MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava attended the opening ceremony of the Tech Park in Ozurgeti.

Avtandil Kasradze, Chairman of the Innovation and Technology Agency of the Ministry of Economy, Giorgi Urushadze, State Representative in the Guria Region and Avtandil Talakvadze, Mayor of the Ozurgeti Municipality also participated in the official opening ceremony.

“As part of our innovative policy, which we are developing and offering to the local population, the ninth Technology Park in Georgia has opened in Ozurgeti - a common space where young, talented, creative people can present innovative business ideas and we will help them financially as well as technologically with these new devices and equipment to turn their ideas into the startups and real businesses,” – Natia Turnava said.

Ozurgeti New Tech Park is a universal laboratory for industrial innovation (Fablab) with the latest equipment: high-performance 3D printer, laser cutter, programmable machine, CNC machine, card printing router, 3D scanner, etc. A laboratory space staffed with highly qualified specialists will assist stakeholders in modelling and prototyping. In addition, the Tech Park combines a training centre, a common workspace (co-working), for the startups and so-called “freelancers”, where it is possible, under certain conditions, to get a job to develop an idea or a startup.

According to the Minister, the policy of the Government of Georgia, which has been pursued for the last few years to create innovations and startup ecosystems, already brought very serious results. Today, more than two hundred startups that benefit from the state program and grants, are already present in the international arena, are really competitive and which is very significant, Georgia’s young innovators have already been able to attract over 200 million GEL of private investment.

Ozurgeti Technopark will help the local population, private companies, Ozurgeti municipality and local self-government to use hitherto hard-to-reach technologies to develop their activities and gain knowledge, both in the field of innovation and technology, as well as in entrepreneurship. It is important to involve local youth and increase their knowledge of how to set up a startup, what stages they need to go through to build a business and succeed.