The second edition of the Cyprus Open Data Hackathon will take place on 15-16 September
2018 in
Limassol at ARIS | A Really Inspiring Space. The competition targets computer
programmers, analysts,
designers, communication and marketing experts, students, as well as everyone else who is passionate
about programming and is interested in developing an application using Public Open Data.
This second edition of the Open Data Hackathon is co-organized by Deloitte, the
Public Administration
and Personnel Department (PAPD) of the Ministry of Finance and
Hack Cyprus, in order to showcase and
encourage the useful exploitation and reuse of the open data available through the Open
Data Portal.
The PAPD, in collaboration with the Open University of Cyprus have
in fact, recently launched a
revamped Open Data portal offering users the opportunity to submit their open data applications, to
search for existing data and request new data. The data provided covers most Public Services,
Departments and Ministries.
Objectives
Build Great Products
To encourage skilled individuals to cooperate and create products
and services using open data. The developments are expected to create added-value and be
commercially applicable.
Cultivate Entrepreneurship
To cultivate youth entrepreneurship as through the competition, new
initiatives/start-ups may be created. This is especially desirable as start-ups may contribute
significantly to the economic and social development of Cyprus.
Open Source Applications
To encourage the creation of useful tools and innovative
applications, which will be openly accessible for re-use.
Strengthen the Ecosystem
To promote and strengthen the entrepreneurial culture and
entrepreneurship ecosystem of Cyprus.
Build Synergies
To strengthen the cooperation between
the public and the private sector.
Citizen Participation
To encourage citizen participation in solving various problems by creating innovative solutions.
TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION TO THE 2ND CYPRUS OPEN DATA HACKATHON
The Terms and Conditions are published on the second Open Data Hackathon website.
The purpose of the present detailed terms and conditions (hereby “Terms”) is to define the terms and
conditions of participation in the second Cyprus Open Data Hackathon.
Participation in the Hackathon in any way presupposes and entails the explicit and unconditional
acceptance of the present detailed Terms..
ORGANISERS
The second edition of the Cyprus Open Data Hackathon (hereinafter the “Hackathon”)
is organised by ARIS | A Really Inspiring Space in collaboration with the Public Administration and
Personnel Department of the Ministry of Finance and Hack Cyprus (hereinafter the “Organizers”).
The Organizers reserve the right to modify – at any time and for any reason –the present Terms and
Conditions or even cancel the Hackathon or the offered Prizes at their absolute discretion. Any such
modification will take effect from the publication of the modified terms on the Hackathon website.
The Organizers do not undertake any responsibility in relation to any such alteration.
SPONSORS
A sponsor is a legal entity which:
Supports Hackathon’s awards by giving cash prizes or products/services and/or
Supports Hackathon in kind (services or products) and/or
Covers part of Hackathon’s expenses (food, beverages etc.)
In exchange, a sponsor can:
Promote its products and services to individuals participating in the Hackathon.
Have its logo on Hackathon’s website and be mentioned in any other promotional activity/material
(Social Media, Newspapers, Magazines etc.).
SUPPORTERS
A supporter is a legal entity, public or private, which:
Operates or has activities similar to the priorities of the Hackathon.
Supports Hackathon’s objectives.
It is up to the Organizers to include supporters in any promotional activity/material.
THE COMPETITION
The Hackathon will take place at ARIS | A Really Inspiring Space, 1 Ayias Zonis and Thessalonikis,
Nicolaou Pentadromos Centre, Block A, Offices 204/5/6, 3025, Limassol, Cyprus on the 15th and 16th
of September, 2018.
PURPOSE
The Hackathon aims to attract highly skilled computer programmers, analysts, designers, communication
and marketing experts, students, as well as everyone else who is passionate about programming and is
interested in developing an application using Open Data.
DATE AND DURATION
The Hackathon will commerce on the 15th of September, 2018 at 09:00 and will end on the 16th of
September, 2018 at 21:00.
STAGES OF THE HACKATHON
STAGE 1 – Submission of Application and acceptance
STAGE 2 – Formation of Teams
STAGE 3 – Coding
STAGE 4 – Pitching Battles
STAGE 5 – Evaluation
STAGE 6 – Announcement of the Hackathon Winners
Participation
Individuals can apply to participate in the Hackathon free of charge. Participation is allowed to
natural persons who have completed 18 years of age and have full legal capacity, to teams of natural
persons and to startups / freelancers (legal entities and sole proprietors). Applicants (hereinafter
“Participants”) will receive confirmation of their admission to the Hackathon via email to the
address indicated in the application form. In case of wrong address or the impossibility to deliver
the email, the Participants will be automatically rejected.
The Participants declare their participation via registration, by filling in and submitting, the
electronic form available via Event Brite, for which there is a link on the website (hereinafter
“Application”). In each application the participants are required to fill in their general
information (name, e-mail and their mobile telephone number) as well as additional information,
according to the type of the application (team or individual), as is requested.
Furthermore, Participants agree that the developments and/or content, as well as any other material
or content submitted to the Organizers during the Hackathon does not refer to, include, advertise
and does not allow access to content that is illegal or contradicts moral values, does not violate
human rights, does not create or reinforce racial discrimination or nationalism or feelings of
rivalry or hostility among population groups, does not encourage criminal acts, does not display
violence as idealized or insignificant state, is not pornographic, does not affect the sexual
orientation of specific population groups, does not compromise the moral education of children and
youth, does not create moral standards harmful to social welfare, does not affect in any way the
image, brand reputation and credibility of the Organizer and of their connected Companies.
