Honourable Ministers,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen:

We are sorry that the President of the Republic could not be present with us tonight.

We have been informed about it just yesterday.

We thank the Minister of Justice and Public Order who represents the President on a very short notice.

We specially thank the President of the Republic who accepted that our ceremony is always under his auspices and also he has given his consent that our function takes place at the Presidential Palace.

We thank Under Secretary to the President Titos Christofides and all the Presidential Palace staff for their undivided willingness to assist, in every way possible, making the best use of this beautiful hall and all the facilities it provides for ceremonies such as the one tonight.

We thank Deputy Minister to the President for European Affairs Mr. Andreas Mavroyiannis for his kind gesture of including our event in Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU event schedule.

We welcome you to tonight’s award ceremony of the Nemitsas Prize and thank you for honouring the Foundation, the prize-winner and we, the founders, with your presence.

Please allow me to note that the Nemitsas Foundation is our way of giving something back to the Republic of Cyprus. It is the means through which Cypriot scientists and artists carrying out internationally-recognised work are honoured.

The Nemitsas Prize has been established as, and will remain, our country’s award and will be presented by the President of the Republic of Cyprus at the Presidential Palace every year to symbolise the important honour and distinction towards the scientists or artists chosen to be awarded.

I would now like to inform you, in a few words, about the process that was followed in choosing the candidates to be awarded.

• • Selecting the area of specialisation comes after Coordinating Committee research and subsequent proposal to the Foundation’s Board of Directors. Once the choice has been approved, it is announced to the Academic Council, the head of which is based in London, and which is made up of distinguished academics from around the world.

• • The Academic Council chooses, from amongst its own members or from amongst international personalities in the selected field, five judges to make up the Jury. The Jury members choose their own chairman and prepare to study the applications they will be sent.

• • The Coordinating Committee prepares the application forms and Andy Bargilly creates the poster. These are placed on the Foundation’s website, on the websites of many universities around the world, and on the websites of Cyprus embassies.

• • The Foundation President, along with the Secretary and Coordinating Committee, methodically begin to announce and promote the sector chosen for the award.

• • The Foundation’s management in Limassol, in cooperation with coordinator Professor Mavronicolas, Vice Rector of the University of Cyprus, send off thousands of e-mails to universities and other scientific centres all over the world. Selecting appropriate centres is a methodical and laborious task. The experience we have already amassed has started to make this huge undertaking easier.

• • To achieve more effective results, we use the excellent services offered to us by the Republic’s Foreign Ministry. The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary instructs every ambassador to pass on the message to all the universities and scientific centres in the country they are posted in.  Similar announcement assistance is provided by the Press and Information Office.

• What follows is the receiving of the applications from prize candidates. Once these are checked and filed in the Foundation’s archive, they are sent- electronically- to the chairman of the Jury where their study and evaluation begins.

As a result of three years of persistent and methodical work, the Nemitsas Prize has become established and is recognized as the most significant Cypriot award honouring Cypriot scientists and artists with a presence on the international scene.

With this briefing, I officially announce that this year’s Jury, as its chairman Professor Michael Yianneskis will elaborate on shortly, has this year chosen distinguished University of California Davis, USA Professor Kyriacos A. Athanasiou to be awarded in the field of Biomedical Engineering.

Professor Athanasiou’s discoveries are based manly around three sectors, which he will present and elaborate on himself shortly. Briefly, these sectors involve: –

1^st The invention of a mechanism for administering medication through the bone to patients for which intravenous administration is not possible. This method is being used and has saved thousands of human lives.

2^nd The creation of a mechanism through which the formation of diabetic foot ulcers can be anticipated and even avoided. In this way, amputation can be prevented.

3^ον Biodegradable implants creating an alternative choice to metal implants as they disappear on their own.

The Professor himself will analyse the details of these inventions shortly.

I will limit myself to noting that the Nemitsas Foundation, with the mechanism we have brought into life,  “discovered” Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, who has Larnaca roots, in far-off California. We are presenting him to you here tonight to honour him and award him in the most resplendent fashion through the President of Cyprus himself in this beautiful, new hall at the Presidential Palace.

I thank you again for your presence. I wish you a pleasant evening full of emotion and pride in the accomplishments of Cypriots, at least for tonight far away from the everyday problems concerning us all.

Takis Nemitsas
27/11/2012