Presentation of the final report of the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility was held on June 14, 2018 at 14:00 at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, auditorium # 107.

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. The visit is implemented during October, 2017 – May, 2018 on the basis of the request of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia to the European Commission. Two missions have been successfully implemented within the framework of the Policy Support Facility-Specific support to Georgia (December 2017 and February 2018). During the visits, international experts held meeting with different stakeholders including the State and Private sector, representatives of industry and academia from various institutions/organizations. The thematic meetings within the framework of the visits included 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.  

It is noteworthy that Cristina Russo, Director of International Cooperation, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, paid an official visit to Georgia. She welcomed the audience with the keynote speech and highlighted the importance of STI system development and Policy Support Facility.

The event was opened by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Dr. Alexander Tevzadze. Opening remarks have been also made by the Vice rector of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Dr. Aleksandre Tskiskaridze and the Director General of SRNSFG, Ms. Manana Mikaberidze.

The experts’ panel presented their report and recommendations based on two visits and comprehensive research of the Georgian STI system. The panel of the independent high-ranking international experts: Co-chairs: Michael Schlicht - Former Director on national and international Science Policies and Krzysztof Gulda - independent expert, Council Member of the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland, advisor to the polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education; 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 - 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 and Anna Kaderabkova - Executive and research director of Centre for Innovation Studies at University of Economics and Management, Prague (Czech Republic).

General note from the panel in the report: Georgia is a leader in facilitating business activities, but a laggard in facilitating research and innovation activities. For the benefit of the Georgian STI System, the panel strongly advises ‘Strengthen 4C for Georgia: Coordination, concentration, collaboration, coherence. Presentation was followed by open discussion and the audience had opportunity to ask the questions.

Final report of the policy support Facility- Specific Support to Georgia is published on the official website of the European Commission: https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/policy-support-facility/specific-support-georgia

Presentation of June 14 can be accessed via the link.