INVITATION FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST The Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy (the “Deputy Ministry”) calls on the parties interested to submit an application under the Teaming Call to express their interest for receiving letters of commitment by the Republic of Cyprus for complementary funding from national resources for the establishment or upgrading of Centres of Excellence (the “Commitment Letter(s)”). The Deputy Ministry will provide co-financing of up to € 15 000 000 to a proposal submitted by a Cypriot entity and will be selected for funding under the Teaming Call, provided that the entity has secured the relevant Letter of Commitment by the Deputy Ministry. Criteria for provision of Commitment Letters The Deputy Ministry intends to provide Commitment Letters to interested parties from Cyprus who will submit proposals based on the national Research and Innovation priorities, as mentioned below:

• Relevance to the policy axes and strategic objectives of the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-26.
• Cooperation with stakeholders who participate in the Cyprus Research and Innovation ecosystem.

Submission of Expressions of Interest The Coordinator of the proposal is invited to submit the completed standard Expression of Interest Form in English (please see attached), to the Deputy Ministry at the following email address: ltsoumpanou@dmrid.gov.cy. The Expression of Interest Form should be accompanied by a cover letter signed by a representative of the institution at the highest level. The final submission date is 03 September 2021. The Commitment Letters will be send to the interested parties before the deadline for submission of proposals to the European Commission (first stage). For more information (including further details about the Criteria) please visit the website of the Research and Innovation Foundation containing the announcement as is (only in Greek), by clicking here.