Address by the Deputy Minister of Culture, Dr Vasiliki Kassianidou, at the event for the establishment of Mnemosyne Research Centre

It is a pleasure to be with you here today for the kick-off meeting of the Mnemosyne Research Centre in Digital Cultural Heritage, a new research unit at the Cyprus University of Technology, the establishment of which was recently approved by the Government and the House of Representatives. This new ambitious Research Centre of the Cyprus University of Technology aims to turn Cyprus into a global reference point for the preservation of cultural memory.

The team behind this joint effort is well known and respected not only here in Cyprus but also worldwide as they have been extremely successful in securing very competitive European grants including the European Research Area (ERA) Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage and the very prestigious UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage. The contribution of the two Chairs to the preservation and enhancement of world cultural heritage through digital technology is undoubtedly very important, as is the work of Earth Observation Cultural Heritage Laboratory.

Mnemosyne is expected to extend the mission of the UNESCO and ERA Chairs and strengthen the shared knowledge of humanity through education, science, culture, and communication.

As Deputy Ministry of Culture, we welcome this new breakthrough step regarding research, innovation and education in the cultural heritage domain, which brings together the Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, the Earth Observation Cultural Heritage Laboratory and the Mechanical Engineering Design and Additive Manufacturing Laboratory of the Cyprus University of Technology.

I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that my aim is for the Deputy Ministry of Culture to be actively involved in research pertaining to our expertise but also to enable cooperation, research and innovation by acting as a supporting vehicle for the highest-quality research. To that end, we strive to foster greater cooperation between academic institutions and research centres with our own departments, namely the Department of Antiquities, the Department of Contemporary Culture and the Cyprus Handicraft Service but also the Cyprus National Committee for UNESCO which functions under the Deputy Ministry’s auspices.

Thus, we express our readiness to closely cooperate with the newly established Mnemosyne Research Centre. The State will stand by your side in your efforts to combine in a constructive and innovative way digital heritage, computer science, engineering, and the humanities.

Concluding my address, allow me to express my warm congratulations to all of you who have worked so hard in order to make this research centre a reality and wish that soon Mnemosyne will become a widely recognised Centre of Excellence.

Thank you for your attention.

(EK/MS/IA)

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