11/09/2026
Our COO, Neophytos Sofocleous, attended the 3rd Tech Summit Cyprus and represented PGE&Co on the panel discussion "The Cyprus IT Agenda: Innovation, Compliance, Talent & What’s Next", alongside other industry voices, covering artificial intelligence, innovation, cybersecurity, talent, and governance.
Bringing a business, risk, and governance perspective rather than a purely technical one, Neophytos offered a COO's and auditor's eye view of where Cyprus' technology sector genuinely stands and where it still has ground to cover.
An ambitious but uneven landscape
The discussion opened with a candid assessment of Cyprus' IT landscape as ambitious, but uneven. Technology budgets have grown faster than almost any other line item in recent years, and the country has real momentum toward becoming a regional technology hub. Yet maturity varies enormously between sectors: fintech, forex, and shipping now operate to international standards, while parts of the public sector and traditional SMEs are still taking their first steps in digitising basic processes. A recurring theme was that legislation and governance are struggling to keep pace with the technology itself, nowhere more visibly than in artificial intelligence, where employees are already using AI tools informally, often well ahead of any organisational policy to govern them.
Innovation versus stability
Panellists explored where genuine innovation is happening in Cyprus, fintech, gaming and betting, shipping, and pockets of the professional services sector, where AI is already delivering measurable returns, versus where "digital transformation" remains more talk than substance, often amounting to a new dashboard sitting on top of the same underlying processes. On balancing the pressure to innovate quickly with the need for security and operational stability, the consensus was that organisations shouldn't have to choose one over the other: controlled experimentation, sandboxed environments, and building security in from the design stage rather than bolting it on afterwards.
Cybersecurity and compliance as business priorities, not IT problems
A significant part of the conversation focused on reframing cybersecurity and regulatory compliance, including NIS2 and DORA, as business risks rather than a purely technical concern. The clear message was that risk ownership belongs with senior management and the Board, while IT and security leadership are responsible for translating that ownership into practical controls. Communicating that risk effectively, panellists agreed, means speaking in terms boards already understand: financial exposure, real-world scenarios, and industry benchmarks, rather than technical jargon or heat-maps.
The talent conversation
On talent, the panel challenged the idea that Cyprus is simply short of skilled IT professionals, framing it instead as a retention and career-development challenge in a market that now competes directly with fully remote roles globally. Beyond salary, professionals are looking for flexibility, genuine career progression, exposure to modern technology, and protected time to learn, areas where employers in Cyprus are adapting, but not yet fast enough.
Cyprus's ambition as a regional hub — and what comes next
Looking at Cyprus' ambitions as a technology hub, the discussion pointed to a shift already underway: from an attractive tax environment for foreign companies toward a deeper, homegrown talent pipeline and product ecosystem, the foundation that will sustain the country's positioning as a trusted, EU-regulated gateway between Europe and the Middle East. Looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, the panel converged on agentic AI, systems that carry out entire business processes rather than simply answering questions, as the development most likely to reshape organisations in Cyprus, alongside a regulatory environment that will increasingly determine which technology choices are even viable.
The throughline
Across every topic, one message tied the discussion together: technology is no longer solely the IT department's responsibility. It is now a matter of business strategy, risk management, governance, and leadership. Organisations that treat it that way will be the ones best positioned for what comes next.
