Who we are

We are the Robotics, Control, and Decision Systems (RCDS) laboratory and digital innovation hub (DIH) at the Cyprus University of Technology. We are a non-profit entity under the Cyprus University of Techology. RCDS is the first robotics laboratory in Cyprus (established in 2011). Since then, we have developed externally funded activities worth more than 26 million euros. We engage in research, technology development, innovation and commercialisation activities.

Our people
The team has decades of combined robotics, technology and product, and business experience in the US and Europe. We have worked with commercial entities of all sizes (start-ups to multinationals) as well as academia, government agencies and NGOs.

The RCDS Laboratory
The RCDS Laboratory is at the heart of the RCDS DIH. It provides the foundation (people, expertise, infrastructure) upon which all the services of the Digital Innovation Hub are built. The laboratory operates out of two facilities (one focusing on marine and maritime robotics and another one dealing with mobile, aerial and underground robotics) at the campus of the Cyprus University of Technology.

Services
Our service offering is wide and varied. Are you a startup or a larger corporate entity? Or maybe a government agency, an academic or research entity, or an NGO. Reach out to us to discuss the issues you are facing. Even if we cannot help you ourselves, we might be able to direct you to those who could. We have a large, international network of partners capable of addressing a wide range of robotics and automation related needs. Let’s talk!

Our offering
We offer a range of technology, business, and ecosystem services:

Strategic RDI
Contract research, technology, and product development
Technical support with scaling up
Project development support
Incubator/accelerator support
Market analysis
Strategy development
Ecosystem learning
Training and education

Technological expertise

Fundamental science and technology development: Decision and control of robotics and autonomous (multi-) agent systems

Navigation
Control
Coordination
Motion task planning

Applied science and technology development

Aerial robotics
Marine and maritime robotics
Mobile robotics
Underground robotics

Digital technologies.

The Cyprus Digital Innovation Hub (CyDI-Hub) is the largest regional network of the most prestigious research, innovation, industry and governmental   organisations, utilizing state of the art infrastructure, in order to bring the fourth digital revolution in Cyprus by offering cutting-edge digital technology innovations and services to the industry. CyDI-Hub is a non profit organisation that coordinates the Hub activities.

CyDI-Hub caters for the specific needs and gaps of enterprises in its region, particularly SMEs, manufacturing companies and stakeholders nationwide. CyDI-Hub is primarily supporting both the manufacturing industry and public bodies. In addition, key sectors highlighted in Smart Specialisation Strategy will be supported, including health, agriculture, energy, and tourism. Finally, key sectors with increased economic output such as public administration, transport and wholesale/retail trade will be supported. CYDI-Hub is committed to make an impact towards accelerating and enhancing R&D&I investment towards the direction of industry digitisation. Digital technologies.

Cybersecurity innovation hub creates a multidisciplinary ecosystem of research institutions, governmental bodies, clusters and private companies focused on cooperation, information sharing, research and implementation of cutting-edge technologies in cybersecurity. The creation of this ecosystem is based on long-term strategic cooperation between Masaryk University, Brno University of Technology, the National Cyber and Information Security Agency and the Brno Regional Chamber of Commerce, which led to the creation of a wide network of cooperating key players in cybersecurity at national and international level.

The key features of the hub are its multidisciplinarity, a wide range of cooperating national and international, public and private institutions, as well as the possibility of utilising unique infrastructures. Partners involved in the operation of the hub retain experts dealing with cybersecurity issues not only from a technical perspective, but also from a procedural, organizational, legal, economic or sociological point of view. The hub also cooperates with and provides support to variety of national public authorities (like National Cyber and Information Security Authority, Ministry of Justice, Czech Police, or Data Protection Authority), international institutions (ENISA, Europol or United Nations), private clusters, trade organisations, scientific parks and private corporations. As some of the partners of the hub are research organisations and innovative companies, the hub can utilise their research, development and production infrastructures (ie. cyber ranges, training facilities, security operations centres, proving grounds or testing infrastructures).

Activities and services of the hub provided to the SMEs include primarily:

networking, know-how, and capacities sharing;  
information and cybersecurity education: training, learning, conferences, workshops;  
sharing information on current trends in computer network security;  
proposals for adjusting information security legislation;  
communication with computer network security organizations and associations;
creating information security education programs;
provision of access to unique auxiliary infrastructures;
consultation on available innovative cybersecurity technologies and their implementation; 
etc.

The hub is a non-profit organisation coordinated by the National centre of competence on cybersecurity, which is governed by its Board which consists of representatives of key private and public stakeholders in cybersecurity in the Czech Republic. Digital technologies.