The Organizers maintain at all times the right to exclude from the Hackathon any Participant, if
affected third parties raise or threaten to pursue claims against the Organizers (or their connected
companies) or against the Participant, arising from the breach of the aforementioned guarantees
and/or of the present Detailed Terms. In the event relevant claims from third parties are raised
after the end of the Hackathon, due to violation of the aforementioned guarantees and/or of the
present Detailed Terms from a Participant, the latter is obliged to assist in any way the Organizers
(or in case, their connected companies) and assumes, as a procedural guarantee, to intervene, at his
own expense, in the opening trial, in favour of the Organizers (or in favour of the connected
Companies) in order to successfully repel the respective allegations and claims and protect them.
The Organizers reserve at all times the right not to allow the posting and/or withdraw from the
Hackathon website, content as well as any other element, material or content that, under their sole
and uncontrolled judgment, contradicts the present Terms.
CODE OF CONDUCT
During the Hackathon, Participants are required to behave in an ethical manner. More specifically
all participants agree to:
Respect other individuals (Participants, Evaluators, Mentors, Organizers, Visitors).
Treat one another with dignity.
Speak and behave courteously.
Cooperate with others.
Develop positive and respectful relationships and think about the effect on relationships
before acting.
Value the interests, ability and culture of others.
Negotiate and resolve conflict with empathy.
Take personal responsibility for behaviour and actions.
Care for self and others.
Avoid dangerous behaviour and encourage others to avoid dangerous behaviour.
Not bully, harass, intimidate or discriminate against anyone.
Follow Hackathon’s rules and follow the directions of the Organizers.
Resolve conflict respectfully, calmly and fairly.
Respect all property.
VISITORS
Visitors are the individuals who do not participate in the Hackathon as contentast/in teams.
Visitors can be present at the Hackathon ONLY during the Welcome Ceremony, the Introduction, the
Pitching Battles and the Award Ceremony.
Might be able to be mentors after contacting the Organizing Committee (see website).
REGISTRATIONS
A Participant can participate in the Hackathon as an individual, namely, without being a member of a
team. The participant should, however, join an existing team or create a new team and cooperate with
one or more people who had also submitted applications for individual participation.
Each member of the team is required to register individually. Teams must be composed of two (2) to
five (5) individuals. A participant cannot participate both as an individual and as a member of a
team.
Participants commit and guarantee to provide true and complete information in their application and
throughout the duration of the Hackathon. The Organizers can, at any stage during the Hackathon,
request any supporting documents they deem necessary (ID, passport, driver’s license etc.) in order
to crosscheck or certify the information of the Participants according to the present terms or in
order to give the Prizes, which the Participants and/or winners are obliged to provide.
In the event of false, inaccurate or incomplete information in the declaration, application and /or
provision of documents, the Organizers have the right to cancel the participation at any stage of
the Hackathon, even after the Prizes have been awarded.
It is explicitly clarified that the right for individual participation is connected to the
participation right of the Participant’s team and therefore, if it is discovered that a member of
the team does not fulfil the participation conditions or its participation is cancelled for any
reason, the Organizers have the right, at their absolute discretion, to exclude the participation of
the entire team. The Organizers have the right to cancel the participation of any Participant at any
stage of the Hackathon for the following reasons: (a) in the event that, for any reason, the
Participant as natural or legal entity (in his name and in the name of the participating Company)
refuses to accept the present terms or does not fulfil them in their total, even though all of them
are considered vital; (b) due to subsequent inability to comply with the terms and conditions of the
Hackathon; (c) in the event the Participant or the team violate the current legislation and fair
practices or if an action of the Participant or of the team harms or damages in any way the
Organizer’s interests.
EQUIPMENT, SERVICES AND EXPENSES
The Organizers offer to the Participants, the following services free of charge:
Work desk in a shared workspace with access to the Internet and according to the operating
hours set by the Organizers.
Mentoring form experienced mentors who will be announced in frequent intervals on the
Hackathon’s webpage.
The Participants must bring, their own equipment such as a laptops, computer screens, keyboard sand any
other equipment necessary in order to prepare and be able to participate in the Hackathon. The use of
all open codes and libraries is allowed.
All expenses, which may indicatively include the preparation costs (mock-up costs, pilot apps etc.),
transport costs, accommodation costs and other costs, realized by the Participants, under any form
of participation and because of or due to their participation in the Hackathon, will be undertaken
solely by the Participants. The Organizers have no responsibility to cover such expenses. Any
document or other material that will be submitted for the purpose of participation in the Hackathon
will not be returned.
Hospitality (food & beverages) and provision of supporting services are offered on condition that
every Participant, under any method of participation or capacity, complies with any obligation
arising from the security policies of the Organizers and agrees to undertake full responsibility for
any possible damage, accident or harm caused to the provided equipment and/or to the infrastructures
of the Organizers in general.
COMMITTEES
In order to ensure that the Hackathon will be smoothly implemented, as is defined in the present
Terms, the following committees will be established and it is expressly declared that they will form
their judgment according to their absolute, unjustified and uncontrolled discretion:
Organising Committee: The organising committee consists of individuals organising,
supporting or sponsoring the Hackathon. The responsibility of the organising committee is to design,
run and monitor the Hackathon.
