A total of €24.25 million in new funding for innovative products and services has been launched by the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF), according to director general Theodoros Loukaidis.

Loukaidis has said that the new funding calls, strategic partnerships and flagship actions aim to strengthen Cyprus’ research and innovation ecosystem.

“Our goal is to shape a dynamic, resilient and internationally competitive research and development environment,” Loukaidis said.  

He added that the initiatives reflect the foundation’s commitment to supporting businesses, start-ups and researchers at all their stages. 

The funding package includes four new programmes designed to support businesses and start-ups at every stage of development.  

Among them, STEP will help projects move from development to production, offering up to €2 million per proposal with a total budget of €10 million. Applications close on September 5, 2025. 

Meanwhile, SEED will provide up to €500,000 to start-ups working on internationally competitive products, with submissions due by September 12,2025.  

INNOVATE targets established businesses seeking to develop new or improved products and services, offering up to €1 million per project, which is the deadline on September 9, 2025.  

BOOST, a blended finance programme that combines private investment with an innovation certificate, will accept applications until December 12, 2025. 

In addition, a €5 million AI in Government programme has been announced in collaboration with the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy.  

This initiative aims to develop artificial intelligence solutions for the public sector, with a particular focus on supporting the department of Meteorology. 

The foundation will also renew its Innovation Vouchers call (€350,000) and introduce a new scheme to help young entrepreneurs establish their own start-ups. 

 
RIF is further investing €16.9 million to promote research excellence and infrastructure. In September 2025, new calls will open for Post-doc funding (€4.6 million) and Excellence Hubs (€3 million).  

The OPENINFRA call, which allocated €7.5 million for research equipment accessible to businesses, has recently been completed. 

At the same time, the Proof of Concept call remains open until August 1, 2025, offering €40,000 per project to explore the commercial potential of research results, with a total budget of €600,000. 

Support for participation in Horizon Europe continues as well, through the Vision ERC, 2nd Opportunity ERC and ERC Visiting Fellowships calls.

RIF is also promoting international collaboration through the open calls PRIMA, focusing on agriculture and water in the Mediterranean, and CONCERT Japan, addressing climate change.

To date, 229 Cypriot institutions have secured €320.8 million in funding under Horizon Europe. 

The foundation urged all interested parties to seize these opportunities by applying in a timely and organised way.  

Details on current and upcoming calls, information events and contact options are available on its website.