We got an early start on Day 2, as our bus for Limassol left at 8:00 AM. Our destination was the Limassol branch of Medochemie, a pharmaceutical company based in Cyprus. I learned in the presentation from Medochemie officials that Medochemie concentrates on generics; that is, they do not develop new drugs, but instead wait for other patents to expire. Medochemie has manufacturing plants in Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Vietnam (the latter of which seems to be an up-and-coming giant in manufacturing). The Q&A session was especially interesting. I was again reminded of the breadth and complexity of tasks involved in bringing a drug to market, from packaging to maintaining and evaluating the stability of an API. 

After hearing from company representatives, we got to tour a warehouse facility. The shelves were reminiscent of library shelves; they were lined up back-to-back, with channels that opened by pressing a button on the side, causing the shelves to slide and reveal a passageway. On the bus ride back to Nicosia, Dr. Sherwin helped me understand more clearly how warehouses are organized for efficient operation. Like Medochemie, most companies designate low-pick, high-pick, and reserve sections to ensure that products are added and removed smoothly. Dr. Sherwin, Chris, Matt, and I also had a great conversation about how blockchain could apply to the pharmaceutical industry. I am very much looking forward to hearing from Dr. Polemitis about crypto next week.

Our next meeting was with representatives from Wargaming, a video game company based in Cyprus. I do not have as much to share about this meeting, as video games are not a particular area of interest or expertise for me. However, I did enjoy the end of the talk, when the speaker challenged us to consider how the company could do a better job of identifying good and bad game ideas before more investment is poured into their development. This problem—investing in ideas that ultimately fizzle out—has connections to any sort of product or service proposal, as well as venture capital. We ultimately concluded that having developers compete for a winning idea (as assessed by expert players) would be a promising approach.

We were all tired upon returning from UNIC, but we summoned a second wind to go out to dinner. Eight of us tried out a Syrian restaurant called Sawa. I needed a break from traditional Greek food, and the Middle Eastern vibe of this place was a welcome change. I had a dish that I forget and/or cannot pronounce containing lamb, green wheat, various spices, lemon, and yogurt sauce. It was delicious, and so were the other courses ordered by my friends.

Now, it is time for a good night’s rest before another 8 AM departure tomorrow.