Digital technologies.

CybersecRDI: Cybersecurity Research, Development and Innovation Hub, hosted within Innovation Centre Nikola Tesla (ICENT), is the key Croatian facility to support companies to become more competitive by improving their cybersecurity as well as cybersecurity products and services by up-taking education, research, development & innovation activities.

CybersecRDI acts as one-stop-shop, helping Croatian companies to improve their cybersecurity products through efficient orchestrating of various stakeholders in cybersecurity innovation ecosystem such as research institutions, business support institutions and businesses operating in the field of cybersecurity that may contribute to the development and application of advanced cybersecurity solutions. CybersecRDI also provides connections with investors, facilitates access to financing for digital transformations, helps connect users and suppliers of cybersecurity innovations across the value chain and foster synergies between cybersecurity and other key enabling technologies (such as machine learning). Digital technologies.

CYBERSEC HUB as a non-profit organization coordinated by the Instytut Kościuszki (http://www.ik.org.pl) supports the development of the Polish national cybersecurity system, which plays a critical role in safeguarding the digital transformation of the country.

On the one hand, CYBERSEC HUB accelerates the growth and facilitates the access to external markets of the Polish innovative cybersecurity startups and SMEs, while on the other it brings foreign investors to the region. In this sense, SMEs, startups and entrepreneurs teams  have been supported in accessing several types of facilities used to prototype and test their latest digital solutions. 

The DIH contributes to the development of the CEE cybersecurity ecosystem and community by organising dedicated programmes, events and publishing the European Cybersecurity Market magazine.

CYBERSEC HUB aims to become a one-stop shop for cybersecurity solutions for local SMEs, big companies, international corporates, public administrations and critical infrastructure operations. 

The hub builds on the synergy between stakeholders from the Małopolska Region in Poland, with the city of Krakow as its strategic center. Krakow is one of the largest start-up hubs in Europe with over two hundred ICT businesses, unparalleled investment opportunities, and access to talent, funding and the entire EU market. This unique environment is what attracts global IT companies to the area, many of whom have already moved their Research, Development and Security Operations Centres to Małopolska. Krakow also hosts the European Cybersecurity Forum - CYBERSEC, one of the main public policy conferences on cybersecurity.

DIHs is part of the consultation process, and will be included as one of the stakeholder, in the emerging National Industry 4.0 Platform that the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology of Poland is developing.

  Digital technologies.

CROBOHUB Croatian Robotics Digital Innovation Hub, hosted within Innovation Centre Nikola Tesla (ICENT), is the key Croatian facility to support companies to become more competitive by improving their business/production processes as well as products and services by up-taking digital technologies and robotic solutions.

CROBOHUB acts as one-stop-shop, helping Croatian companies to digitalise their business through efficient orchestrating of various stakeholders in robotic innovation ecosystem such as research institutions, business support institutions and businesses operating in the field of robotics that may contribute to the development and application of advanced robotic systems in manufacturing. CROBOHUB also provides connections with investors, facilitates access to financing for digital transformations, helps connect users and suppliers of robotic innovations across the value chain and foster synergies between digital and other key enabling technologies (such as biotech, advanced materials, etc.). Digital technologies.

Digital Innovation Services and Facilities

Cranfield University is host to a range of Digital Innovation Opportunities, supported through its Research and Innovation Office and several domain-specific digital innovation centres, including DARTeC (Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre, IVHM (Integrated Vehicle Health Management), IMEC (Intelligent Mobility Engineering Centre), AIRC (Aerospace Integration Research Centre), CUBIC/Cranfield Innovation and Technology Centre, Cranfield Eagle Labs, with over 100 members from Aerospace, Transport, & Manufacturing sectors. Furthermore it supports SMEs through its ERDF grants (Innovation in Manufacturing, Aerospace and Green Economy https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/business/develop-your-technology-and-produc…). It offers data engineering testbeds supported by a range of state of the art digital design, modelling and simulation tools, IoT-enabled physical testbeds, as well as latest Augmented Reality and visualisation technologies, and a recently launched digital control centre, making it the first Digital Ait Traffic Control Tower in the UK. It includes High Performance Computing platforms, namely ‘Astral’ and ‘Delta’, with the latter distributed computing system offering 18 Tflops across its 1280 cores, equipped with 2.4GHz memory, 4x NVidia K80 GPUs for accelerated compute capabilities, accessed via its PBS pro scheduler, and using EDR Infiniband networking (100Gbps), 117TB of usable scratch storage, with applications software stored on separate redundant BeeGFS file store. Data-driven innovation is a key activity across a large spectrum of Cranfield University activities, benefiting direct industrial members of its centres, associate members, clients, and partners of the above.

