Economy Minister highlights Gov’t steps for supporting IT development

Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili on Tuesday highlighted efforts being made by the Government to support the development of information technology and startup ecosystem in the country.

The Ministry of Economy cited Davitashvili with making the comments at a presentation of the results of the National Innovation Ecosystem project, organised by the Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency.

The Government has “many plans, goals and tasks” to further promote the development of innovation and technology, the Minister told the audience at the event.

We want to include as many people as possible who have innovative ideas or want to use their talents in new directions, improve their skills. This year and next year we are going to train several thousand novice IT specialists. By training professional personnel and providing financial and technical support to startup ideas, we will be able to establish such companies in Georgia that will make our country famous on the international stage”, Davitashvili said.

Photo: GITA

The event summarised five years of supports for the Georgian startup ecosystem and projects implemented with the support of the World Bank. 

GITA said 186 projects had been financed and over 3,000 jobs had been created in Georgia since 2018, with revenue of startups funded by the Agency reaching ₾120 million ($46.61mln) from sale of products and services, excluding investments raised by them.

Financial benefits received from the private sector in the newly formed startup ecosystem reached ₾450 million ($174.79mln), it also noted, adding the figure “indicates a rapid growth of the startup ecosystem”.