Mentoring Committee: The mentoring committee is comprised of individuals with
academic and/or professional experience in regards to the Hackathon. The selection of the
individuals for this committee is the responsibility of the Organising Committee. The main
responsibility of the Mentoring Committee is to guide and mentor participants throughout the
duration of the Hackathon.
Evaluation Committee: The Evaluation committee is comprised of individuals with
academic and/or professional experience in regards to the Hackathon. The selection of the
individuals for this committee is the responsibility of the Organising Committee. The main
responsibility of this Committee is to evaluate the developed projects/apps and declare the winners.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
The Evaluation Committee will evaluate the Developments based on the following -indicative-
criteria:
How it addresses a specific need/challenge;
How innovative the Development is;
How complete the suggested business model is;
Its prospects for development and sustainability;
Its social and financial effect;
Its maturity level and degree of implementation;
Its openness and the potential added value on the market;
The organization and expertise of the Participants;
AWARDS
The Prizes of the Hackathon Winners will be given to them at the order of announcement and upon a
relevant, appropriate notification on the detailed procedure of their awarding. More information
will be made available on the Hackathon webpage in frequent intervals. The aforementioned Prizes
cannot be transferred to a third party. The winner does not have the right to request financial or
other exchange instead of the specific prize he/she won.
Monetary Prizes
1st winning team: 1500 euro offered by Bank of Cyprus 2nd winning team: 1000 euro offered by Bank of Cyprus 3rd winning team: 500 euro offered by Bank of Cyprus "Smart Cities Challenge "winning team: 1000 euro offered by the Municipality of
Ypsonas
Smart Cities Challenge:
Develop applications (mobile and/or web app) tackling the challenges of urbanization and making
urban environments cleaner, safer, more comfortable and highly energy-efficient. Teams may choose to
focus on any of the following sub-challenges: air quality, water and waste water management, energy
efficiency, urban mobility, safety and security.
The Challenge constitutes an important initiative to inspire innovation & encourage communities to
address local issues through data,
Residency at ARIS
All three winning teams will be accepted for residency at ARIS | A Really Inspiring Space,
in Limassol, which
provides early-stage aspiring entrepreneurs with the structure, training, mentor support and global
network they need to become go-to-market ready. The duration of the residency will be discussed
individually with each team. The minimum duration is 8 weeks and the maximum is 26 weeks.
Other Prizes
1st winning team:
One partial scholarship of 50% for any Masters Program offered by the European University Cyprus
(conventional mode of delivery or by distance education).
300 euro gift voucher offered by Cyta.
A 1 year freelancer plan on Proto.io offered by Proto.io .
2nd winning team:
One partial scholarship of 50% for any Masters Program offered by the European University Cyprus
(conventional mode of delivery or by distance education).
300 euro gift voucher offered by Cyta.
3rd winning team:
300 euro gift voucher offered by Cyta.
connected technologies and partnerships.
The Hackathon winners and their products/services/apps will be announced on the Hackathon website
and other media.
Guarantees
Each Participant to the Hackathon shall assure that the prototype/product/app developed:
Will be designed within the Event and will constitute an original work
Will not contain any trademark, logo or other signs protected by copyright or industrial
property
rights;
In case of IP rights of third persons on the Project, the Participant shall have obtained all
the
necessary licenses and authorizations and ensure that the licenses and authorizations above can
be
assigned to third parties;
Will not violate the rights of a third person, including patents, trade secrets, rights
assigned
from licenses and contracts, the right to advertisement and the right to privacy, moral rights
and
any other rights that shall be protected according to the law;
Has not been the object of a previous contract with a third party.
Does not contain any defamatory, outrageous content or the representation or otherelements that
might potentially discrediting the name, honour and/or reputation of the Creator and the
Organisers,
other individuals and companies;
Does not contain any pornographic, sexual explicit and discriminatory content (especially
discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political orientation of
individual/ groups) or that incite violence toward a living creature, or might be defined as
offensive, obscene and inappropriate;
Does not contain any threatening or other intimidating, harassing and abusive content.
Will not violate the applicable law or encourage unlawful behaviours
The Participants declare that they and their successors will entirely indemnify the Creator and the
Organiser against all third-parties claims, lodged against them in connection with the guarantees
provided above.
License Agreement
By submitting their participation and their application and therefore, their acceptance of the
present Terms, the Participants grant to the Organizers the right for the non-exclusive, without
exchange, irrevocable, worldwide, transferable license for use of what is posted on the Hackathon
website and throughout the duration of the Hackathon, by the Organizers and/or by their connected
companies, complete and/or in segments, integrated in another composition of audiovisual material,
for a duration of two years since the expiry of the Duration, in any manner and for as many times as
the Organizers deem necessary for the purposes of promotion, communication, projection and publicity
of the Hackathon.
The present license includes the right to publish, transmit, display, reproduce and make available
to the public the Content in any way (including disposal via the internet, audiovisual services via
use of mobile telephony networks, broadcasting, reproduction of printed material, posting on the
websites of the Organizers and on the websites of their connected Companies or of other Content
providers, posting on social networks and platforms etcs.) Participants further provide to the
Organizer the right to further grant permission for use of this article to Third parties cooperating
with them, exclusively for the purpose of promotion, advertising, publicity of the Program such as
in broadcasts, audiovisual content providers, advertising companies and so on.
