The Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment and the Energy Service of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, in collaboration with the EIT Climate KIC Network, the Cyprus University of Technology and the Cyprus Energy Office organised a Workshop titled “Developing a National Plan for Energy and Climate: The Contribution of Research and Innovation”. The workshop took place in Nicosia on Tuesday, September 10th, 2019.
A member of the LIFE Cyclamen team – namely our Climate Change Expert, Panos Kakonitis – represented the LIFE Programme’s National Contact Point (NCP) at this workshop.
The purpose of the workshop was to exchange views and make recommendations on the composition of a coherent strategy on Research and Innovation, with the purpose of supporting the implementation of the National Plan.
What was discussed
During the workshop a presentation was given by the Head of the Climate Change sector, Dr. Theodoulos Mesimeris, on the National Plan for Energy and Climate 2021-2030, key issues and next steps. In addition, a spokesman from the Energy Service presented previous work and the first results of the innovation team. Following this, a representative of Climate KIC presented the methodology of Climate KIC to strengthen the plan from the research and innovation point of view.
In the second part of the workshop participants were separated into working groups where they had to demonstrate all the major challenges of Climate Change in Cyprus. One point that the majority of the working groups agreed upon was the challenge related to urban transportation and sustainable mobility.
The working groups then focused on a specific challenge and analysed the current situation, what the ideal future situation would be and proposed solutions and ideas that could bring a swift from the existing situation to the future and ideal one. Reference was made to climate, social and technical challenges, as well as to the resource gap in relation to the specific challenge analysed.
The results of the workshop will be further elaborated and forwarded to the competent authority in the form of proposals for the formulation of a coherent Strategy on Research and Innovation issues. This in turn will support the implementation of the National Plan for Energy and Climate.
The importance of the participation of LIFE Cyclamen at the event
The participation of the LIFE Programme NCP team at this workshop was very important as the workshop itself addressed climate change challenges that are also LIFE priorities. It was also a great networking opportunity between the NCP and other participants coming from organisations, government agencies, departments and academic institutions that deal with climate change issues in their spectrum of work.
In addition, this workshop also served as an update for the LIFE Programme’s NCP team informing us on the Development of the National Energy and Climate Plan. This update is crucial to us so that we can provide more up-to-date information and assistance to potential applicants of the LIFE Programme.
Lastly, during this workshop we were able to inform stakeholders about the LIFE Programme and encourage them to submit LIFE proposals, either as partners, or as the coordinator, with the purpose of achieving a greater absorption of funds from EU competitive programmes by Cypriot organisations.