GITA & GENIE — Georgia's National Innovation Ecosystem Programme

Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA) was established in 2014 under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development to build the country's innovation infrastructure — matching-grant funds, a Tbilisi Technology Park, FabLabs and regional incubators. From 2016 to 2023, GITA implemented the World Bank-financed Georgia National Innovation Ecosystem (GENIE) project, a $40 million IBRD operation designed to connect entrepreneurs and researchers to markets and finance.

GENIE combined matching grants, acceleration programmes and digital-skills training aimed at under-served regions and women entrepreneurs, alongside continued operation of the Tbilisi Technology Park and associated FabLab network.

According to the World Bank's November 2025 results brief, GENIE financed 138 startups, created 2,127 jobs (50% held by women), reached 52,000 direct beneficiaries (50% women) and trained over 3,100 people in digital skills. It mobilised US$105 million in private investment — 15 times the project's target — and beneficiary firms generated US$39 million in revenue, eight times the target. Independent Georgian business-press reporting (Investor.ge, 2022) corroborates rapid capital-raising among GITA-backed firms: of 200+ startups invested in across all GITA programmes, 37 went on to raise additional capital, with the cumulative amount growing from 7 million GEL (2019) to 200 million GEL (2021).

The World Bank is both the funder and the primary evaluator of GENIE, so its results brief is not fully independent, though the Investor.ge figures corroborate the broad growth trend. A 2019 World Bank working paper on innovation agencies explicitly found that GITA 'has not been able to maintain a capable core staff... due to irregular and insufficient funding' — a documented institutional weakness that predates but likely affected GENIE's implementation period.