Overview

Empowering Tomorrow’s Green Energy Innovations

The PHAETHON Teaming Project was submitted and awarded funding under the prestigious Horizon Europe “Teaming for Excellence” Call for Proposals. Along with the University of Cyprus, the other partners in the consortium are Cyprus Seeds (Innovation Partner), and the Technical University of Denmark and University of Groningen in the Netherlands (Advanced Partners).

Real-life strategy to reach your goals.

  • Upgrade the highly successful FOSS Research Centre to an autonomous, self-sustaining Centre of Excellence in the energy field.
  • Make a significant contribution to a green energy future by creating an inspiring environment for conducting state-of-the-art research on intelligent, efficient, and sustainable energy solutions.
  • Become a world-class Innovation Hub, enhancing socio-economic development at national and regional levels.
  • Serve as an academic and professional conduit between three countries (Cyprus, Denmark, and the Netherlands), jointly tackling the challenges of the much-needed green transition.

AIM

The PHAETHON Teaming project aims to upgrade the University of Cyprus (UCY) FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy (UCY-FOSS) to a world-class autonomous and self-sustained Centre of Excellence (CoE), PHAETHON CoE, which will act as a catalyst for excellence and innovation in the energy field.

MOTIVATION

Motivated by the timely energy transition and the prevailing climate change challenges, the Research and Innovation (R&I) focus of PHAETHON CoE is on intelligent, efficient and sustainable energy solutions, aligned to the European Green Deal priorities to ensure a secure and renewable-based energy supply. The significance of this transition is underscored by EU investment of over €1 trillion, while Cyprus is devoting €1.3 billion to green investments, in line with its smart specialisation strategy (S3Cy).

VISION

The vision of PHAETHON CoE is to contribute to a green energy future by creating an inspiring environment for conducting state-of-the-art inter-disciplinary research on intelligent, efficient and sustainable energy solutions and to become a world-class Innovation Hub in sustainable energy, thereby contributing to socio-economic development at the national and regional levels.

We strive for diversity across the globe

Transformation to Excellence

Building on a Proven Track-Record, while Leveraging Partnerships with Leading European Institutions

PHAETHON CoE expands upon the work of its predecessor, the FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy, which was established in 2014 after Cypriot Parliamentary approval.

PHAETHON CoE is capitalising on this strong foundation, as well as transferring excellence through its partnership with the leading European institutions in energy transition and sustainability, fostering a robust R&l ecosystem in Cyprus and beyond. The Centre is thus expected to have a direct impact on the energy research and innovation cycle in Cyprus, the surrounding region, and globally.

€15mln

EU funding

€30mln

complementary funding

Objectives

Driving Sustainable Energy Excellence, Together

Real-life strategy to reach your goals.

  • Major upgrade of UCY-FOSS into a world-class autonomous CoE, acting as a catalyst for energy R&I in Cyprus and Europe.

  • Broaden the scientific scope of the CoE in needs-based research and education, placing Cyprus at the forefront of next-generation energy research, through a dynamic partnership with DTU and UG.

  • Build scientific capacity and state-of-the-art infrastructure in key energy domains, rendering the CoE as the driving R&I force in the surrounding region.
  • Advance the uptake of novel smart energy solutions by the high-tech energy sector through the CoE’s Innovation Hub and industrial partnerships.
  • Increase the capacity of Cyprus in cross-border scientific and innovation networks, focusing on the energy transition of Cyprus and the EMMENA region.
  • Secure PHAETHON CoE’s long-term sustainability through diversified funding sources that include national, regional, and European research funds, education and training programmes, and exploitation of research results.

Work Plan

Building Tomorrow’s Energy Solutions, Today

Real-life strategy to reach your goals.

The work plan is structured into seven inter-related Work Packages (WPs) to allow for the coherent implementation of the project according to the defined methodology.

FOSS Research Centre is upgrading and evolving into PHAETHON CoE through the PHAETHON Teaming project of the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme. The Consortium comprises the University of Cyprus (Coordinator), the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Groningen, and Cyprus Seeds. The Teaming project, which kicked off in late 2023, has a duration of 6 years, while the sustainability plan for the CoE has provisions for the next 10 years. It is worth noting that “PHAETHON” was the top-ranked proposal in the EU for the creation of a Centre of Excellence.

  • WP1: Project management and coordination activities.
  • WP2: CoE establishment, management and human resources recruitment.
  • WP3: Capacity building, research programme, education and training.
  • WP4: Research infrastructure in key energy domains.
  • WP5: Innovation, acceleration and networking.
  • WP6: Research project – Smart Energy Community.
  • WP7: Dissemination, exploitation and sustainability strategy.

Impact

Transforming Energy Landscapes

PHAETHON CoE aims to serve as a catalyst for excellence in the energy field, focusing on the development of solutions and applications that can address a wide range of contemporary global energy challenges.

This relates to an increase in the number of citations and publications of Cypriot researchers, as well as in the number of applications for patents and spinoffs.

This entails structural changes of Cypriot R&I organisations and the provision of R&D services to Cypriot public and private energy R&I stakeholders.

This involves enhancing attractiveness and improving human capital retention more broadly, while reducing research personnel “brain drain” from Cyprus.

This relates to an uptick in the successful participation of CoE researchers to national and European funded projects, as well as more consortium leadership roles for CoE, while improving competitive funding success more broadly.

This involves expanding energy-field researcher industrial internships for academic-business co-creation activities.

This relates to an increase in the PhD graduate rate, to better foster diffusion of knowledge in the energy field, and to an increase of energy-field practitioners trained in IP protection, to enhance IPR awareness of research outputs.

This entails expanding global outreach to research centres, universities, industry, and municipalities across many countries, leading to an uptick in invited talks, joint initiatives, and projects.