Objectives
GAIN will take a strategic step towards integrating Georgia, one of the Widening countries, into the system of European efforts aimed at ensuring the Europe’s leadership in one of the most transformative technologies of today and tomorrow – Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will be achieved by research profile adjusting and linking the central Georgian ICT research institute – Muskhelishvili Institute of Computational Mathematics (MICM), to the European AI research and innovation community. Two absolutely leading European research organizations (DFKI and INRIA) supported by the high-tech company EXOLAUNCH will support MICM in this endeavour. The Strategic Research and Innovation Programme (SRIP) designed by the partnership will provide the environment for the Georgian colleagues to get involved in the research projects of the European partners addressing a clearly delineated set of AI topics. Jointly, the partners will advance in capacity building and networking within the area of AI Methods and Tools for Human Activities Recognition and Evaluation, which also will contribute to strengthening core competences in such fundamental technologies as e.g.
Machine (Deep) Learning. The results of the cooperation presented through the series of scientific publications and events will inform the European AI community about the potential of MICM and trigger new partnerships building, addressing e.g. Horizon Europe. The project will contribute to career development of a cohort of young researchers at MICM through joint supervision and targeted capacity building measures. Innovation and Research Administration and Management capacities of MICM will also be strengthen to allow the Institute to be better connected to the local, regional and European innovation activities. Using their extensive research and innovation networking capacities DFKI and INRIA will introduce MICM to the European AI research community by connecting to such networks as CLAIRE, ELLIS, ADRA, AI NoEs, etc.
The key contributions towards attaining the overall objective will be done by pursuing the following operational objectives: O1. To implement the Twinning Research and Innovation Programme (TRIP) covering the period of 3 years with potential extension in the most promising and fruitful areas up to 5 years. The Programme builds on the basis of the comprehensive analysis of the R&I and Networking capacity building needs and complies with the genuine research interests of all involved research teams. Being designed as a system of joint and mutually complementary mini-projects, the Programme will be an organizational and directing framework uniting all capacity building activities in the project. The scientific results foreseen by TRIP will compose the fundamental for the continuous cooperation going beyond the GAIN project. One of the most visible of such results will be the Virtual Joint Laboratory integrating the complementary resources of the project partners on the basis of principles of openness, fairness and common interests. O2. To implement the targeted Scientific Excellence and Networking Capacity Building programme, which supports and enables the TRIP’s implementation. The programme is based on the understanding that MICM already possesses the credible, qualified and young research personnel with well-developed basic research skills and competences. Therefore, the most effective way to bring them up to a new level and raise their profile is to enable researchers to carry our internationally competitive research within international teams of their peers. Moreover, the programme will create the opportunities for the participating researchers from MICM and its European partners to present obtained results to a broader research community, network and build research partnerships, shape new research directions and application areas. O3. To radically improve the long-term prospects of research excellence at MICM by investing in young talents. The system of research workshops, webinars, conference and summer schools will create a forum and breeding ground for young researchers in order to build research reputation and establish networks for future partnerships. The pragmatic goal is to foster at MICM 3 new research groups led by young leaders (age under 35) with the potential and perspective to be Principle Investigators in European R&I projects. O4. To build a new quality of innovation and research management skills for the MICM research staff through implementing a targeted Innovation and Research Management Capacity Building Programme. The Programme will design and deliver a system of training measures addressing the most urgent training needs, namely Personnel Management and Motivation; Scientific Fundraising; Practical Implementation of RRI principles; Knowledge Management and Transfer; etc. Moreover, in order to practically apply these knowledge and skills the project will implement a pilot innovation project based on the results of the TRIP. Finally, the project will invest in integrating MICM into the European system of Digital Innovation Hubs. As the result of achieving this objective, MICM will become a modern research organization capable of creating economic and societal value within the European innovation community. O5. To significantly improve the visibility and image of MICM in local, regional and European communities by positioning it as a cross-disciplinary R&I Excellence Centre with a complete portfolio of competences related to the area of AI and Computational Methods, as well as in various application domains. The promotional campaign will address primarily the European audience aiming at establishing MICM as a cooperation partner to the European research community. The goal will be also to establish working contacts (where possible, an observer status) to such AI-related European networking initiatives as AI4EU, CLAIRE, ELLIS, etc. O6. To continuously evaluate the impact of the project activities on the R&I capacities of MICM and design the subsequent follow-up measure to ensure the sustainability and organic development of the project results. One of the expected outcomes of the evaluation shall be the extended TRIP with the commitments of all participating organizations. Also, the project will support the organizational changes in MICM aiming at building modern research administration and management capacity and introducing effective governing principles and processes typical for European research organizations (the project partners will serve as models). This will include the introduction of internal achievement-rewarding system, international Scientific Advisory Board, project-based research organization, including roadmapping practices for internal projects, etc.