct paths:
C. A “Patent Voucher” to cover costs for IPR protection
Within the context of the CKTO, the RIF will provide funding to cover part of the costs for protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) generated through R&I projects. Funding will be provided through a “Patent Voucher”, which will be made available to beneficiary Organisations who receive the KT Support Services of the CKTO.
The aid intensity for KT Support Services and the Patent Voucher are presented below.
The services of the CKTO are funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the NextGenerationEU instrument, in the frame of Investment C3.2I1 “Set up and operate a central knowledge transfer office” of the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan.
