On Wednesday, May 9 2012, the annual General Meeting of the Association of Cypriot Opinion & Market Research Companies, member of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation, took place. 

During the Meeting, activities were reviewed, opinions on various topics were exchanged, suggestions for the sector’s upgrading were discussed and a resolution was approved for the Memorandum’s amendment regarding the registration of new members. Finally, the elections for the new Board of Directors took place with the following outcome: 


Christos Maragkos (Cymar Market Research) President
Sofocles Markides (Nielsen Audience Measurement) Vice-President 
Panayiotis Panayiotou (Pulse Market Research) Secretary 
Tasos Charalambous (RAI Consultants Public) Treasurer 

The remaining members of the Association are: CMR Cypronetwork Marketing Research, Insights Market Research, Noverna Consulting & Research, Research & Consultancy Institute (RCI), Symmetron Market Research, Synovate and Watchmedia. 

In the next meeting, the new Board of Directors shall set the targets it will promote during its two-year term.

The Association of Cypriot Opinion & Market Research Companies, member of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation, honoured Mr. George Vasileiou in a special ceremony for his valuable and innovative contribution to the development of the opinion poll and market research sector in Cyprus, on November 25 2005 in Nicosia. 

The president of the Association, Mr. Christakis Michaelides, offered Mr. Vasileiou an award plaque and named him “father” of market research in Cyprus since he first started his activities in this sector in 1964, a time when the concept of market research was unknown to our country. As Mr. Michaelides mentioned, Mr. Vasileiou was also awarded the plaque for his contribution to the recognition of Cyprus as an international centre of market research firms. 

The director of the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cypurs, Mr. Pambis Philippides, underlined Mr. Vasileiou’s contribution to the development of Statistical Research.

Mr. Vasileiou warmly thanked the members of the Association for recognising and rewarding his work and urged them to ensure the quality image Cyprus has achieved in the market research sector. 

In the meal that followed, Mr. Vasileiou talked about the evolution of market research and opinion polls in Cyprus.

The Association of Cypriot Opinion & Market Research Companies held a special event to honour Mr. Renos Lysiotis, one of the pioneers in the market research and opinion poll sector in Cyprus.

After graduating from the Pancyprian Gymnasium, Renos Lysiotis studied law in London and worked as a lawyer in Nicosia. He participated actively in the independence war of EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) as a youth officer for PEKA (Political Commission of the Cypriot Fight) and, at the same time, he defended arrested fighters in trials. He was arrested by the colonial army in November 1956 and was held as a political prisoner for two years in Pyla, with the code DP 743.

After his release in 1958, he returned to his lawyer duties and started operations in the trade sector by importing and trading cosmetics and women fashion clothes. He very soon realised the necessity of obtaining confidential information in relation to trade, consumption and the market in general, that is why in 1960 he founded ARGOS, a company specialising in providing such information to traders. In 1980, Renos Lysiotis founded the Research & Survey Institute VERITAS aiming at conducting opinion polls related to the economic, social and trade environment in Cyprus. 

The first public presentation of a VERITAS research occurred in April 1981 and regarded an opinion poll about the imminent general elections. Many other researches, trade and political opinion polls during election periods and election results’ analyses followed. He also conducted researches for the media at a time where no one else did. 

In 1998, VERITAS pioneered once again. It inaugurated the first regular subscription research bearing the title “Cypriot Opinion”, where it outlined and analysed the trends of public opinion regarding political, economic and social issues of the time. It also examined other topics such as the investments, productivity and salaries in both the private and the public sector, the automatic wage indexation, the Cyprus problem, its possible solutions, the popularity of politicians and the different scenarios during presidential and general elections. This subscription research was published twice a year in two languages, Greek and English. VERITAS ceased its activity after 17 years, with a last research published in May 1997. 

Renos Lysiotis, realising the significance of promoting and establishing the research sector in Cyprus under favourable conditions, he pioneered with others by founding the Association of Cypriot Opinion & Market Research Companies in early December 1994. The aim was to create a professional association which would ensure and promote the interests of market research and opinion poll companies in Cyprus. 

Renos Lysiotis was there, present, and through his experience and characteristic calmness he supported the principles governing the professional activities of the companies in this sector. After the Association was officially registered in mid-1997, Renos Lysiotis held the position of the secretary until 2000 when he decided to step down and close this chapter of his professional activity.

Newer but also older members of the Association are grateful to people like Renos Lysiotis who had a vision and worked so that today the Association shall represent an organised initiative of companies working in the sector of market research and opinion polls, a sector that has known great progress in recent years and that is found under the spotlight during each elections. 

It is because of this contribution that the Association unanimously decided to honour Mr. Lysiotis. We all express a warm greeting and a big thank you to the man who helped create the professional association that represents us today in the economy and society of our country.

The Cyprus Organisation for Standardisation (CYS) as well as the Association of Cypriot Opinion & Market Research Companies, member of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation, successfully organised a seminar regarding the international standard ISO 20252:2006 “Market, opinion and social research” in Nicosia, on Friday, June 30 2006. 

The new international standard, which constituted the central theme of the seminar, is the ultimate event in a series of efforts from experts all around the globe and aspires to become a reference point for companies or organisations conducting market or opinion research.