Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Nicodemos Damianou said technology has become a defining asset of relevance and strategic intelligence in the modern world at the Digital Conference ‘Shaping the Next Digital Frontier’ held on Wednesday as part of the Cyprus EU Council Presidency.
“We must be a builder, a creator and scaler of digital technologies,” he said, opening the conference, starting with an anecdote about two primary school pupils from the small village of Kampos, who have been able to bridge the limitations of their community and present their robot and science projects at an EU level.
Damianou used the anecdote to mention that this is what the EU needs to do and make European “curiosity and innovation go beyond borders.”
He pointed out that the next digital frontier is already taking shape and that Europe needs to build a shared understanding of where they stand.
“Europe’s response should be built around a continuum,” he said. Damianou added that the continuum begins with research and innovation, adding that the next link is start-ups and scale-ups.
“Europe is a powerhouse for generating ideas, but only 8% remains in Europe. Far too many of our most promising founders are forced to cross the Atlantic,” the Deputy Minister said, adding that there is a need for immediate coordinated action to deal with this issue.
He closed by reminding the audience about the students who were able to overcome the limitations of their geography, saying Europe needs to “transform ideas into lasting impact.”
