Mikheil Chkhenkeli, the candidate for the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, addressed the joint committees of the Parliament and spoke about the plans for the development of science at Kutaisi International University and in Georgia.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: “Kutaisi International University and Hadron Therapy Center will be a world-class center for conducting scientific research. Soon there will be a remarkably interesting doctoral program in nuclear physics at the University, which we will implement together with the Jülich Research Center, as well as the Universities of Cologne and Aachen.

We have a very productive and fruitful cooperation with CERN and several universities are involved in this process, including the Technical University. In this regard, however, it is important to increase and expand the scale of international involvement.

As for the development of science in general, we believe that the model introduced in Germany, in particular the model of the Max Planck Institutes, is highly interesting, especially in the 21^st century. It involves the cluster development of science and the interoperability of neighboring fields under one space. This raises interesting opportunities for research, as new ideas are generated when scientists in neighboring fields carry out joint projects.

I would also like to emphasize, that on the premises of the International Charity Fund "Cartu" in Digomi, with the support and funding of the "Cartu Group",  we will create the first cluster of scientific research, which will conduct research in nuclear and general theoretical physics, mathematics and biology.

Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that such clusters and the model of the Max Planck Institutes will be not only in the natural sciences but also in the humanities. We will pay special attention to Kartvelology. This will be a new model of scientific research process management.

It should be noted that new blood, young people with new ideas is one of the main segments of our care and together with the Rustaveli National Science Foundation we want to do separate competitions and programs for young scientists. Obviously, young scientists will have the opportunity to take part in other competitions where world-famous are already participating, but to encourage them, separate competitions will be developed.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli also noted that he regularly meets with the board of rectors of Georgian universities to discuss current issues and challenges posed by the pandemic. There is a cardinal need to change the funding of universities, so that the financial well-being of universities do not solely depend on the number of students.

"Material and technical base and laboratories are a great challenge for universities, and the only right way to solve this is to provide all universities with basic funding based on specific calculations which will be used for the academic process, as well as the arrangement of scientific research laboratories." - Said Mikheil Chkhenkeli.

According to the Ministerial candidate, Georgia is actively preparing to participate in the Horizon Europe grant process. According to him, this rather interesting and difficult to obtain grant prize will be directly used for the development of science and research centers in Georgia.

In response to a question from MP Davit Zilfimiani about the need to restore the space agency in Georgia, the ministerial candidate said that it was important to involve other states, leading European countries, in the grant projects submitted within Horizon Europe.