The Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Mikheil Chkhenkeli, opened the Digital Humanities Center at Gori State University. The minister addressed the audience and spoke about the importance of establishing a Digital Humanities Center at Gori State University in terms of internationalization of science and integration with the European scientific space.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: "I am glad to have the Honor to participate with you in this extremely important event, where the foundation is laid for the opening of the Digital Humanities Center on the premises of Gori State University.

As you know, owing to the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, from November 2 to November 4 this year, the "Open Science Forum" will be held for the first time in our country, which will be held with the support of the European Union, in the format of a tripartite meeting - with the participation of the European Commission and the European Open Science Cloud Association. It is within the mentioned forum that the Digital Humanities Center was established at Gori State University, which is a truly outstanding event in the university history of Georgia.

Gori State University is a higher educational institution with rich traditions, which has been serving the teaching of humanitarian sciences and the development of scientific research in this direction for many years throughout the region.

The year 2022 is special for Gori State University - this year the university successfully passed the authorization and raised its status, which gives the higher educational institution the opportunity to implement doctoral programs. I am sure that, along with all this, the foundation of the Digital Humanities Center will be another effective step for the university in the direction of internationalization of the current scientific processes and bringing it closer to the European scientific space. I would like to especially congratulate the employees, the faculty, and students at Gori State University on this most important event.

The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia continues to work on the development of the national open science policy, national strategy and the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) national platform, which is a prerequisite for understanding the scientific space of our country in the unified context of European open science.

Promoting an open science policy is one of the top priorities of Horizon Europe, the EU's largest research and innovation framework program. In order to support the dissemination of the latest knowledge, scientific research and innovation ecosystem, the European Commission implements a number of measures, including the European Open Science Cloud initiative, which aims to unify the European scientific and research space through the creation of various electronic services.

It is symbolic that last year we opened the Horizon Europe grant office at Gori State University, which promotes the successful participation of Georgian scientists in EU grant competitions and serves the needs of the region.

I would like to emphasize once again the importance of Horizon Europe membership in terms of deepening cooperation with European scientific centres in the field of research and innovation. As you know, in 2021, with the direct involvement of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Gharibashvili, Georgia became a member of the European Union's new research and innovation framework program, Horizon Europe. We signed the International Association Agreement in a solemn ceremony in Brussels, and based on this document we established the Horizon Europe national office in Georgia, which gives our scientists the opportunity to enjoy exactly the same conditions and rights as their colleagues from EU member states.

It is important that the Digital Humanities Center of Gori State University will start cooperation with the Institute of Empirical Linguistics of the Goethe University of Frankfurt, which is the most powerful centre of digital humanities in the world, from the day of its establishment. In order to strengthen the partnership between the parties, a relevant memorandum will be signed within the framework of the "Open Science Forum", on the basis of which the Gori State University and the Institute of Empirical Linguistics of the University of Frankfurt will implement joint scientific and educational projects.

The establishment of the Digital Humanities Center at Gori State University is another important step forward on Georgia's path to EU membership. This is a visible example of the fact that the scientific field of Georgia is an integral part of the European research space."

During his speech, the minister also spoke about the construction of a new library at Gori State University. As Mikheil Chkhenkeli pointed out, with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, the implementation of a large-scale infrastructural project begins in November of this year. As a result, Gori State University will soon have a completely new library building that will meet international standards and create comfortable conditions for students to study. A youth centre will also be located in the new building, which will make student life even more diverse by holding events of various educational content.

Within the framework of the event, the presentation of the book "History of Little Liakhvi Gorge" by historian Giorgi Sosiashvili, rector of Gori State University, was held. It should be noted that the work is a fundamental investigation and belongs to the field of historical geography, local history and local knowledge. In it, the history of the agricultural and cultural development of the villages of the Little Liakhvi valley, both occupied and adjacent to the occupation line, demographic data, settlement and activities of the population, three-way roads, monuments of material culture and the inscriptions left on them are studied in detail.

The opening ceremony of the Digital Humanities Center was also attended by Tamar Makharashvili, Nunu Mitskevichi and Valerian Gobronidze, Mikheil Shakulashvili - Shida Kartli State Trustee and Jaba Samushia – Acting rector of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.

"Open Science Forum" will be held in Georgia for the first time from November 2 to November 4, 2022, and representatives of the European Commission, the European Open Science Cloud, and the member and associated countries of the European Union will participate in it. This forum aims to develop the national policy and strategy of the open science cloud in the format of tripartite meetings, promote it and train EOSC ambassadors at the national level.