Development of scientific research and innovations is of vital importance for increasing competitiveness of the country’s economy, forming educated civil society and labor force equipped with skills to meet modern labor market requirements.
Since 2004, the Government started to take certain steps to transform the management model of scientific field into the modern one: Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation was established, and its administration is guided by the principles of peer review and ensuring high quality of scientific research through competition. Integration of scientific research institutes into universities aimed to achieve certain level of synergy via merging research and education processes.
Within the scope of the present audit report, the following gaps were identified in the process of governance of scientific field:
- Priority directions for development of scientific field, corresponding to the challenges facing the country were not defined, in order to ensure reasonable spending of the finances allocated to the scientific field.
- Governance structure of the scientific field significantly differs from the model approved in international practice, by not having a functioning scientific council and non-existence of governmental departments that would support to transform scientific research results into innovative projects.
- The process of merging scientific research institutes and universities did not involve definition of the integration goals and establishment of practical mechanisms to achieve these goals, that would have contributed to creation of dynamic learning and research environment. This significantly limited the potential synergy effect.
- During the process of integration of scientific research institutes and universities, identification and optimization of necessary scientific infrastructure was not performed: privatization process was conducted without the pre-defined plan, which should have been designed after consultations with the users of the property.
- Significant part of the property belonging to the universities is fully depreciated and is not used for scientific purposes. Core scientific infrastructure needs of the country is not identified and the strategy to upgrade it to the modern requirements is not prepared.
- In the audited period, the scientific field did not constitute a real priority for the state: Out of the funds earmarked for the Rustaveli Science Foundation in 2011 and 2012 (23.7 and 23.9 million GEL respectively) only 55% (14.1 and 12 million GEL) had been disbursed. Partial utilization of resources under the circumstances, where funding for science is proportionally 10 times less than an average EU, indicates lack of priority towards funding scientific research and innovation.
The State Audit Office of Georgia believes that in order to eliminate identified deficiencies, it is essential to converge the governance of scientific field towards the European practice, which implies supporting the transformation of scientific research and innovation to commercial projects; developing long term strategic plan for ensuring stable material and financial support for scientific field; attracting the interest of private sector to the scientific research and developing dynamic environment for scientific research at the universities.
