14 Apr., 16 We would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone who attended the RISE public workshop at the A.G. Leventis Gallery in Nicosia last Monday! It is very rewarding and encouraging to see that our RISE initiative has been embraced by over 150 attendees; including both local and foreign government officials, entrepreneurs, start-up mentors, business executives, academics, researchers and students. The workshop featured a range of energetic and insightful talks from distinguished Cypriot and foreign speakers, including the Mayor of Nicosia, Constantinos Yiorkadjis, Mrs. Ioanna Kleanthous, on behalf of George Georghiou Permanent Secretary, Directorate General European Programs, Coordination and Development; Mr. Constantinos Karageorgis Senior Commerce and Industry Officer on behalf of Dr. Stelios Himonas, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism; Mr. Matti Anttonen, Under Secretary of State for External Economic Relations; Kasper Suomalainen, Captain & COO of Startup Sauna in Finland; Mr. Colm Reilly, CEO of UK Lebanon Tech Hub and Economic Development Professional; Mrs. Stavriana Kofteros, Co-Founder, Chief Evangelist Startup Cyprus; Mr. Panayiotis Philimis, President of the Cyprus Association of Research and Innovation enterprise (CARIE), Mrs. Despina Michael, RISE Deputy Scientific Coordinator, Cyprus University of Technology, Mr. Marios Avraamides, University of Cyprus Professor. The panel discussion was coordinated from Panayiotis Zaphiris Professor, Cyprus University of Technology. The Team of RISE had a very constructive and fruitful exchange with an enthusiastic audience who shared with us their ideas and encouraged us to work even harder to make RISE a reality. We are looking forward to changing the Research and Innovation landscape of Cyprus with you!