By submitting their participation and their application and therefore their acceptance of the
present Terms, the Participants accept and consent to the use of the nomination or logo, sign,
distinctive feature and other distinctive elements of their business in the context of organization,
promotion, and publication of the Hackathon.
Participants and/or Winners consent to the downloading and use of their pictures (or video) and to
the reference, reproduction and saving of their image, voice, name, nomination and other distinctive
elements and features of their business in any way such as electronic and print media, on broadcast
media or audiovisual content platforms, on social networks or platforms, on electronic or other
promotional material intended for the purpose of organizing, promoting and advertising the
Program.
Participants consent to cooperate with the Organizers for the production of any audiovisual material
that may be created for the implementation of the Hackathon and the awarding of Prizes, at the
discretion of the Organizers, in accordance with the present Detailed Terms.
Any rights for intellectual property owned by a Third Party remains to the third party or third
parties to whom they belong. The Participants acknowledge that many applications will be developed
during the Hackathon and that these applications can be similar or identical in relation to their
subject, concept, and form or in other respects. Participants acknowledge and agree that the
Organizer does not have now, or will have in the future, any duty or responsibility, direct or
indirect, or any other liability in relation to the violation or protection of copyright or of other
intellectual property rights that concern the application and the overall content of the
Participants.
OTHER TERMS
After the end of the Hackathon and the awarding of the Prizes, any obligation of the Organizers
ceases to exist and they have no obligation or liability to the Participants, while, on the
contrary, they maintain the right to exercise any of their legal rights (including any claim for
compensation) in accordance with the aforementioned. The Organizers do not provide, with the present
Terms, any warranty and do not confer any right on any of the promotional material produced in
accordance with the Terms. The Organizers do not accept any responsibility for the dissemination of
photos, data, etc. from Internet and social media users (f.i. transfer, uploading, downloading,
sharing, etc.) and do not guarantee nor are responsible for any damage caused to anyone from use of
the Hackathon website and of its content to which use the users proceed at their own risk.
Similarly, the Organizer does not accept any responsibility for any damage caused to the Hackathon
website and which will result in the temporary or permanent interruption of the Hackathon nor are
they liable for information or content that is integrated by third parties or for links or other
advertising banners that may be displayed on the Hackathon website. Participation applications that
are received via malicious programs and/or web services will be cancelled along with applications
submitted in any other suspicious and/or irregular method, and for which there is suspicion that
they assign to a Participant an unfair advantage over the other Participants.
Prizes
The most important aspect of the Hackathon is the participation and interaction with
like-minded people. Participants will be able to develop their knowledge and skills towards
created add-value products and/or services using open data.
Teams, with the best
applications, will be rewarded with cash prizes, services and products from our
sponsors.
€1500
from the Bank of Cyprus
+ ARIS Residency
+ Partial scholarship by EUC.(*)
+ 1 year proto.io subscription
+ €300 Prize from CYTA
€1000
from the Bank of Cyprus
+ ARIS Residency
+ Partial scholarship by EUC.(*)
+ €300 Prize from CYTA
€500
from the Bank of Cyprus
+ ARIS Residency
+ €300 Prize from CYTA
*One partial scholarship of 50% for any Masters Program offered
by the
European University Cyprus
(conventional mode of delivery or by distance education).
€1000
Winner of "Smart Cities Challenge":
Develop applications (mobile and/or web app) tackling the challenges
of urbanization and making urban environments cleaner, safer, more comfortable and highly
energy-efficient.
Teams may choose to focus on any of the following sub-challenges:
air quality, water and waste water management, energy efficiency, urban mobility, safety and
security. The Challenge constitutes an important initiative to inspire innovation &
encourage communities to address local issues through data, connected technologies and
partnerships.
Prize offered by the Municipality of Ypsonas
Dimitris Michail is a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Applied
Mathematics and a holder of an MSc Operational Research from London School of
Economics and a Master’s in Public Sector Management from the Cyprus International
Institute of Management. He joined the Public Administration and Personnel Department
of the Ministry of Finance in 2006 and he has been leading the Cyprus Open Data Team
since its inception in 2008. He represents the Republic of Cyprus in EU PSI Work
Groups and participates as a rapporteur at various conferences on Open Data. In the
past and between 2001-2006, he has worked as a Business Analyst at the MTV Network
Headquarters and as a Senior Operational Researcher at the UK Department of
Education and Skills, in London.
Mantalena Tsouka
Mantalena has been working for the Cyprus government the last seven years.
In 2015, she joined the Cyprus PSI Team, which was set up in Public
Administration and Personnel Department (Ministry of Finance). As part of the
Cyprus PSI Team she contributes to the organisation on various events and
activities promoting open data and the re-use of public sector information in
Cyprus. She has attended numerous conferences and workshops regarding
open data both in Cyprus and abroad.
Eliza Loucaidou
Senior Manager - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre,
Deloitte
Eliza has more than fifteen years of experience in the Research and Consulting Sector and has
served a large number of local and international clients from different industries, including the
public and private sectors. Since joining Deloitte in 2011, she has further specialized in the EU
Funding Instruments and the implementation of projects, which focus on and promote
innovative practices in various sectors of the economy, such as research projects in cooperation
with leading universities and research institutions throughout Europe. Eliza is also responsible for
IECs activities and initiatives related to startups, with a vision to develop the entrepreneurship
ecosystem of Cyprus.
