The Startup Ecosystem of Cyprus

The island of Cyprus has built a relatively modern, free-market, service based economy. The country is a famous tourist destination, but lacks recognition for its startup activities, due largely to a lack of funding. The resulting lack of success stories affects the motivation of the local population toward entrepreneurship.
The government has been working on different initiatives to attract investors and entrepreneurs, including various tax incentives for investment and innovation, the availability of a start-up visa, and funding opportunities. One strength of the island is the talent pool, as it has one of the EU’s highest number of graduates per capita. The local talent has recently been strengthened by tens of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian IT professionals who migrated to Cyprus to escape instability created by the war.
The Cyprus Startup Visa program allows talented entrepreneurs from third world countries outside the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) to develop a startup with high growth potential in Cyprus.
Notable initiatives to support entrepreneurs and attract foreign investors include Invest Cyprus and ARIS, a program jointly funded by Bank of Cyprus and the consulting firm Deloitte. Moreover, CYENS is a multi-stakeholder research and innovation center with the participation of the Municipality of Nicosia, three public universities in Cyprus, and two international Partners (the University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics) to empower knowledge and technology transfer in the country. Another organization that contributes to the innovation ecosystem in Cyprus is Tech Island, an NGO with a mission to turn Cyprus into a world-class destination for tech talent.
Cyprus has established itself as a growing fintech hub. The dynamic fintech movement includes startups offering services from real-time investment portfolio securitization and advanced performance analytics to automated order processing. Besides fintech, it is also home to some of the leading names in RegTech, IoT, cybersecurity, and the gaming industry. Cyprus has seen growth in Blockchain technology, and the University of Nicosia is the first university in the world to offer a Masters course in Digital Currency.
Cyprus has an unrealized startup potential which is now being leveraged by an increasing number of start-up accelerators, incubators, and research institutions developing innovative projects. The government should create policies and incentives that support the launch of venture capital funds to promote entrepreneurship and startup culture. In this way, the island can produce more success stories and become more powerful in the global startup scene.