UCLan Cyprus and ESG Perform Global Ltd (ESGPG) have signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) at the UCLan Cyprus campus in Larnaka, establishing a Policy Tech and research framework to support European industry and governments in meeting the 2026 complexity wall of mandatory ESG compliance.
The MoC was signed by Prof. Irene Polycarpou, Rector of UCLan Cyprus, and Mr. James Demetriou AM, Executive Chair and Innovation Architect at ESGPG — the corporate strategist who previously architected the $5.75B Australian Sports Tech ecosystem — signing on behalf of ESGPG's newly established Cypriot headquarters.
A central pillar of this collaboration is leveraging UCLan Cyprus’s advanced research expertise in Data Analytics, Data Management systems, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). UCLan Cyprus will provide critical technical assistance to build ESGPG's platform capability — a system designed to deliver verified sovereign data on ESG practices across the supply chains of government agencies, industrial firms, and the energy and maritime sectors.
"By integrating our advanced Data Analytics and AI capabilities directly into ESGPG's systems, we are ensuring that research originating at UCLan Cyprus plays a vital role in securing the EU's economic and regulatory future." — Prof. Polycarpou
"We chose Cyprus as our sovereign domicile to ensure EU data residency. Partnering with UCLan Cyprus allows us to provide a Sovereign Source of Truth for ESG validation — transforming the 2026 regulatory burden into a driver of competitive excellence across EMEA." — Prof. Danny Samson, ESGPG
The cooperation’s deliverables include the engineering and development of the "samson" scoring platform, led by Prof. Panayiotis Andreou; an audit-grade sovereign ESG validation infrastructure exceeding simple check-box compliance; and an academic-industry pipeline through which ESGPG will serve as Industry Partner for UCLan Cyprus's MSc Data Analytics programme, training local talent on global-standard Policy Tech.
As of January 2026, the EU's CSRD and CSDDD directives require over 50,000 firms and their millions of suppliers to provide verified Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data. This partnership positions Cyprus-based technology as the primary sovereign gateway for this historic regulatory shift.