The Cyprus Institute

Vassilios Tsakalos

Vassilis Tsakalos is the Director of Research and Technical Support at the Cyprus Institute (CyI) since February 2020. From January 2011 up to his appointment at CyI he served as the Director General of the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF), the executive arm of the Government for research and innovation, formerly known as Research Promotion Foundation. At RIF, he led the design of the National Research and Innovation Framework Program (RESTART 2016-2020) and the digital transition of the Foundation, and set the basis for the transformation of RIF into a customer centric organization. During his term, the Government entrusted the Foundation the responsibility of managing the full spectrum of Innovation policy measures and programmes in Cyprus. Previously, Vassilis Tsakalos was for 12 years the Head of PRAXI (HELP-FORWARD) Network, a Technology Transfer, Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Promotion Agency in Greece belonging to the Foundation for Research and Technology – HELLAS (FORTH) and operating under the auspices of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises and the General Secretariat of Research and Technology.

Vassilis has served as a national expert, advisor, contact point or representative in numerous Committees and Bodies related to EU Framework Programmes, National research and innovation programmes and high technology entrepreneurship initiatives. He has advised several hundreds of entrepreneurs and researchers and has been personally involved in numerous cases of spin off company creation and the negotiation of licensing agreements from academic and research institutions. Moreover, he served as a trainer in the above mentioned subjects in more than 15 countries.

Vassilis is a graduate in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He holds a DEA and a PhD degree from École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris in Materials Engineering.