Cyprus Seeds most experience mentors from the US visited Cyprus and offered mentoring on the ground
- Cyprus Seeds and CYENS Centre of Excellence joined forces to offer valuable mentoring to Cypriot researchers interested to commercialize their research.
The shared objective of Cyprus Seeds and CYENS for promoting research commercialization, and the collaborative approach of both organizations, was the driving force in organizing a joint event at CYENS to give the opportunity to Cypriot research teams to receive valuable mentoring from mentors with international experience.
Both organizations support the commercialization and valorization of innovative research projects in Cyprus and believe that the Cypriot ecosystem can only grow and develop with solid collaborations between its stakeholders.
At the beginning of June, Cyprus Seeds invited to Cyprus five of its most experienced US-based mentors. During their one-week visit, the mentors spent time not only with the Cyprus Seeds teams at their labs but also with CYENS researchers and innovation managers as well as key stakeholders of Cyprus’s research and innovation ecosystem, including policy officials and private corporations.
The mentoring offered to the CYENS research teams and innovation managers took place at the CYENS Centre of Excellence. The five mentors included Mr. Jonathan Green, Mr. George Mabry, Mr. Paul Blackborow, Ms. Karen Golmer, and Mr. Leon Sandler.
They are all successful entrepreneurs with many years of research commercialization experience and industry expertise. Mr. Jonathan Green, the Managing Director at Arcadia Funds, a Ph.D. graduate from Stanford University, has more than 35 years of experience spanning a range of advanced technology and new business development.
Mr. George Mabry, a Harvard MBA graduate and an MIT Ph.D. graduate, is a seasoned entrepreneur and senior-level executive. He helped build and lead the pre-eminent market research and consulting company in the pharmaceutical industry.
Mr. Paul Blackborow has an extensive career in the technical sales and marketing of products used to manufacture semiconductor devices, particularly products that incorporate high-intensity plasmas.
Ms. Karen Golmer, a recently retired Innovation Manager at the MIT Deshpande Center, has more than 35 years of experience in facilitating industry and university collaboration to advance new technologies, identify technical challenges, and find solutions to mitigate business risks.
Mr. Leon Sandler has been the Executive Director of the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation for the last 16 years. Some of the most important observations of the US mentors, which were shared in a panel discussion at Cyprus Seeds DEMO Day on the 1st of June are:
- The technical and scientific ability of the Cypriot researchers is very high; and
- The Cypriot scientific teams do not yet have the experience of commercializing their research; they are just starting. But
- They are definitely learning very fast.
For more information:
Margarita Kyprianou
Innovation Manager
Cyprus Seeds
+357 99 521574
Website: www.cyprusseeds.com
Notes to Editors
About Cyprus Seeds
Cyprus Seeds is a new, non-profit initiative to support the commercialization of innovative academic research in Cypriot universities and research institutions. Cyprus Seeds provides grants, one-to-one mentoring combined with entrepreneurial training and networking outside Cyprus to help research projects mature to a stage that can attract venture capital and funding from private investors.
About CYENS Centre of Excellence
CYENS Centre of Excellence is the Research Centre of Excellence in Cyprus focusing on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies aiming to empower knowledge and technology transfer in the region. It is a joint venture between three public universities – University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology, and Open University of Cyprus, the Municipality of Nicosia, and two renowned international partners, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Germany, and, University College London, United Kingdom.
