Georgian association bridging EU and Black Sea research networks on STI policy, governance trends, and emerging technology regulation.
A Tbilisi-based Georgian association specialising in EU-Georgia relations, Black Sea regional science and technology cooperation, and European governance analysis. Their practical work involves contributing country-specific and regional expertise to multinational research consortia — acting as the Georgian and South Caucasus voice in EU-funded projects on STI policy and global governance. They track how EU regulatory and governance frameworks extend beyond EU borders, including the role of non-state actors and emerging technology regulation. For consortium builders, they offer embedded access to the Georgian research and policy community, along with regional insight that pure European organisations cannot replicate.
BLACK SEA HORIZON (2015–2018) focused specifically on enhancing science, technology and innovation linkages between the EU and the Black Sea region, where this organisation served as the Georgian participant.
TRIGGER (2018–2022) examined global governance trends and Europe's evolving role, covering EU governance, non-state actors, and transnational private regulation.
TRIGGER explicitly included emerging technologies and foresight among its core themes, suggesting the organisation is building capacity in technology policy assessment.
TRIGGER's keyword set includes public engagement and evaluation, indicating contribution to participatory or outreach components of the project.
Their first project (2015–2018) was firmly grounded in geography — EU–Black Sea relations, bilateral STI cooperation, and Georgia's integration into European research networks. By 2018, their second project shifted the lens from regional to thematic: global governance dynamics, transnational regulation by non-state actors, and the policy implications of emerging technologies. This trajectory suggests the organisation is moving from being a regional bridge (connecting Georgia to EU networks) toward being a substantive policy analyst tracking how governance itself is changing in a technology-driven world. The shift is modest given only two data points, but the direction is coherent and deliberate.
They appear to be building toward a profile as a governance and technology-policy think-tank with a distinctive non-EU member state perspective, which would be a rare and useful combination in future Horizon Europe society and digital governance calls.
This organisation has exclusively participated as a consortium partner — never as coordinator — across both projects. Despite this, they accessed 29 unique partners across 22 countries from just two projects, which points to inclusion in large, geographically diverse consortia rather than small specialist groups. This pattern is typical of organisations brought in for geographic or regional representativeness: valued for the perspective they add, but not yet driving research agendas. Working with them likely means they deliver country-level contributions (reports, stakeholder access, national context) rather than leading work packages.
Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 29 consortium partners across 22 countries — an unusually wide network for this scale of activity. Their connections span both EU member states and neighbourhood countries, reflecting the multi-country design of both the BLACK SEA HORIZON and TRIGGER consortia.
They are one of very few Georgian civil society organisations with a documented track record inside EU H2020 research consortia, giving them credibility as a bridge between EU institutions and the South Caucasus policy space. For project coordinators building consortia that need genuine representation from Georgia or the Black Sea region — not just a token partner — this organisation has the EU project experience and regional embeddedness that most Georgian entities lack. Their emerging focus on technology governance also positions them for calls where non-EU country perspectives on digital regulation or AI governance are explicitly valued.
