A three-year research project using artificial intelligence to align Cyprus’s education system with labour market needs has been officially launched, bringing together a technology company, a research centre, and two government ministries.
CySKILLS-AI — the Cyprus Skills-Knowledge Intelligence Learning and Labour System powered by AI — was launched on 20 March 2026 at the CYENS Centre of Excellence in Nicosia.
The project is led by Artemis Intelligence and developed in partnership with CYENS, with the participation of the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth and the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. It is funded by the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and Innovation Foundation under the AI in Government programme.
The project was designed to address four structural problems identified in Cyprus’s current approach to labour market policy: data is fragmented across multiple systems; there is a lag of 24 to 36 months between data collection and curriculum change; there is no predictive capacity; and the volume of job postings published monthly — running to thousands — cannot be systematically analysed. In fast-moving sectors such as ICT, where skills cycles run at 12 to 18 months, policy responses risk being obsolete before they are implemented.
CySKILLS-AI addresses these gaps through a three-layer system. A unified data hub consolidates historical surveys, real-time job advertisements, and records from higher education institutions. A suite of AI agents then processes this data continuously, covering skills intelligence, mismatch analysis, career pathways, forecasting, and policy output generation.
The results are made available through role-specific dashboards for the Ministry of Education, higher education institutions, employers, and students. The project runs from March 2026 to March 2029.
The Ministry of Education said it aims for CySKILLS-AI to contribute to surveys conducted under Cyprus’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, including the CYGraduates, CYEmployers, and Eurograduate surveys, with the objective of strengthening the connection between education and the labour market.
Theodoros Loukaidis, Director General of the Research and Innovation Foundation, said the system would forecast future skills needs, identify gaps across sectors, and enable faster, evidence-based policymaking.
Valerie Badilla, Chief Innovations and Operations Officer at Artemis Intelligence, said the project aimed to transform fragmented data into “a strategic national asset, bridging the systemic divide between the classroom and the workplace.”
Dr Vassilis Vassiliades, CAIR MRG Leader at CYENS, said the project would help create “the foundations for smarter, more timely, and more evidence-driven decisions on skills, education, and the future of work in Cyprus.”