Fostering innovation by reengineering the academic research area: Examples from Cyprus

The creation of the Cyprus research area can be a key component and a critical contributor to the creation of the European Research Area and the strategy defined at Lisbon for making the European Union (EU) the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy. This paper proposes a framework for research in academia that complies with the EU framework with emphasis on the human potential, and infrastructure. A survey has been carried out for identifying problems and potential solutions in giving new momentum to the academic research initiatives, by strengthening efforts, and defining new perspectives for providing the initiatives with more means of implementation. It aims to raise awareness of the academic dimension of research at national and international levels and stimulate a process for bringing together all the parties involved including faculty, industry, administration, and policy makers to launch new cooperation initiatives for both applied and theoretical research.