Research and Innovation Support Program to Stimulate and Improve Cooperation with Enterprise in Engineering Education (ReINNOVA)

Beneficiary: LEPL – Georgian Technical University

Project Name: Research and Innovation Support Program to Stimulate and Improve Cooperation with Enterprise in Engineering Education (ReINNOVA)

Implementation Dates: 08/2023 – 12/2024

Total Project Cost: 281,242.5 GEL

Grant Amount: 267,742.5 GEL

Description

The project was created to stimulate and support close cooperation between educational institutions and industries/businesses. Its main goal is to strengthen the links between engineering education institutions and entrepreneurial business industries; Ensuring the participation of employers in education and promoting the training of a competitive, qualified workforce in the labor market by improving the results of students’ learning practices.

Activities

The project “ReINNOVA” is successful and is proceeding according to the plan. In the beginning, in order to provide the administrative and infrastructural needs of the project, the work space, so called “Think Lab”, necessary for the implementation of the project will be organized. “Think Lab”, is needed for the project’s goals and will serve the students and the learning process in general in the long term. Appropriate equipment and inventory have been purchased for the mentioned workspace. Within the project, business organizations (Heidelbergcement Georgia, Global Project LLC, Auto-Bani 2000, JSC “Greenway Georgia”, Tegeta Holding and others) were selected from the industries whose activities correspond to the qualification goals of the pilot programs, as well as to establish the educational needs of the industries and identify the problem. For this purpose, a segmented survey was conducted to determine the needs of industries under specific programs. A modified educational module “Industrial practice” was developed and introduced from the spring semester of the 2023-2024 academic year at two faculties of GTU (a total of 6 educational programs of the Faculty of Transport Systems and Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Construction), the “GTU’s Innovation and Research Program – ReInnova” was launched, which is led and actively supported by so called “Innovation Advisors”, trained with the program “Training of Trainers (ToT), by GTU’s partner Keele University in Great Britain. Work continues with the main beneficiaries of the project to ensure the best results of the program objectives. The feedback analysis and presentation of the results of the project were carried out, as well as the conference “Cooperation with business” was organized, the purpose of which is for business companies and potential partners to get acquainted with the initiatives of GTU and share their opinions on future opportunities for cooperation. Also, it should be noted that in order to ensure the effective management of the program implemented under the auspices of the project, a university electronic platform for cooperation with business – “ReInnova.gtu.ge” – will be created as one of the mechanisms that will connect the specific business sector to GTU, also with students and graduates already employed in it, which additionally will improve career development and further training opportunities. The final results of the project will be known after its completion.

Sustainability

In the practice of teaching-learning at GTU, rapid modernization of higher education programs and learning environment, continuous presentation of innovations and strengthening of connections with the labor market are matters of strategic importance. With the innovative ideas proposed by this project, it is definitely possible to strengthen the capabilities of GTU to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, the project is strategic in nature. Also, since this project was planned and implemented with the direct involvement of the top management, it creates a very important basis for sustainable development.