POLICIES

Closing event of the EU Twinning project on science-business

The official closing ceremony of the EU Twinning project “Supporting inter-sectoral collaboration  possibilities between Research and Industry” was held on 17 March, 2023.

Closing event of the EU Twinning project
from left: Wolfgang Polt (Institute POLICIES), Erekle Astakhishvili (Director General of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia), Kakha Khandolishvili (Head of Strategic Planning and International Relations Department, Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia), Ramaz Khurodze (Academician-Secretary, Georgian National Academy of Sciences), Kirsten Kienzler (Junior Project Leader, DLR Project Management Agency, Germany), Photo: Vano Gorgishvili


Twinning

The Twinning project funded by the EU assisted Georgia in strengthening the collaboration between science and business. The 3-year project, with a budget of € 1 300 000, aimed to address the priorities and challenges in Georgia’s Science, Technology and  Innovation (STI) system by ensuring interdisciplinary approach, collaborative research and promoting evidence-based policy implementation in line with the EU-Georgia Association Agreement. The project brought Austrian, German and Latvian experts together with the Georgian colleagues to enhance the capacity of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG).

The project team jointly worked to improve SRNSFG existing programmes and operational activities in response to national priorities and socio-economic challenges, considering regional and international context. The project was focused on establishment of the dialogues with and among various stakeholders.


Closing ceremony Smart Georgia

Over 120 representatives of the EU, Government, State and Private Universities, enterprises, international donor organisations and civil society took part in the closing ceremony Smart Georgia “New beginnings for the inter-sectoral collaboration possibilities between Science and Business”.

 

  • At the project closing ceremony, Mr. Erekle Astakhishvili the Director General of SRNSFG emphasized the significant achievements of the Twinning project. The main project activities were: development and revision of the grant call for inter-sectoral dialogue promotion, development of the strategic documents and identification of the scientific priorities for science and business collaboration, as well as science popularisation.
     
  • At the same time, Mr. Wolfgang Polt, the project leader from our POLICIES Institute underlined importance of joint task force between different authorities in promoting science business collaboration. Taking into account the experiences and examples of other countries, the collaboration and establishment of a clear division of tasks and responsibilities facilitates the innovation and science ecosystem development.
     
  • Meanwhile, Ms. Inese Gavarane, the Resident Twinning Advisor mentioned that the closing ceremony is a start of the new phase of the inter-sectoral dialogue in Georgia. It is widely known that Georgia is a cradle of first innovations. Georgia can become one of the innovation leaders by facilitating more tight collaboration between scientists and businesses, and promotion of the identified priority areas for applied research.

 

The Twinning project was implemented by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia with support of Environment Agency Austria (Umweltbundesamt GmbH) in partnership with Joanneum Research, Austria, Austrian Science Fund, Austrian Research Promotion Agency, DLR Project Management Agency, Germany and Daugavpils University, Latvia.