Cypriot MEPs support EU's €115 million Agile programme to boost defence technology innovation
Four of the six Cypriot members of the European Parliament voted in favor of the EU's new Agile programme, which allocates €115 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises developing emerging and disruptive defence technologies. The programme aims to stimulate innovation through fast-track grants and provide access to testing and certification, helping bridge the gap between development and deployment of new defence technologies.
The Agile programme intends to offer fast-track, four-month time-to-grant funding sourced from reallocations within the EU's multiannual financial framework budget for 2021-2024. Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas emphasized the importance of promoting businesses capable of delivering smart, affordable, and adaptable solutions to strengthen Europe's defence readiness, especially in light of the war in Ukraine and other regional conflicts.
Companies based in EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and Ukraine are eligible to apply for grants between €1 million and €5 million, with incentives encouraging participation or relocation of companies from outside the 31 eligible countries. The European Commission highlighted the programme's goal to fast-track innovative defence technologies and foster stronger links between the technology and defence sectors.
CYPRadar is a state-of-the-art, AI-powered Cyprus news aggregator that automatically crawls, filters, and translates local updates in real time. By continuously scanning a wide range of trusted Cypriot media outlets, blogs, and official RSS feeds, the platform identifies original stories and uses advanced language models to filter out duplicate coverage. The service then generates concise, objective summaries, ensuring that readers get a quick and clear understanding of every significant event without information overload.
The primary mission of CYPRadar is to provide comprehensive, multi-language coverage of Cyprus news to keep both residents and international visitors well-informed. The platform covers key events across all major cities and districts, including Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, and Famagusta. By offering all updates simultaneously in five languages — English, Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, and Turkish — CYPRadar bridges communication gaps and ensures that everyone has equal access to critical local information, from policy changes to community events.
Track military exercises, defense policies, and national security news in Cyprus. Read about the National Guard activities, bilateral defense cooperation, military equipment updates, and regional security pacts.