Eliza holds a BA Politics from University of Essex and an MSc in Public Administration & Public
Policy, London School of Economics, UK.
Christodoulos Pavlou
Consultant, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre
Christodoulos is a Consultant at Deloitte’s Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Centre (IEC). Under the innovation pillar,
Christodoulos works for the preparation and overall management of
innovative EU-funded projects. Furthermore, under the
entrepreneurship pillar, he provides consulting services to clients in
terms of competitiveness and performance. Christodoulos holds a
BSc in Business Administration and Management and an MSc in
Enterprise.
Christina Neofytidou
Consultant - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre, Deloitte
Christina is a Consultant for Deloitte’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (IEC). At IEC, Christina
assists in the preparation of proposals for innovative EU-funded projects. She is also involved in
projects that aim to improve the competitiveness of enterprises in fields such as shipping, banking and
telecoms. She is also the Operations Officer of ARIS | A Really Inspiring Space, an early-stage
accelerator that has been founded by Deloitte and the Bank of Cyprus to assist aspiring entrepreneurs in
transforming their business ideas into a successful ventures. At ARIS, Christina is responsible for all
matters and issues relating to the smooth operation of the ARIS programme, its premises and its
resident’s needs.
She holds a BSc in Sociology from the University of Bath, and has two Master’s degrees in Corporate
Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management from the University of Bath and the Cyprus
International Institute of Management respectively.
Valentinos Evripidou
Valentinos Evripidou is the Cofounder and CEO of Pixel Actions, a boutique digital web agency based in
Limassol and the Cofounder of Politica.io, a multi-segment platform for political analysis, real time
reporting and visualisations. Prior to founding Pixel Actions, Valentinos has worked as a Research
Assistant in Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London and as a Software Engineer in various
organisations. He holds a BSc in Informatics from the Athens University of Economics and Business and an
MSc in Software Engineering from Imperial College London. He is an Executive board member of the Cypriot
Enterprise Link and part of the organising team of hack{cyprus}.
Christos Rodosthenous is an IT officer at the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) and a researcher at the
Computational Cognition Lab. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Commonsense
Knowledge Acquisition and reasoning, Story Understanding, Crowdsourcing, eLearning and new technologies,
Trends in distance education. He is an advocate of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and actively
participates in many actions and projects for promoting its usage in the public sector.
He has over 14 years of experience in coordinating, designing and developing web applications, portals
and information systems. He is a member of the OUC team responsible for the development of the
data.gov.cy portal. He is involved in numerous National and European projects involving eLearning
technologies, Web Portals, Digital repositories, Open Access and Open Data initiatives.
Monica Ioannidou Polemitis
Director - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre, Deloitte and Director – ARIS A Really
Inspiring Space
Monica is a Director at the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre of Deloitte. With more than 15 years of
professional experience, she has been involved in a large number of innovation and technology-related
projects and their implementation by large organizations. She is also leading a series of initiatives
aimed at promoting the startup ecosystem in Cyprus and a series of projects focusing on the design and
implementation of an innovation strategy for various organizations in important sectors of the
economy.
As part of her duties at Deloitte, she also the Director of ARIS an early stage accelerator set up by
Deloitte CY and the Bank of Cyprus. She has special interest in the creation, launch and scale up of
startups which reflect current market needs and a personal strong interest in women entrepreneurs.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics from Essex University and an MSc in
International European Politics from the University of Edinburgh.
Ministry of Finance - Head of the Minister's Office
Irene joined the government in 1997 and has held a number of policy related positions,
She worked for 10 years in the department responsible for EU regional policy. During the
Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2012, she was Head of the Programme
and Policy Coordination Unit. In the period from 2014 to 2107 she was Head of Better
Regulation, Investment and Entrepreneurship Division at the Unit of Administrative
Reform (UAR) in the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus, responsible for the
formulation and implementation of the new Growth Agenda. In this capacity she was one
of the main authors of the Policy Statement of Enhancing the Entrepreneurial
Ecosystem, approved by the Council of Ministers in 2015. She monitored and steered its
implementation until February 2018 and played a catalytic role in the implementation of
actions like, participation in GEM, tax incentives for innovative firms and start ups and
start up visa. Since March 2018 she is heading the office of the Minister of Finance. She
is currently a member of the Blockchain working group formulated by the government.
She studied Regional Science at Reading University and holds a Master on
Environmental and Resource Economics from University College London.
Dr Simona Mihai Yiannaki
Dr. Simona Mihai Yiannaki is an Associate Professor in Finance, Deputy Dean School of Business at EUC,
an international consultant in Banking, Finance, Economics and a trainer. Her research fields are
finance, banking, hedge funds, risk management, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation in higher
education. She is the Director of EUC-PEAK Innovation Center at European University Cyprus and she was
awarded several outstanding performance awards from international research institutes and conducted E.U.
funded research projects. She is a Fulbright finalist, World Bank project expert and expert reviewer for
various Ministries and research agencies in Israel and Poland, and member of CISI U.K.
