In the face of fragile economic recovery following the economic and financial crisis of 2008, many firms all around the world continue to invest in growth-enhancing activities to achieve a sustainable development.
While the crisis has heavily hit all aspects of business vested interests, investments in innovation, entrepreneurship and regional partnership have been the key priority to ensuring a strong and stable economic growth.
The objective of the conference is to gather decision makers (government, ministries and state agencies), innovation experts (universities, research and development centres, technology transfer centres, start-up centres) and practitioners (smes,business incubators and business support organisations) to generate discussion and exchange on the potential of entrepreneurship promotion and innovation to national and regional competitiveness.
ICEIRD aims to provide an effective channel of communication between decision-makers (government, ministries and state agencies), researchers (universities, research and development centres, start-up centres and incubators), practitioners (SME leaders and managers) and persons concerned with the latest research, scientific development and practice on innovation and entrepreneurship in order to discuss topics that are of currency, relevance and significance for national competitiveness as well as sustainable, robust , and equitable regional development. ICEIRD14 aims to:
- Address key factors in regional economic development, entrepreneurial vitality and innovation processes
- Raise the level of awareness about innovation, entrepreneurship and competitive advantage
- Strengthen the regional and international network among representatives from SEE countries and those from EU member states
- Consolidate intra-SEE networks of SMEs, Start-up Centers and Incubators
- Understand cultural and national barriers of entrepreneurship in the global economy
- Promote best practices in innovation research and business development
- Facilitate regional partnerships and innovation networks
Target Audience: the conference is addressed at regional and international level and is targeted to academics, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, researchers and students who are involved in the latest research, scientific development and practice on innovation and entrepreneurship.
Conference Proceedings
You may download the Conference Proceedings book here.
The Honorable Minister of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Harris Georgiades and the Honorable Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr. Yiorgos Lakkotrypis will open the conference.
Keynote speakers
Georgios Peroulakis, Senior Desk Officer in EC-DG Regio
Title: Innovation policy making in the EU, RIS3: a crisis exit strategy? The case for Cyprus and Greece
Bio
Georgios Peroulakis is a Senior Desk Officer in EC-DG Regio, since 2001, both in horizontal Units (Evaluation Unit) and in Geographical Units on policy implementation. He is actually working for the Geographic Unit "Greece and Cyprus" since 2009. He is in charge of the Greek OP Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship and coordinator of the smart and sustainable growth activities within this Unit and member of the Core Matrix "smart and sustainable growth" within DG REGIO. He has a Degree in Physics (Greece), in Telematics and Business management from Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and in Business Management from ULB and Ecole de commerce de Solvay.
George E. Georgiou, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus
Title: Novel Photovoltaic Technologies for Improved Energy Harvesting.
Bio
Dr George E. Georghiou is currently the leader of PV Technology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus. Prior to this, he was a University Lecturer and the undergraduate course leader in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southampton, and a Research Advisor for the Electricity Utilization, University of Cambridge. Having graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA, MEng, MA (1996) all with distinction and a PhD (1999), Dr Georghiou continued his work at the University of Cambridge in the capacity of a Research Fellow (1999-2002). Dr Georghiou is currently a member of the CENELEC and IEC TC82 committees on PV and is acting as an expert evaluator for FP7 energy proposals as well as being a member of CIGRE and the European Solar Energy Industrial Initiative. He also represents Cyprus on the FP7 Energy Committee, the SET plan committee, the European Mirror Group on Photovoltaics and sits on the board of the recently-established Cyprus Energy Agency, which receives its funding from the EU. Dr Georghiou has published over 200 papers in international journals and conference proceedings and his team has obtained research funding in excess of 8 million Euros from bodies such as the European Union, Royal Society, Cambridge-MIT Institute, University of Cambridge, Research Promotion Foundation, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority, Cyprus Telecommunication Authority, University of Cyprus etc. Amongst his scholarly achievements, are two outstanding paper awards for the most significant technical scientific contributions and an innovation prize.
Satellite Event
Within the context of ICEIRD 2014, a Satellite Event is organized. Find more information here.
