Residence documents for foreign nationals have been added to Cyprus’s Digital Citizen app, Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Nicodemos Damianou told the House Finance Committee on Monday. The app, which has more than 170,000 users, now also sends automatic alerts when documents are due to expire.
Identity cards for minor children have been added as well, Damianou said. Tickets for football matches will follow, with an announcement due within the month. The next phase of the app will add further documents, integrate the European Digital Identity Wallet and include an age verification mechanism to help protect minors online.
Faster public services
Digitisation has helped cut the time taken to examine Social Insurance applications by 30 to 70 per cent, depending on the benefit, Damianou said. He reported similar benefits at recently launched services of the Civil Registry, Social Welfare Services, Defence and the Deputy Ministry of Migration.
More than 200 new digital services have been introduced over the past two years, he said. The police DigiPol platform has issued 21,000 clean criminal record certificates in a few months, the new postal system has handled more than 300,000 drop and send parcels and the eDEA school management system more than 136,000 pupil registrations.
Other projects he cited were a new Social Insurance system, systems for Customs and the Deputy Ministry of Shipping, the first phase of the upgraded iJustice system and the CY-Alert emergency warning system. Large IT systems are being delivered in stages, offering services gradually and reducing the risk of failure, he added.
What comes next
Projects for 2027 include new systems for the Road Transport Department and the Registrar of Companies, which Damianou described as particularly important for making business easier and attracting investment.
The deputy ministry is also supporting government projects for 2027 and 2028, including NG 112, a police command and control centre, a management system for Turkish Cypriot properties and an umbrella patient file system that will extend the existing General Health System (GHS) platform.
Budget and artificial intelligence
The deputy ministry’s budget for 2027 is 150.2 million euros, with a further 62 million euros for digitisation projects included in the budgets of other ministries and deputy ministries, Damianou said. He said it is managing the largest digitisation programme any government has undertaken for the public sector.
A new national artificial intelligence strategy to 2032 will be approved by the cabinet this week, he said. National computing infrastructure has been developed for artificial intelligence, and Cyprus takes part in the European AI Factories network through Pharos-CY.
The government has provided separate funding for cybersecurity for the third consecutive year, he said. In 2026 a common cybersecurity policy framework was introduced for the public service for the first time, with uniform rules, standards, and staff training and awareness activities.
On research and innovation, Damianou said investment would continue in research excellence, funding for innovative companies and links between research and the real economy. There is broad recognition that digital transformation, research and innovation are key pillars of growth and competitiveness for the Cypriot economy, he said, describing them as fully compatible with the government’s social liberal framework.
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