Pre-Announcement of New RIF Funding Program – “AI in Government”
The Research and Innovation Foundation will soon announce, in collaboration with the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digital Policy, the new funding program “AI in Government,” which is aimed at Cypriot companies for the development of innovative solutions to address specific challenges faced by public authorities, using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Program supports activities for the development and testing of prototypes in a real environment and their further development into market-ready products, services, or solutions.
The Program is part of the Cyprus Government’s flagship actions, as presented by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nicos Christodoulides, in the Annual Governance Planning for 2025.
The process is implemented in two distinct phases with funding, support, and the opportunity to test solutions in real-world conditions.
Phase A: Prototype Development
The aim of the first phase is to create a functional prototype that demonstrates its technical and commercial viability. The prototype may be based on open data, synthetic data, or virtual data, which will be used to simulate real-world scenarios as described in the challenge.
Phase II: Pilot Installation and Further Development
The second phase involves installing and testing the prototype in a real environment, as well as developing it into a fully functional product, service, or solution. This phase is an iterative development process and requires collaboration with the relevant public authority for each Challenge.
Eligible Project activities for Phase I include Industrial Research, Experimental Development, Feasibility Study, and for Phase II Experimental Development, Feasibility Study, and Innovation Activities.
The duration of Projects for Phase A is up to 9 months and for Phase B up to 27 months. The total duration of the two Phases cannot exceed 36 months.
Eligible expenses include personnel costs, expenses for instruments and equipment, external services, consumables, other expenses, and overheads.
The first two Challenges that interested parties will be asked to solve relate to Meteorology and are described in detail in the attachment.
Meteorology Challenge 1 – Early warning system for extreme weather events
Meteorology Challenge 2 – Agrometeorological Support
The Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digital Policy, in collaboration with the Department of Meteorology, will organize a workshop to present the two challenges on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. In the coming days, the Deputy Ministry will issue an announcement with all the relevant details, including contact information for submitting questions in advance.
The announcement of the Program by RIF is expected in July 2025. With the announcement of the program, RIF will proceed with the presentation of the Programme and its funding framework.