Dr Theodosis Mourouzis
Dr Theodosis Mourouzis is a Research Fellow at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT) and
Programme Director of the MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at the Cyprus International
Institute of Management (CIIM). He is also the Managing Director of Cyprus Blockchain Technologies LTD,
a non-profit organisation founded by CIIM, UCL CBT, University of Nicosia, Oracle and big banks in
Cyprus including Hellenic Bank, Bank of Cyprus and Cooperative Bank with the aim to promote Blockchain
technology.
He received his PhD in Computer Science from University College London (Information Security Group with
specialisation in cryptography). He was a member of the UCL Information Security Group that in 2013 was
awarded the 1st award in the 4-month UK Cyber Cipher Security Challenge among UK universities, organised
by GCHQ and PwC. He also holds a MRes in Security Science from UCL, a MSc in Advanced Studies in
Mathematics (Number Theory Group) from University of Cambridge and a BA/MA in Mathematics from
University of Cambridge.
Additionally, he is an advisor and researcher in the areas of information security, ISO27001 best
practices, cryptography, Blockchain, ICO crowdfunding and data analytics. He is also a participant at
the ISO/TC 307 Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technologies and Member of the Advisory Committee of
EC-Council for Blockchain curriculum development. During his career he was employed as specialist and
consultant to both private and governmental organisations, including Lloyds Banking Group, Technology
Strategy Board (TSB) and Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE).
Christos Christou
Mr. Christos Christou is the Head of the Innovation and Idea Development Centre at Cyta, the leading
provider of integrated electronic communications services in Cyprus.
The Innovation’s Centre and Idea Development purpose, is to make Cyta a champion of entrepreneurial
Innovation. Through strategic partnerships with private and public entities, business angels,
universities, and an Intrapreneurship program under development, the Innovation Centre aims to assist,
in the creation of a dynamic ecosystem that converts ideas into start-ups, fueling the future
development of both the organization’s and the country’s.
Holding an MBA in Marketing, a BSc in Marketing and Personnel management and a Diploma from the
Chartered Institute of Marketing, Christos has served in various managerial positions such as the Head
of Cytanet’s communications office, the Head of the digital Tv platform Cytavision, and as Product
Communications Manager, responsible for the communication strategy and all promotional campaigns of
Cyta’s services such as; Cytamobile Vodafone, Cytavision, Cytanet.
Ido Ivri
Ido has worked at the public library of Israel on digital projects enabling public access to the data,
is on the board of Wikimedia Israel, and is a volunteer at the Public Knowledge Workshop, an Israeli
volunteer based NGO which promotes open government and citizen participation.
Two years ago he founded CenCity, building the platform that enables smart cities to drive their
decisions with data from their citizens.
Georgia Matheou
Georgia has been working at the Open University of Cyprus from 2008. She is a member of the eLearning
and Digital Content Management Sector with 8 years of experience in eLearning systems, users training,
and users support. She is responsible for the analysis, design and development of many software systems
and websites. She participated on several projects with European funding for the Open University of
Cyprus. She has written a few articles and promoted the services provided by OUC in presentation,
workshops and conferences.
Theodotos Andreou
Theodotos is one of the founding members of the Cyprus FOSS Community and a passionate Free Software,
Digital Rights and Open Data advocate.
He works as a Systems/Network administrator in the Cyprus University of Technology and he has more than
15 years of experience with Open Source technologies. He is also a CCNA and LPI trainer.
Georgina Kyriakoudes
Georgina is a certified accountant (FCCA) involved in the field of blockchain since 2015, including
being one of only 45 people in the world to hold an MSc in Digital Currency. Her professional experience
is with Big Four accounting firms in London and Cyprus and in industry heading finance teams and
developing online education for accountants. She now works with the University of Nicosia’s Blockchain
Initiative designing and delivering executive-level blockchain education seminars and forming key
academic and professional relationships.
Ioannis Kourouklides
Ioannis Kourouklides pursued his four-year Master of Engineering (MEng) at Imperial College London in
the fields of Electronic and Information Engineering, with specialization in Αrtificial Intelligence,
Optimization, Signal and Image Processing. He graduated in 2014 with a First Class Honours and his
thesis involved applications of Computer Vision and Machine Learning in Mobile Robotics. He has received
several academic scholarships and also an industrial scholarship during his studies. In addition, he was
awarded by Imperial College London for his contribution to Robotics education and his volunteering
actions. In terms of industrial experience, he has worked for Broadcom and Citigroup. In academia, he
has worked for University College London and Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). Furthermore, Ioannis
has been a mentor at the First Open Data Hackathon and he also mentored at the Centre for
Entrepreneurship at the University of Cyprus and ARIS. Currently, he is a member of the Data Science
Laboratory at CUΤ pursuing his PhD thesis in Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Finally, he is a founding member of Cypriot Scientists and Engineers (CySE) and Limassol Hackerspace
(LHS) and a member of Cyprus Stroke Association, Cyprus Sustainability Institute and Rotaract Club of
Limassol Amathusia.
Michael Economou
Michael is the co-founder of foody.com.cy & atyourservice.com.cy. He is passionate for Web
Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Bachelor in Technology Management and Master in Web Science. Michael is
specialising in Business Development and Sales. He has made research on how Business Development can
help the further development of Open Data.
