Filenews 1 November 2025
When in 2020 the CMMI took its first steps, in the midst of a pandemic, under the roof of the Municipality of Larnaca, no one expected the rapid growth it would have in just five years. The Cyprus Institute for the Sea and Shipping, which operates as a centre of excellence for maritime and maritime research, innovation and technological development, started with a handful of scientists and now employs 65 people, while spreading over three facilities in the city and district of Larnaca.
Having in its portfolio important international collaborations and programs with government agencies, last September the Institute decided to take its most ambitious step. He founded Nautonomy Ltd, his first spinout company, with the aim of commercializing the autonomous and smart maritime technologies developed by his researchers. In essence, Nautonomy will create sea drones (unmanned boats), with a Cypriot seal, which can be used in both the military and civilian sectors.
"F" was at the facilities created by the center of excellence in Oroklini, shortly after the director of the European Defense Agency, André Denk, had visited them, who was informed about the plans of the new company. "This is a sector that is growing rapidly internationally and we are not behind other countries, as in other areas of defense. We can't build tanks or planes, for example. However, we have the ability to do such boats as CMMI and as Cyprus. We also explained this to the director of the European Defence Agency, who expressed his satisfaction, as did the Ministry of Defence, with whom we are discussing how we will be able to use this technology for defence purposes", said CMMI CEO, Zacharias Siokouros. He also indicated that this is a sector that the Institute was interested in getting involved from the beginning and it is for this reason that it dealt with marine robotics and autonomous marine vessels (surface and underwater). "This is essentially the commercial exploitation of the technology created in the CMMI for unmanned vessels. The CMMI grants the rights to use the created technology to researchers interested in getting involved to exploit it commercially. In the first phase, they could be used by the Cyprus Police, the Ministry of Defence, the Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (KSED), but also for civilian uses, such as sea monitoring and protection of Marine Protected Areas. We are already in contact with the Ministry of Defense, the Police and the KSED", noted Mr. Siokouros.
The CEO of CMMI, underlined that the aim of the center of excellence is to give impetus to scientists and encourage them to develop new technologies. "Cyprus is first in Europe in scientific publications, with 175% above the average. So as a country we do not suffer in this part. The point, however, is to develop technologies in areas where we have the ability and to have the corresponding funding, so that we can produce things made in Cyprus and we can all be proud."
The co-founders of Nautonomy Ltd
The co-founders and directors of Nautonomy Ltd are Christos Kelesis, electrical engineer and Christos Konstantinidis, software engineer, while the secretary is Andri Theodorou. The two directors of the company worked at the Cyprus Institute and their work saw the light of day many times, since they created dozens of aerial drones, with their own technology, some of which were sold to the Department of Forests and the National Guard. "After 15 years in drones, I discovered that CMMI exists and that it was interesting in the commercialization of technology, which is something that interests me very much. The goal is to reach a point where the team's engineers will see their designs and prototypes have the next day," noted Mr. Kelesis. For his part, Mr. Constantinides said that he joined CMMI, after 7 years at the Cyprus Institute, with a vision to see the software they created bring help to the country and be able to be exported outside Cyprus.
How unmanned vessels will work
Cypriot sea drones that are changing the rules of safety and technology
Nautonomy's drones, as the two scientists explain, will be able to offer remote monitoring in areas related to national security, border surveillance, checks for illegal entry of migrants. In addition, they will be able to assist in the protection of critical infrastructure. "There are two ways to control the unmanned vessel, either with a remote control or with a computer," says Mr. Konstantinidis, noting that a drone can be at sea, depending on the engine it has, from a few hours to a few days. "The company's purpose is to sell the system along with the boat as a package. The boats will be able to be built by us, either by an organization such as CMMI or through cooperation with external partners (boat manufacturers)", added Mr. Kelesis, clarifying that the system can control both boats with conventional forms of energy and with zero emissions. "We have done market research and we have already been approached by other companies from abroad that have problems with the systems they have on their unmanned vessels," he noted.
The company's co-founders were asked to answer whether they ever believed that Cyprus could offer them the opportunity to commercially exploit their own systems. Mr. Kelesis pointed out that in the part of their own technology, where heavy industry is not needed, there are no restrictions. "We can create and even as competitively as other countries," he noted. For his part, Mr. Constantinides stressed that what many believe is not true: That a scientist in Cyprus does not have the know-how of those who excel abroad. "With the trips we made and the people we met, we saw that we are hardly far away," he noted.
