Chief Scientist of the Republic of Cyprus, Demetris Skourides, has participated in a series of strategic meetings with some of India’s most influential business, political, and academic leaders to deepen bilateral cooperation and explore new opportunities for Cyprus as a global gateway for innovation, trade, and investment.
According to an official press release, Skourides participated in the ICC Global Business Summit 2025 Panel, Technology Dialogue Accelerating Global Impact Through Innovation, Collaboration, and Sustainable Progress and the opening keynote session at WTC Mumbai titled Bridging Continents: Cyprus’s Rapidly Growing R&I Ecosystem.
He met with leading gaming companies, including Nitish Mittersain, CMD of Nazara Technologies, India’s largest gaming company, to discuss leveraging Nazara’s global expertise in gaming to establish future collaboration between Indian companies and Cypriot companies, creating more opportunities in the gaming industry for Cyprus. Parallel talks with Prasanna Krishna, Co-Founder of Fancode, focused on expanding digital sports engagement models to Europe via Cyprus. He also met with defence technology startups such as Krushaka, specializing in electronic warfare, where he met with Co-Founder & CTO Sriharsha Venkatesh and Founder & CEO Wg Cdr Somasundaram, as well as with Rakesh Madhra, CEO of Diaspro Intech Pvt Ltd, a company focused on critical defence technologies, agriculture, and emergency response solutions.
Expanding entertainment ecosystems through Cyprus
Further business and innovation engagements included discussions with Avinash Mudaliar, Co-Founder of one of the world’s largest music streaming platforms, India’s leading OTT aggregator, and senior leader at the Birla Group, focusing on expanding entertainment ecosystems through Cyprus.
In pharmaceuticals and healthcare, a meeting with Huzaifa Khorakiwala, CEO of Wockhardt Foundation, explored R&D collaboration and the setup of pharma infrastructure centres to drive healthcare innovation.
In sports and global branding, talks with Hoshedar G., CXO at Rise Worldwide, highlighted opportunities to position Cyprus as a hub for global sports expansion, building on the success of clubs like Mumbai Indians, ranked among the world’s top franchises alongside Manchester United and FC Barcelona.
Strategic dialogues with senior Indian political leaders
Policy, governance and research innovation ecosystem discussions were also a key focus of the visit. Strategic dialogues took place with senior Indian political leaders, including Shweta Shalini, a BJP leader and Advisor to Deputy Chief minister of Maharashtra, and Shaina NC (Shiv Sena's national spokesperson). During the meeting, Skourides explained the Cyprus Vision 2035, and how the Research and Innovation Foundation is implementing the National Strategy 2024-2026, highlighting opportunities for collaboration with the research and innovation ecosystem in areas of agrotech, defencetech, healthtech, spacetech, and maritime.
In addition, he met with Kaustubh Dhavase (Chief Advisor to the Maharashtra Government), together with the Maharashtra State Secretary, to explore the initiatives behind Maharashtra’s rapid development and exchanged know-how and best practices on digital transformation and AI data centres, also exploring future collaboration in AI and data sharing frameworks between India and Cyprus. Additional meetings exploring India’s journey to building digital infrastructure as well as research on Quantum were co-hosted by Deepak Chandani, Sumnesh Joshi, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Communications of India and Prof. G. Raghavan, Director of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and the School of Quantum technology, where Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Dr. Nicodemos Damianou and Skourides exchanged best practices.
State-of-the-art research
As part of efforts to build a strong research ecosystem, Skourides and Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Nicodemos Damianou, met with Dr. Raguan, Head of Quantum & Defence Research Labs, to better understand the state-of-the-art research done on Quantum Technologies in India, and best practices in defence. Skourides also served as a keynote speaker at the ICC Global Business Summit, one of Asia's foremost gatherings of business and government leaders organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, and participated as a panelist in two high-level discussions focusing on technology, AI, and innovation.
Accompanying Deputy Minister Damianou, Skourides joined senior officials including H.E. the High Commissioner of Cyprus, Evagoras Vryonides, Marios Tannousis, CEO of Invest Cyprus, and Philokypros Roussounides, Secretary General of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in meetings with the CEO of The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), which is among the world’s largest stock exchanges.
Agreements between UCLan University Cyprus and PCS IT India
Key MoU signings witnessed by Skourides during the visit included agreements between UCLan University Cyprus and PCS IT India to accelerate the development of Chief Digital and Chief AI Officers with industrial experience, the German Oncology Center and 5C for healthcare innovation, and between Dusan Duffek, Co-Founder and Board member of the Doers company with Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) and IIT Bombay, Asia’s largest student-led entrepreneurship organization which is part of India’s top 2 most prestigious universities and 129th globally in the QS World University Rankings 2026.
“This MoU between Doers and E-Cell creates opportunities for some of the worlds brightest minds to work with innovators, entrepreneurs and disruptors in Cyprus. Our companies and scale-ups are looking for some of the world’s most talented engineers, and innovators" Skourides said.
He added that this initiative will provide IIT Bombay students with exposure to Cyprus and Europe, enabling them to engage with international markets, investors, and innovation hubs, fostering cross-borderlearning, startup incubation, and global scaling opportunities for young entrepreneurs.
He also witnessed the MoU between Dusan Duffek, Co-Founder of The Doers Company and Vikash Mittersain, Founder & President of IBG and Chairman of Nazara technologies. The MoU paves the way for collaboration in gaming ,artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
Skourides also visited Tata Memorial Hospital alongside Dr. Constantinos Zamboglou of the German Oncology Center, meeting with Dr. Sudeep Gupta, Professor of Medical Oncology and Director at Tata Memorial Hospital, to discuss opportunities for collaboration in healthcare research in oncology and innovation, and in building the supporting capability for medical professionals using multi-agent and agentic AI to support AI diagnostics, prevention and personalized treatment.
These extensive engagements underscore the growing momentum of Cyprus as a bridge between India and Europe, unlocking opportunities in gaming, sports, pharma, media, and cross-border trade while positioning Cyprus as a strategic hub for innovation, investment, and global expansion across key industries, the press release says.
(Source: CNA)
