The Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Mikheil Chkhenkeli, has opened the Horizon Europe Grant Office at Tbilisi State Medical University, which will facilitate the successful participation of Georgian science representatives in EU grant competitions. The Minister addressed the public and spoke about the importance of the Georgian scientific community’s involvement in the Horizon Europe program competitions.
Mikheil Chkhenkeli: “Today, we gathered at Tbilisi State Medical University for an important reason – we have solemnly opened the Horizon Europe Grant Office, which will serve the successful participation of Georgian researchers in the EU’s 95.5 billion budget grant program. In its preparation and subsequent management.
As you know, with the direct involvement of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr Irakli Garibashvili, Georgia became a member of the new EU research and innovation framework program, Horizon Europe. I was honoured to sign the Association Agreement of Georgia on December 7, 2021, in Brussels with this solemn research program grant program of Horizon Europe, which is the biggest step forward for the return of our country to the European family.
Horizon Europe is a truly unprecedented grant program that enables our scientists to carry out joint projects with their European counterparts. This collaboration is very important and takes the current research in our scientific institutes to a new dimension.
It is also very important that under the program, our scientists enjoy exactly the same conditions and rights as their counterparts from EU member states. Georgia’s association with the Horizon Europe program has really opened the door to new opportunities for our scientists, innovators, universities and research institutions.
For me, it is very gratifying that Today we have opened the office of Horizon Europe here, at the medical University with the greatest traditions, which is the main centre for the development of higher medical education and medicine in Georgia. The professionalism and tireless work of doctors brought up inside this University made the world pandemic even more visible.
I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude to the highly professional medical staff; they are truly the heroes of our time. It was our doctors who found themselves at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, and I was doubly pleased with the fact that medical university graduates were standing by their side in this fight. It is especially appreciated that the effective management of the coronavirus has been joined not only by distinguished professors but also by high school students in medical education programs. I am sure that Tbilisi State Medical University will continue to raise many famous generations who show the same example of devotion that we all witnessed during the pandemic.
Congratulations once again on opening Horizon Europe Grant Office. I am sure you will use these opportunities very productively. I wish you all the best of luck! “
Speaking at the opening of the Horizon Europe Grant Office at Tbilisi State Medical University, the Rector of the University, Zurab Vadachkoria, personally thanked the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia for standing by him and noted that many important projects are being implemented at the University with the support of Mikheil Chkhenkeli.
Jaba Samushia, Director of Shota Rustaveli Georgian National Science Foundation, Sophio Bakhtadze, Vice-Rector of Tbilisi State Medical University and Tamar Gvasalia, Coordinator of Horizon Europe Grant Office, also delivered speeches at the event.
The opening of the Horizon Europe Grant Office at the Medical University was attended by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia Nunu Mitskevich and the academic and administrative staff of the University.
At the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, the network of Horizon Europe grant offices is being actively expanded throughout the country. Grant offices have already been opened at Gori State Teaching University, Sokhumi State University, Georgian Technical University, Akaki Tsereteli State University, Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, Telavi State University, Kutaisi International University and Shota Meskhia Zugdidi State Teaching University. The process continues and will gradually cover all public universities in Georgia.
