On the basis of the request of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia, international experts visited Georgia with the second mission, within the framework of the European Commission's Special Supporting Instrument, Policy Support Facility. The Policy Support Facility implies elaboration of recommendations by independent, high-ranking international experts in order to strengthen Georgia's Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) system. International experts will work in Georgia for 5 days and will meet representatives of different institutions. At the meetings, international experts will submit relevant recommendations, developed by their first visit to Georgian officials.

The thematic meetings planned within the framework of the visit include the following issues:

1. Support in identification of promising research fields;
2. Measures for narrowing the gap between research and industry/business;
3. Proposal for the performance-based funding of research entities. 

On February 5, 2018, a meeting of the International Experts was held at the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, which was attended by: Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Mr. Aleksandre Tevzadze; Director General of Shota Rustaveli National Science foundation, Manana Mikaberidze and representatives of the Foundation; Deputy minister of Economy and sustainable development of Georgia – Ekaterine Mikabadze; Chairman of the Georgian Innovations and Technologies Development Agency – Giorgi Zviadadze and Members of International experts panel members: Michael Schlicht (Co-Chair), Former Director on national and international Science Policies and Transformation of higher education systems at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); Krzysztof Gulda (Co-Chair), Independent expert, Council Member of the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland, advisor to the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (former member of the Science Policy Committee); Manfred Spiesberger (Rapporteur), Senior researcher at Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) in Austria, political scientist specialized in R&D and innovation policies in Eastern Europe, in evaluations and impact assessments, and foresight; Maria Nedeva (Expert) Professor of Science and Innovation Dynamics and Policy at the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), the University of Manchester and a long-standing member of the Manchester Institute for Innovation Research; Anna Kaderabkova (Expert) Executive and research director of Centre for Innovation Studies at University of Economics and Management, Prague (Czech Republic).

At the meetings, international experts will submit relevant recommendations developed by their first visit to Georgian officials, representatives of various research institutions and target groups.

We remind you that the first visit of international experts to Georgia was held on December 4-7, 2017, within the framework of the European Commission's Special Supporting Instrument, Policy Support Facility.

During the first mission, the PSF Panel of experts had meetings with Georgian authorities and representatives of stakeholders involved in R&I policies, discussed challenges in the above mentioned three issues and collected views on possible solutions.

Special Supporting Instrument for Georgia is carried out from October 2017 to May 2018.