The Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) regulation, launched in March 2024, is indeed a step in the right direction, upping European investment in the development and manufacturing of digital technologies and deep-tech innovation (incl. AI, advanced semiconductors and robotics), clean and resource-efficient technologies as well as biotechnologies.
STEP aims to streamline funding for strategic technologies, ensuring that investments are directed towards projects that can drive economic growth and technological advancement bolstering Europe's industrial competitiveness and innovation capabilities.
Support to be provided spans the process from the test stage of new products to full production for the market. It enables us to strengthen value chains and reduce dependencies, particularly in light of global supply chain vulnerabilities, ensuring that Europe can produce high-quality products independently and sustainably.
The regulation presents us with the opportunity to address the Innovation Gap identified in the Draghi report. There are many challenges for innovators looking to move from R&D to commercialization: Put simply, companies are struggling to secure funding to scale across a fragmented single market with cumbersome regulation.
The financing gap, estimated at €800Bn in the Draghi report, hinders the ability of European companies to manufacture cutting-edge products and take them to the market fast thus staying ahead of global competitors. And there are also spillover effects: innovation flourishes where talent has access to state-of-the-art equipment, including production facilities. New skills are acquired and the frontiers of knowledge are pushed forward.
The STEP regulation is in fact a pivotal moment for the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) and potentially a game changer for the entire R&I ecosystem of Cyprus: It allows us to mobilise public and private money to invest in production facilities for innovative products, bridging the gap between innovative ideas and market-ready products.
At the RIF we have recently launched a market sounding exercise to explore interest and gather insights for new funding programmes in the works. The programmes could unlock new opportunities for Cyprus’ manufacturing potential and play a crucial role in helping local companies interested in setting up facilities and production lines for manufacturing new innovative products take the leap to the next level.
After all, the RIF is no stranger to introducing first of their kind funding programmes that can have impact. The DISRUPT programme is a case in point: it offered blended finance by combining public funding with private investment capital to support the exponential growth of businesses in international markets. In short, it unlocked new pathways for innovative companies with an MVP in the market who were looking to further develop their product and scale up their business while de-risking ambitious projects for investors. €10million of public money from the RIF mobilised €12.5 million of private investments from 6 different investment funds. And there’s a new blended finance programme for smaller ticket sizes coming soon. At the RIF we are continuously looking at bringing new programmes in our portfolio to help move from R&D to the markets and scale up.
For innovators and investors in breakthrough technologies, the STEP regulation presents a significant opportunity to commercialization and scale. The time is now!
Theodoros Loukaidis
Director General at Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation
