An agreement on setting up the first, so called Smart Lab (SMART/EDM Lab) was signed at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on August 29. The agreement was signed by Acting Rector of TSU, Professor Darejan Tvaltvadze; Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Giorgi Sharvashidze; a board member of Jülich Research Center, Professor Sebastian Schmidt; and Deputy Director of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, Manana Mikaberidze. TSU professors and representatives of the German Embassy to Georgia attended the event. The agreement was signed on the sideline of the 7th Georgian-German School and Workshop in Basic Science.
Deputy Rector of TSU, Merab Eliashvili said: “Smart Lab offers young Georgian scientists trained at Jülich an attractive option for returning to Georgia. I hope that like TSU this idea will also gain a foothold in other Georgian universities and other faculties and departments of our university.”
“The first Smart Lab in Georgia has been opened at TSU. This is the first result of relationship between Jülich Research Center and Georgian universities. This cooperation has been underway for over a decade and during this period about 30 Georgian scientists underwent training. This lab will be the first outpost in Georgia that will work on a large European project and will simultaneously gather Georgian young people, who will be engaged in European research,” Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Giorgi Sharvashidze said.
“The cooperation between Georgian and German scientists was launched several years ago. The ways of this cooperation have developed year after year and the alliance has further expanded. Over the past year we held a lot of workshops together with our Georgian colleagues. Today, we are holding the 7th workshop of Georgian-German Science Bridge and another important issue is related to the agreement on the so called Smart Lab, which will make this cooperation more structured,” Prof. Sebastian Schmidt said.
Head of Smart Lab, Davit Mchedlishvili said that “the purpose of establishing the Smart Lab is to offer successful Georgian scientists to return to Georgia. In addition, it will help students staying in Georgia to get involved in international scientific research taking place abroad.”
Georgian-German School and Workshop in Basic Science is being held for the 7th time already. It was initiated by the employees of High Energy Physics Institute at TSU and Jülich Research Center. The workshop is held biennially. Since 2010 other Georgian universities, among them Georgian Technical University, Ilia State University and Georgian Agrarian University, have joined the meetings.
In 2014, an anniversary meeting Ten Years of Georgian-German Science Bridge was held, where achievements in the scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries were summarized. During the workshop in 2015 the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and Jülich Research Center signed a Memorandum of Understanding on promoting long-term scientific and educational cooperation.
Georgian-German School and Workshop in Basic Science will end on September 2.
