Speech at the Award Ceremony for the Top Students of the School - June 23, 2023

Honorable attendees,

I extend the warmest welcome to you at the 13th award ceremony for the top students of the School of Engineering and Technology at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT).

The School of Engineering and Technology comprises three Departments and stands out as a pioneering entity in the academic achievements of CUT. Our Departments offer five high-quality undergraduate programs in distinct fields of specialization. The Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Informatics offers degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering and Informatics. The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering offers a degree in Mechanical Engineering. The Department of Civil Engineering and Geoinformatics Engineering offers degrees in Civil Engineering and Surveying Engineering and Geoinformatics Engineering. In these three departments, the School employs over 50 permanent faculty members.

Additionally, the three departments of the School offer a total of seven Master's levelpostgraduate programs, the revenues from which fund the promotion of research and the financial support of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Specifically, the programs offered are: Master's in Biomedical Engineering, Master's in Data Science and Engineering, Master's in Mechanical Engineering, Master's in Energy Systems, Master's in Civil Engineering and Sustainable Design, Master's in Geoinformatics, and Master's in Geospatial Technologies.

The total number of active students in the Departments of the School of Engineering and Technology amounts to over 800 undergraduates, master's level, and doctoral students, who enjoy high-quality education and often participate in basic and applied research. Our graduates are successfully absorbed by industry and academia. For example, two of our PhD graduates from last year, Dr. Achilleas Savvas and Dr. Savva Zannetou, secured positions as tenure-track professors at the top Dutch university, TU Delft.

This year, 72 undergraduate students, 52 Master's students, and 6 doctoral students successfully completed their studies at our School.

Research and teaching successes-connection with Industry and Civil Society.

Although the Cyprus University of Technology has been operating for only 16 years, it has achieved significant results both locally and internationally. The University is now on the path to establishing itself as the university of all Cyprus, with a strong presence primarily in Limassol, but now in Paphos and soon in Larnaca. It also has a presence in Nicosia through the CYENS Center of Excellence.

The production and dissemination of knowledge is a fundamental mission of universities.The fact that we achieve our goals related to research excellence is easily evidenced by our publications in the best conferences and journals in our field, as well as by our research collaborations with top institutions abroad, such as UCL, Imperial, MIT, ETH, etc. We leverage our research results in our postgraduate and undergraduate programs as a tool for developing critical thinking and excellent communication skills in our students, through their participation in the production of original scientific knowledge.

At the same time, the satisfaction of employers and other academic or research institutions with our graduates indicates that we are achieving our teaching goals. Specifically, starting this year, the Computer Science and Engineering Degree Program will increase the number of admissions from 40 to 80 in order to meet the needs of the now developed market for digital services and software on our island, especially in light of the sweeping changes brought about by the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

One major challenge we face is achieving true innovation with the help of our industrial partners. Collaboration agreements have already been signed with public bodies and organizations, providing our School the opportunity to transfer its expertise to solve problems these bodies face. We also seek to further develop collaborations with private businesses to promote research in industrial laboratories.

Additionally, I present five of the significant projects and research centers operating withinour School:

• The Eratosthenes Center of Excellence for Earth Surveillance and Space Observation, co funded by the European Horizon 2020 framework with a total budget of 38 million euros, in collaboration with leading German, Swiss, and Greek institutions.
• The Cancer Research Center in collaboration with the German Oncology Center.
• The Social Computing Research Unit in collaboration with the School of Communication and the School of Fine and Applied Arts. Its activities have so far attracted over 6 million euros in European funds for CUT.
• The Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory, which holds the UNESCO Chair and European Research Area Chair for Digital Heritage, with a budget of over 10 million euros for CUT.
• The Cyprus Quantum Communications Infrastructure, CyQCI, funded by the Digital Europe program, with a budget of 6 million euros for CUT.

Our university's participation in the European University of Technology (EUt+) is also a significant factor for the development of the university and our School. Together with seven other technological universities from eight different European countries, we foresee the creation of a federal university, which will have enormous growth prospects at both the European and international levels. In this context, TEPAK participates along with the University of Technology of Troyes in France, the Technical University of Dublin in Ireland, the University of Cartagena in Spain, the University of Riga in Latvia, the University of Sofiain Bulgaria, and the University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. It is noteworthy that CUTis the smallest of the eight universities in terms of student numbers, but the most successful among them in terms of international rankings for research excellence and securing research funding.

The creation of university institutions with a significant critical mass and involvement from various European countries enjoys substantial support from the European Commission,with initial funding of 7 million euros and soon an additional 24 million euros. The new university is expected to be fully operational in about ten years. Within the framework ofEUt+, joint undergraduate and postgraduate educational programs are being developed, which require changes in the curriculum and a large number of mobilities for students, professors, and administrative staff. The European Commission invests in these academic initiatives as a vehicle towards the grand goal of European integration.

The overall management of this project on behalf of CUT, as decided by the Senate, has been undertaken by the Vice-Rector of Financial Planning and Development, Prof. SotirisKalogirou, while the administrative part is handled by the Erasmus office coordinator, Mr.Aristodemos Lanitis. In this effort, we have the immediate and active participation of th erectoral authorities, including the Rector, Prof. Panagiotis Zafeiris, and the Vice-Rector of Academic Affairs, Prof. Pantelis Keliris.

The prospect of offering undergraduate programs at the European University of Technology in the English language is expected to open new horizons for attracting students to Cyprus from across Europe and the surrounding region. Combined with serious efforts to promote abroad, this will contribute to increasing the University's revenue from external resources and boosting the Cypriot economy in general.

Awards

The most important role in achieving the aforementioned goals is played by the graduates of the School's departments, who will fill positions in our society and contribute to addressing technological and social challenges. The School Council has decided to award the top undergraduate and postgraduate students who achieved the highest grades in their respective departmental fields for each academic year and to commend those students who excelled. Awards will also be presented by companies and organizations.

I want to sincerely congratulate the students who will be awarded today, and I am sure that they have filled their parents, relatives, and friends with feelings of joy and emotion. These awards are a symbolic reward for your tireless efforts during the strenuous years of your studies. Rest assured that if you continue with the same zeal and perseverance, your efforts will be appreciated and rewarded. Your relatives and friends should be proud of you and the support they have provided you.

You should all be proud to have graduated from the Cyprus University of Technology. We want you to know that you are the best ambassadors of the School and the University, and I am confident that you will make us proud with your achievements. However, you must always remember that your professional success is not guaranteed by an academic degreealone but by the quality of your work.

A Call to Our Graduates

Geoffrey Nicholson, research director at 3M, and a distinguished inventor defined Research as the process that turns money into new knowledge, and Innovation as the process that turns knowledge into direct value -a value expressed either economically or as social well-being.

If the process does not produce knowledge, we cannot consider it real Research. A crucial element of quality research is the publication of results in high-quality journals and conferences and their utilization for innovation.

Similarly, if our process does not produce direct value, we cannot consider it real Innovation. To achieve real innovation means that we commercially exploit our research results, laying the foundation for creating valuable artifacts.

Serve the truth,or paraphrasing great thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci, “Do the Real Thing”. Real work is hard, very hard, but in the end, it will reward you.

Thanks

In closing, I would like to thank all the sponsors who have offered the awards to be presented, the secretaries of the School Departments, Mrs Maria Stavrou, Katerina Frantzi and Constantia Kousoulou,and especially the School secretary, Ms. Andri Panteli, who contributed to the successful organization of this ceremony.

Michael Sirivianos
Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology