As Cyprus moves forward with its national AI strategy, the government’s newly appointed National AI Taskforce has been set up to guide its direction. Among its members is Orfhlaith Ni Chorcora, a senior IT executive with over 30 years of international experience, including senior roles at Oracle and Equinix. Her work has focused on digital transformation, ecosystem development, and building strategic partnerships across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
In this exclusive interview for The Future Media, Ni Chorcora discusses the strategic priorities she envisions for the island, the role of talent and infrastructure, and why citizen impact must remain central to any AI initiative.
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What perspectives or expertise do you bring to the Taskforce that you believe will shape Cyprus’s AI future?
I bring 30 years of international experience in leading high-performing pan-regional teams at Fortune 500 companies at the forefront of their field of the IT sector, namely Oracle and Equinix. My career has kept me close to the evolving trends in technology, including 15 years of experience focused on skills development and building Partner ecosystems around the adoption of new technologies.
To the AI Taskforce, I contribute strategic foresight, industry perspective, and a “citizen adoption” lens, drawn from my experience of working with governments and agencies across the EU, Middle East, and Africa as they embraced digital transformation.
As an executive, my experience of managing change, navigating complexity, and developing digital skills without compromising regulatory compliance can be instrumental in challenging assumptions and blind spots, thus helping the Taskforce focus on harnessing AI in support of the future of Cyprus.
In your view, what qualities or achievements made you a strong candidate for this national role at such a transformational moment in AI development?
My background in the IT industry, combined with broad experience in supporting government-industry partnerships across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in their IT transformation and adoption strategies at pace, is where I can be of the greatest value. I have led and coached teams through several waves of digital disruption in the past few years and worked closely with prominent business leaders and decision-makers in the IT industry globally.
My ability to strategize and mobilise teams, businesses, and operations at scale to co-create value and consistently deliver on multi-million-dollar targets gives me a clear understanding of how Cyprus can capture and increase value creation in an AI-driven world. I’ve also developed and led IT skills programs for secondary and higher education, as well as workforce development projects, while cultivating thriving IT ecosystems and partner programs for Fortune 500 companies.
If I were to pick one hallmark of my career, I would say “building partnerships to last.” That’s what I aim to bring to the AI Taskforce in supporting the government’s laudably ambitious goals for Cyprus Vision 2035.
What AI-driven opportunities do you see as most transformative for Cyprus’s key sectors, such as tourism, energy, or healthcare, and for society as a whole?
AI is a technology that will cut across all sectors and impact society as a whole. Without a doubt, there are enormous benefits that AI can bring to tourism, energy, healthcare, and research. But what is most important is how well Cyprus centers its strategy around its citizens: their well-being, prosperity, and quality of life.
AI-driven opportunities rely heavily on the quality of data and the ability to perform causal analysis. In industries such as energy and health, AI-driven use cases can selectively support the assessment, formulation, and emulation of policy impact. There is already substantial work underway at the European level, particularly through the Joint Research Centre (JRC), to support AI adoption in these domains.
In tourism, for example, I’m looking forward to seeing how Cyprus can harness AI use-cases to develop and apply predictive, prescriptive, and augmented insights designed to create exceptional experiences. Smart destination management and multilingual customer service are just two ways AI could elevate the renowned warm Cypriot welcome for tourists arriving on its shores.
How can Cyprus align its AI development with global trends while overcoming challenges like a small market size to attract global investment and attention?
That is a core topic for the AI Taskforce to discuss in detail, including how we can provide input on policy guidelines for consideration.
For sure, Cyprus must invest in its sovereign capability in terms of infrastructure and skills to become a regional hub for innovation, technology, and research. Just as data is the new oil, AI is now the new energy, and it’s currently powering some of the world’s most advanced business models.
Cyprus will need to take a strategic approach on how to create a platform-based business and marketplace model that can act as an attractive and unique differentiator for startups.
How can Cyprus attract and retain top AI talent to drive its innovation agenda?
Attracting AI talent and AI ecosystems is key, and the global race for talent is well underway. Measures such as tax incentives, visa facilitation, and ease of doing business in general can be excellent levers in making Cyprus an attractive AI hub.
That said, Cyprus also has a significant home-grown talent. It is important to ensure ongoing skills development of local talent is an inherent priority of the national AI strategy. Retaining and nurturing that talent will be just as important as attracting it.
What are the biggest risks associated with AI integration in Cyprus, and how can the Taskforce proactively address them?
For sure, there are many factors to consider during the risk assessment phase, and we will be leveraging the EU AI Act to steer the dialogue around risk classification and management, and the protection of citizens’ data and its use.
It will also be imperative to assess the current state of existing systems. AI does not operate in a vacuum — it requires data and its integration into existing systems and industry contexts. Given that the work of the Taskforce is to accelerate AI adoption across both public and private sectors, our national AI strategy must consider future data sources and inputs, automation requirements, including rigorous human checks and balances to help mitigate bias.
What is the one thing you hope to achieve during your term on the Taskforce?
I aspire to unify my experience and thought leadership ability with the insights and talents of my esteemed Taskforce colleagues to help deliver meaningful, lasting impact.
My goal is to contribute to helping Cyprus accelerate its AI adoption in a responsible and citizen-centric manner and indeed become an AI leader.
What steps is the Taskforce taking to ensure that Cyprus’s AI strategy is resilient to international shifts in regulations and technology trends?
Future-proofing strategies around technology adoption is not new, and there are valuable practices that Cyprus can adopt from other countries, especially from the first movers in the AI race.
These kinds of strategies typically require an evolutionary process, rather than a “rip and replace” modus operandi. The strategy must allow for agility and consistent ease for cross-functional partnership with industry, the EU27, and international stakeholders.
If you could implement one groundbreaking AI initiative in Cyprus today, what would it be and why?
It is possibly not ground-breaking in the traditional sense, but given Cyprus’s strategic geographical position, I believe attracting AI innovators and ecosystems to establish themselves here as part of an AI hub could bring significant benefits to the country and its people.
Some of the government-sponsored innovation programs already underway are excellent early-stage initiatives.
What advancements in AI do you think will most impact global industries in the next five years?
I believe AI will drive significant efficiencies in productivity across industries. As a result, we will see, and are already seeing, the emergence of new roles and profiles being required in the workforce.
The need to reskill the workforce will be critical to success. I anticipate we will need to design more innovative, engaging, and impactful ways to drive continuous learning so that we can optimally combine human and artificial intelligence in the workforce of the future.
How do you see the European Union’s AI Act influencing the development and deployment of AI technologies across Europe and in Cyprus?
The AI Act provides a clear framework for how AI technologies should be developed in the region. Hopefully, it will set the standard for other countries to aspire to and align with from around the world. There will be, no doubt, a need to carefully balance innovation and competitive agility with data sovereignty, ethics, and security within the EU27 and beyond.
What does success look like for Cyprus in AI by 2030?
As AI task force members, our role is to help formulate and assess key elements for the overall strategy that the government will determine in due course. And while I’m proud to play that small contribution in the process, I would defer to the Cyprus government on what that success ultimately looks like.
I am aware of the vision of the AI task force Chairman, who has a strong focus on creating superior productivity improvement systems for both public servants and citizens, enhancing citizen experience in consuming digital services, and, above all, creating new jobs in the thriving ecosystem.