Konstantinos Kareklas
Holder of BSc Business Administration with concentration in Management Information Systems, worked
mainly in the IT and Training industry. From 2003 till 2013, I have been working as a Trainer mainly for
professionals covering the areas of IT and Business Administration in the private sector. Since early
2013, I am working in Agile Environments as a Scrum Master, Innovation facilitator and Agile Coach,
focusing mainly in Scrum and ScrumBan. I am certified as a Scrum Developer, Scrum Master, Agile Master
Expert, Scrum Product Owner and Agile Trainer.
I am the founder of Cyprus Agile and Innovation community and already organized two successful agile
meetups in Limassol and heading for the third one that will be focused on Start-up companies and Agile
manifesto. I have participated in the Agile Summit in Greece on 2017 and invited to the Beyond Agile
Israel 2018 in Tel Aviv as a speaker, and gave a TED style speech about Agile and Innovation.
Currently working as an Agile coach, Scrum Master, Innovation Facilitator at Extra Energy Holding
Cyprus.
Pantelis Georgiou
Pantelis Eftichiou Georgiou, a Civil Engineer by profession, serves as the Mayor of the Municipality of
Ypsonas since 2016. Since his election as a Municipal Councilor in 2011 he served as Chairman of the
Technical Committee, being actively involved in the construction sector as the owner and manager of a
construction company. His vision is for the Municipality of Ypsonas to become an enviable Municipality
through a series of development projects, social and cultural actions, environmental and sports
developments and administrative reforms. Pantelis was a Judge at the recent Cyta Smartcity
Crowdhackathon in Nicosia.
Nicholas Loulloudes
Nicholas Loulloudes is an Information Technology Professional and Entrepreneur. His interests evolve
around the areas of Cloud Computing, GeoLocation and Intelligent Transportation. Specifically, his
expertise focuses in the domains of: Large-Scale Distributed Systems (Cloud, IoT) and Compute Resource
Virtualization, Vehicular Networks, Smart Cities, and Complex Networks.
Nicholas, has a long involvement in the Eclipse open-source ecosystem as a Committer, and currently
leads the Cloud Application Management Framework (CAMF). He has been a mentor to a variety of
postgraduate and undergraduate theses, as well as, international competitions such as the Google Summer
of Code. His work has been funded by acknowledged international bodies (EU FP6 - FP7, Cyprus Research
Promotion Foundation) as well as world renowned organizations (Amazon).
He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Cyprus, an M.Sc. in Communications Networks
and Software from the University of Surrey (2006) and a BSc in Computer Science from Intercollege. He
has served as a researcher or visiting lecturer at the University of Cyprus (UCY) and University of
Nicosia (UNic). His research has been published in leading scientific conferences and journals.
Recently, his ideas have been presented in Innovation and Entrepreneurship competitions
(ClimateLaunchpad, Digital Champion).
Neoclis Neocleous
Senior Lands Officer - Department of Lands and Surveys
Neoclis Neocleous is a Senior Lands Officer at the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS) of Cyprus. He
is the Leader of the IT Sector in the Department, administrating and supporting the Cyprus Integrated
Land Information System (CILIS). Neoclis’ area of concentration focuses on the implementation of large
scale IT strategic projects throughout the Government. Special interests include various e-Governmental
initiatives and projects such as the successful implementation of the DLS PORTAL platform. Neoclis acts
as a Project Board member in various other additional important IT projects, such as the “Data
Warehouse” and the Project “Hippodamus” of the Town Planning and Housing Department. Most recently,
Neoclis leads the Implementation of two of the most important IT projects in the Cyprus Government, a)
the Upgrade of the Geographical Information System (GIS) at DLS and b) the Upgrade of the Legal and
Fiscal Systems at DLS. Both the latter, are part of the implementation of the DLS’ New IT Strategy.
Loizos Michael
Assistant Professor at Open University of Cyprus
Loizos Michael is an Assistant Professor at Open University of Cyprus, where he
founded and directs the Computational Cognition Lab. He was educated at University
of Cyprus, where he received a B.Sc. in Computer Science with a minor degree in
Mathematics. He continued his education at Harvard University, where he received an
M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Computer Science.
His research focuses on the principled study of cognitive processes associated with
individual or collective intelligence — such as learning, reasoning, sensing,
communication, cooperation — and how those are used by humans and other
organisms in everyday life. Emphasis is placed on the development of computational
models for various aspects of cognitive processes, and the analysis of the formal
implications that such models have. This computational view of cognition is
complemented by simulations, real‐world experiments, and psychological studies,
designed to validate the proposed models and to identify features thereof that warrant
further study.
Georgia (Zeta) Kapitsaki
Assistant Professor at Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus
Georgia is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science of University of
Cyprus. She completed her undergraduate studies at the National Technical University of
Athens (Dipl. Electrical and Computer Engineering). She holds a M.Sc. in Techno-economical
Systems and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical
University of Athens. She has worked as a Research Associate at the National Technical
University of Athens, as a Laboratory Assistant at the Technical Institute of Piraeus and as a
software and telecommunications engineer in Germany. She has also been a visiting
researcher at the Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, in TU Delft and has
participated in the organization and in the program committees of international conferences
(e.g. ICSR 2016). She has published research papers in various venues and has participated in
European research projects. Her research interests include Software Engineering, Open
Source Software, Context-aware services and Privacy protection. She is representing
University of Cyprus in the Open Technologies Alliance (GFOSS) and this year she is a co-
mentor for a Google Summer of Code project of GFOSS.
