A team comprising of members of the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Laboratory of the Open University of Cyprus wins first place in a competition for sustainable agriculture and biodiversity

The PerCystent (People Evolved in Research in Cyprus with Sustainable and Environmentally New Technologies in Agriculture) team, which comprises of Athanasia Mandoulaki (PhD candidate at the Cyprus University of Technology - CUT), Andri Varnava (PhD candidate at CUT), Vassilis Litskas (research associate at the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Lab of the Open University of Cyprus - OUC and at CUT), Elli Tzirkalli (research associate of OUC) and George Fyttis (PhD candidate at the University of Cyprus), was awarded the first prize in the Competition "Young Agripreneurs StartUp". The competition was conducted in the framework of the project “CAPture the Future Generation”, which is funded by the IMCAP (Information Measures relating to the Common Agricultural Policy) programme of the European Union.

The aim of the "Young Agripreneurs StartUp" programme was on the one hand, to promote youth entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector and to encourage young people to develop an innovative agricultural product or service, and on the other hand, to promote and inform about the benefits of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Teams involved in the competition also received training by experts / mentors on topics such as CAP, Sustainable Agriculture-Livestock, Development of business ideas, Creation of a business plan, etc.

The PerCystent team developed an innovative idea, and established a smart labeling system endowed with a QR-code (eco-score) for agricultural products, producers, companies and organizations that implement measures and practices in order to reduce the environmental agricultural footprint, and to strengthen and protect biodiversity. In other words, this is an innovative tool for the promotion of products which are produced with environmentally friendly practices, and based on the principles of sustainability.The competition included the creation of a short video (pitch) to announce the business idea and the preparation of a complete business plan. The final score of all teams that participated was formed after public voting of the pitch on social media, and the evaluation of both pitches and business plans by a committee. The awards were announced in the context of the Pancyprian Agriculture and Dairy Conference held on July 6, 2021. The pitch of the PerCystent team can be found here.