Digital Innovation Hub Centres

DARTeC: The 67m£ Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre with strong funding from industry (Thales, SAAB, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited, Aveillant) and a strong focus on connected systems) presents new opportunities for Digital Twin technologies across the spectrum of activities supporting the Digital Aviation technologies of the future.

Integrated Vehicle Health Management Centre (IVHM), with members/clients such as Boeing, BAE Systems, THALES and Meggitt involved in cutting edge development and innovation on data-driven vehicle health management services, strongly linked to Digital Twins.

IMEC: The Intelligent Mobility Centre together with the MUEAVI (Multi User Environment for Autonomous Vehicle Innovation) offer a strong innovation environment to boost the impact of Digital Twin technologies on connected and autonomous vehicles.

AIRC: The Aerospace Integration Research Centre jointly funded by Rolls Royce and Airbus is a central hub for Aerospace Research and Innovation, including facilities with visualisation screens, flight simulators, air traffic management simulator, drawing also also capabilities of the on-site Cranfield airport, National Flying Laboratory Centre, large scale gas turbine test area, would offer opportunities for Digital Twin technologies.

Cranfield Innovation Centre, Technology Park (hosting among other the Nissan Technical Centre), and Cranfield University Business Incubation Centre (CUBIC), Cranfield Eagle Labs for avaiation technology supported by Barclays, along with IMAGE initiative (Innovation in Manufacturing, Aerospace and Green Economy) offer thriving Innovation Hub opportunities, which alongside Cranfield’s links with National Innovation Hubs (Digital Catapult, Transport Catapult, and High Value Manufacturing Catapult) in various contexts will offer interfacing and innovation diffusion opportunities.

Cranfield University Context

Cranfield is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.

We are focused on the specialist themes of aerospace, defence and security, energy and power, environment and agrifood, manufacturing, transport systems, and water. Cranfield School of Management is world leader in management education and research.

We are home to many world-class, large-scale facilities which enhance our teaching and research. We are the only university in Europe to own and run an airport and to have airline status.

Cranfield teaches over 4,500 postgraduate students each year and employs 1,500 academic and support staff. We have the largest number of engineering master’s students in the UK. Our staff-to-student ratio is one of the best for any university in the UK (one member of academic staff to every seven students).

We work closely with business, industry and government across the world. Through our industry partnerships, applied research projects and our executive education and professional development programmes, we currently work with over 1,500 companies and organisations.

We are ranked number one in the UK for research income from industry per academic, with 81% of our research classed as world-leading or internationally excellent by REF (Research Excellence Framework, 2014). 

We formed in 1946 as the College of Aeronautics, the first postgraduate college of its kind. The School of Management was founded in 1967.

  Digital technologies.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is a UK based technology innovation centre and the process arm of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

CPI collaborates with universities, SMEs and large corporates to help overcome innovation challenges and develop next generation products and processes. Operating across a broad range of technologies, we support our partners at every step of the way; from concept to market; business support to technology development; from scale up to supply chain intervention

Our partners operate across diverse markets including Healthcare, Food & Agriculture, FMCG, Electronics, Energy, Transportation and Construction. CPI is able to support such a broad-base of industries through our unique innovation processes, together with our diverse and expanding platform of technological expertise.

Overall the combination of CPI’s innovation processes and our outstanding scientific expertise, enables our partners to get more products to market faster, and at a lower overall cost. Digital technologies.

CP Lab is based in Newcastle University and consists of  a team of multi-disciplinary researchers, with a primary focus on modelling and simulation for dependable cyber-physical systems. CP Lab is a key component of the University’s £58m investment in its Urban Sciences Building (USB) and consequently in urban sustainability research.

As part of the University, the Lab is non profit making and measures its success by the quality of its work (referenced by academic papers and conference talks) by engagement with external organisation and by the impact on the real world that such work has.

The Lab’s research focuses on CPS applications such as transport, agriculture, smart buildings and smart grids and our work is often associated with modelling platforms:

Overture – a tool supporting modelling in VDM notation
Crescendo – a tool supporting collaborative modelling between different engineering disciplines
Symphony – a toolsuite supporting modelling systems of systems

These tools allow visualisation and modelling of both cyber-physical systems and systems - of - systems and therefore reduce greatly the time and cost associated with development and enhancement of such systems. As part of the team who developed these tools from scratch, the Lab is well placed to offer expert advice and help to Organisations in need of such service.  Digital technologies.