Diem Do
Social Entrepreneur | Co-founder of CodeGorilla
Diem is the co-founder of CodeGorilla, an award winning coding school with various locations in the
Netherlands. CodeGorilla that has helped many aspiring developers to find jobs at IT companies and
start-ups. She has organized many hackathons and can help participants with time management and how to
structure and deliver a great pitch. She was a board member of a co-working space and has experience in
community building and policy and governance.
Tasos Kounoudes
Founder and CEO of SignalGeneriX
Dr. Kounoudes received his MEng in Computer Engineering and Informatics from University of Patras,
Greece, and his PhD in Digital Signal Processing from Imperial College, UK. Following his PhD studies he
worked as a Post-doc research associate at Imperial College and also in various positions in high-tech
R&D in the UK before founding SignalGeneriX in Cyprus in 2004. Since then he is fully engaged in the
company’s activities initially as the Chief Technical Officer and now as the Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Kounoudes was instrumental for the transformation of SignalGeneriX from a technology start-up to an
internationally acknowledged technology company owning a strong IP portfolio of patents and trademarks,
commercially successful high-tech products and achieving a total investment in in-house R&D of more than
10 Million euros. SignalGeneriX is today the leading technology R&D company in Cyprus, named as National
Champion in Entrepreneurship by the European Business Awards 2016/17, National Champion in Innovation by
the European Business Awards 2014/15, winner of the Cyprus Engineering award for 2015, winner of the
prestigious Lloyds List Global Innovation Award 2014 and the Cyprus Innovation Award 2013, and
acknowledged by the European Commission with the EUREKA-label as recognition of substantial innovation
in R&D. On a personal level, Dr. Kounoudes’, contribution to Cypriot R&D. has been recognised with the
prestigious Cyprus Young Scientist Association ‘Manolis Christofides’ award for excellence in research,
presented to him by the President of Cyprus in 2015, and with the Cyprus Quality Leader Award 2015.
Dr. Kounoudes is currently a member of the board of directors of the Limassol Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, vice president of the Cyprus Association of Research and Innovation Enterprises (CARIE), and a
member of the Innovation committees at Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB), and the
Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEBE). At a European level, he is an elected member of the
Executive Board of the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO). Dr.
Kounoudes is also actively promoting Industry-Academia collaboration in Cyprus and he is currently
sitting on the Industrial Advisory Board at the European University of Cyprus and the University of
Nicosia Business School Advisory Board. He is also an external scientific expert for the European
Defence Agency (EDA) and the Scientific Expert for the European Commission (EC) and in the past he has
served as a a scientific expert for research funding agencies in Greece, Serbia and Germany.
Dr. Kounoudes is the author of a European patent and has published more than 50 scientific papers in
international journals, book chapters and proceedings of international conferences.
Demetris Antoniades
Demetris Antoniades has been working with data for about 15 years now. He has been involved with data
from at the network level up to the social level. In the latest years he is analyzing data pursuing both
academia and corporate endeavours working for Universities and Companies in Cyprus. He holds a PhD in
Computer Science where he studied Web 2.0 Information Exchange Services. His PhD studies were funded
from the Hrakleitos II Research Scholarship fund. He interned with Telefonica I+D in the academic year
of 2010-2011 and he was a research assistant with FORTH from 2004 to 2011. He worked as PostDoctoral
Fellow with the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA (2012-2014) and the University of Cyprus
(2014-2015).
During his career, Demetris has an increasing interest in advancing the state-of-the-art technologies in
his field and identifying how it can be efficiently put into use, improving quality of life in any sense
possible. His research and technology interests have been pursued over the last 15 years as a
researcher, software developer and the technical project manager on a number of European and research
projects, the outcomes of which were delivered with excellent results and high evaluation. He also acted
as a team leader in a number of scientific projects, coordinating the team efforts development and
analysis, communicating the results through reports, as well as scientific writings. As an active
learner, he remains up to date with the state of the art through various sources. Also, he has
participated in a number of training sessions and boot-camps both technical (Azure, AWS, Cloud and Web
Technologies, Cloud Security) and business orientated (business model generation, networking, branding,
product development). Apart from his research career path, Demetris has also pursued opportunities to
transfer his knowledge to the real world by taking training for Business Model Generation and
participating in the ClimateLaunchpad 2015 Entrepreneurship completion, where he was a Cyprus
finalist.
A hackathon is an event during which computer programmers and others interested in
software development collaborate intensively, for a duration of 24-48 hours to
create various applications.
Open Data is data freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish,
without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.
The Hackathon targets computer programmers, analysts, designers, communication
experts and marketing experts, students, as well as everyone else who is passionate
about programming and wants to develop an application using Open Data. You need not
necessarily be a programmer to participate, however, someone within your team should
have an IT background/knowledge.
During the competition you will have full access and guidance to the Open Data
(data.gov.cy) platform. You are free
to use any tools, IDEs, etc you prefer. If you have any special requirements on
software/hardware please contact us.
All individuals participating in the competition should be physically present at ARIS
| A Really Inspiring Space
throughout the entire time of the competition.
Yes, already established teams can participate in the competition. However, the
application should be developed during the two-day competition, not earlier.
Open Data Hackathon 2018
15-16 September, Limassol, Cyprus