Cy-FOS The Cyprus Foundation of the Sea (Cy-FOS) and the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI) signed on Monday, 25 January 2021, during an online ceremony a Cooperation Agreement.

The Agreement was signed by the Chairmen of the two organisations, Messrs. Capt. Eugen Adami and Mayor Andreas Vyras on behalf of CY-FOS and CMMI respectively.

The Cyprus Foundation of the Sea (Cy-FOS) is a non for profit-institution established in 2018 by the Shipping Industry with the support of the Government of Cyprus. Cy-FOS, acts as the sole “Blue Economy” cluster organization and aims to become the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) Champion in Cyprus and be the pillar of sustainable “Blue Growth”. Its purpose is to promote marine and maritime knowledge and innovation, support the growth, competitiveness, and job-creation potential of the marine and maritime sectors in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean and foster an integrated approach on marine and maritime affairs, by acting as an institutional umbrella of existing initiatives, activities, organizations, and projects. The Foundation will achieve these by strengthening cooperation between the public sector, academia, research organizations, and civil society.

CMMI is a Centre of Excellence for Marine and Maritime Research and Innovation; established in 2019 following its selection for funding under the EU’s HORIZON 2020 Programme, “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation”, after a three-year highly competitive evaluation process among more than 200 proposals at EU level. It was awarded €30 million funding from the EU Commission and the Cyprus Government while additional funds will be provided by partners and industry and academia stakeholders mainly as in-kind contributions. CMMI aims to drive sustainable Blue Growth by undertaking Research and Development activities that will be guided by the needs of Industry and Society.

The agreement marks the beginning of a new era in terms of the purpose, aims and objectives as well as the vision of the two organisations towards an integrated approach with respect to the “Blue Economy” cluster affairs and to enhancing joint activities among all Blue stakeholders related to innovation, networking, influencing the business and political environment, human resource upgrading and even inspiring the society. Cy-FOS and CMMI can also serve as strong partners in the development and implementation of the Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) in the Marine and Maritime areas, as priority areas for Cyprus. Additional specialized programmes may be jointly developed such as promoting blue careers amongst young people, maritime education and training programs in areas not covered by existing ones; an accelerator for the cluster; ocean literacy, marine cultural heritage initiatives and many other.

A perfect combination for which the signing of this Cooperation Agreement can be described as the tool which sets a SEA-nergy in Motion between the two organisations to exploiting already existing initiatives, activities, policies and infrastructure towards the enhancement of the Blue Economy in Cyprus, without depriving any of the Blue stakeholders of their competencies or prerogatives.