Forum (EIC Forum) and a Summit (EIC Summit), organized by the European Innovation Council of the European Commission
On December 7-8, 2022, Brussels hosted a Forum (EIC Forum) and a Summit (EIC Summit), organized by the European Innovation Council of the European Commission. The official events were attended by Zaza Maruashvili, Deputy Head of Higher Education Development Department of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Zviad Miminoshvili, Direction Coordinator of “Horizon Europe” Georgian National Office, and Ana Goletiani, National Contact Person of the European Innovation Council and the European Innovation Ecosystem.
The EIC Forum was attended by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth - Mariya Gabriel, Director for ERA & Innovation, DG Research and Innovation Anna Panagopoulou and senior government officials of European countries (France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Macedonia, Sweden, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, and Georgia). The development of innovation regulation, the relevance of the scientific and innovation agenda at the national and European levels for the EU member states and associated countries were discussed.
During his speech at the plenary session, Zaza Maruashvili spoke about the recently adopted document on the strategic actions of the Georgian government "Vision-2030", which provides for an increase in budget funding for research and innovation from 0.32% to 1.5%. He highlighted a specific action plan for the implementation of this document, as well as about the mission of Kutaisi International University in deep technologies and innovations; introduced colleagues the experience gained by the “Horizon Europe” Georgia National Office and proudly announced the promotion of the activities of 14 university grant offices by the Ministry of Education and Science and personally by Minister Mikheil Chkhenkeli.
Zaza Maruashvili spoke about the smart specializations identified on the basis of research conducted in the Imereti region, the inevitable necessity of implementing the "Smart Cities" model and voiced the possibility of opening a technology transfer office in Senaki in the near future. He also drew attention to the lack of unified methodology for collecting statistics on research and innovation, which sometimes makes the data unreliable.
European colleagues expressed their readiness to strengthen future fruitful cooperation with Georgia in the direction of promoting innovation.
The EIC Summit brought together innovation researchers, investors, policy makers and consortiums from across Europe. The winners of the European Commission were revealed in the following 3 nominations - European Innovation Capital (iCapital); European Innovator Woman and European Innovative Procurement Award (EUIPA).
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