On June 1 and 2, the Spotlight Tech 2024 event took place in Tbilisi. Over the course of two days, attendees listened to thematic presentations from interesting speakers and were energized with new ideas. In addition to inspiring talks, Spotlight Tech also featured three additional stages: workshops, How I Built This, and Career Insights. Each of these platforms focused on successful case studies, career advice, and development.

The main theme of the event was "lessons," and we decided to share our own lesson on digital transformation from ACT, discussing the challenges along the way and how we turned those challenges into opportunities. ACT's management consultant, Saba Khergiani, presented our unique DIGITAL WHEEL© methodology for diagnosing organizational digital readiness, which serves as a guide for companies looking to assess and enhance their digital capabilities. The model's goal is to analyze the current state of digital readiness, identify areas for improvement, and support strategic decisions for sustainable digital transformation.

ACT's mission is to provide clients with the power of positive change through knowledge, ideas, and inspiration. This mission is fully aligned with Spotlight Tech's goal of creating a powerful ecosystem for marketing and technology and reflects our vision of advancing progress through knowledge sharing. By supporting this event, we aim to foster an environment where innovation and collaboration thrive, giving stakeholders the opportunity to implement transformational changes in their fields.

Since 2013, Spotlight has formed a marketing platform and become an event that brings together industry professionals. It is a space where hundreds of industry representatives share knowledge and experience. Spotlight Tech is a continuation of this series of traditional events, first held in 2018 and dedicated to technology.

On November 10, the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (JIPA) organized a panel discussion: “Research industry in Georgia: challenges and development prospects.”

Representatives of public and private organizations, research companies and scientists took part in the discussion. One of the speakers at the panel discussion was Natalya Kvitsinashvili, executive director and managing partner of ACT Research.

The purpose of the discussion was to discuss with the participating parties the current situation, problems and opportunities for the development of the research industry in Georgia, taking into account global trends.

The discussion began with the topic of research transformation - the speakers assessed what the research industry was like many years ago, when it was necessary to explain to society and business the overall value of research, clearly convey the benefits of research to both government organizations and the non-governmental sector.

According to the panelists, today the research industry is at a different stage of development, its importance and benefits are well understood by everyone who wants to make data-driven decisions and strategically develop their company or organization. Perception of the benefits of research is high even at the government agency level, and research has become an integral part of developing future policies and standards in various fields.

During the discussion, the speakers focused on the current market situation, discussed issues of data processing and publication, the importance of obtaining and publishing open data, as well as specific tasks of the research industry - increasing the competencies of researchers and providing future researchers with practical knowledge in the learning process.

“Over the past decade, the global research market has undergone a significant transformation. Among them, the role of the researcher as a profession has changed. If previously it was enough for a qualified researcher to know research methodology, a modern researcher requires knowledge of the field/industry of the subject being studied, even requiring expert-level knowledge to a certain extent,” noted ACT Executive Director Natalia Kvitsinashvili during the discussion.

The discussion continued with a discussion of current trends in the labor market: according to the panelists, the demand for specialists working in the research industry has increased worldwide; Along with data collection, processing and analysis skills, the digital era has increased the demand for digital skills among professionals, which remains a challenge in terms of industry development in Georgia. According to the speaker of the discussion, director of the Professional Skills Agency Tamar Kitiashvili, “there is a trend towards updating creative skills, and in the long term, it is specialists with such skills that will become the most in demand on the labor market".

It was the unanimous opinion of the panelists that the topics raised during the discussion should form the basis for continued discussion and regular meetings in the future, where industry experts, parties involved in research and academic representatives will continue to discuss opportunities and ways of developing the industry.

On November 8, a joint conference of the United Nations Association of Georgia (UNA) and the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) The Partnership for Impact Tbilisi Conference: from Blueprints to Breakthroughs  took place.

The conference was opened by the President and Secretary General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, Dr. Sean Chen and Aziel-Philippe Gaulandris. They emphasized the importance of the conference and noted that global problems can only be solved through such multilateral cooperation.

The conference included a panel discussion "The Role of Partnerships in Advancing Gender Equality", where attention was focused on the multifaceted aspects of gender equality and women's empowerment.

One of the Key-note speakers speaker on the panel was Tinatin Rukhadze, founder of ACT, business leader and management consultant, who spoke on the topic "From Self-Doubt to Success: Empowering Women." Tinatin Rukhadze spoke about the problems and common barriers that women often face.

Panelists emphasized the role of gender equality for global prosperity. They also spoke about the need for women to actively participate in public life, which they said would create more stable societies in the world. In addition, special attention was paid to the importance of the main UN documents protecting women's rights. The panellists also emphasized the need to support women to break the “glass ceiling“ and the importance of training women in technology.

Speakers of the panel Sophie Torelli Chironi, Geneva Directorate General, CSO Liaison; Rachel Weston Eschenbacher, Regional Policy Specialist on Political Participation and Governance, UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia; Tinatin Rukhadze, Vision Lead, Founding Partner, Analysis and Counseling Team (ACT); Tamara Zakariadze, Head of CSR, Liberty Bank; Nino Nanitashvili, Co-Founder and Mentor, Georgia Startup Pre-Accelerator.

The panel was moderated by Catharina Bu, Secretary General, UNA Norway.

Three new countries on the international map of ACT projects. The research and management consulting company ACT is already represented in 34 countries.

As part of the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index® 2023, the ACT work area has been expanded to include the Eastern European and Baltic countries and Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been added to our list of work countries.

Working in the Baltics is a new stage in ACT's international development, with new countries and experience, and an important step towards the internationalization of services.

Strengthening representative and partner networks in already involved countries and geographical expansion towards Central Asia and Eastern Europe continues to be a strategic objective of ACT and a main goal in the coming years.

Within the framework of the project “Strengthening social protection in Georgia,” on October 26 a conference was held, organized by Expertise France, at which ACT analyst Ketevan Antadze and senior consultant Natia Rukhadze presented the main findings of the study. on issues of social protection of the population.

As part of the ACT project, two studies were carried out:

• Study of the experience and attitude of the population towards social protection issues in Georgia.

• A study of the knowledge, experience and attitudes of recipients of social service agencies towards social protection issues in Georgia, the main focus of which was to analyze experiences related to social protection programs in relation to data from a baseline survey that was conducted in early 2022, although the survey Attitude and awareness components were also included.

The goal of the Strengthening Social Protection in Georgia project was to support the Government of Georgia, government and civil society organizations in the field of social services, the development of evidence-based policies and the expansion of rights to social protection.

The project was implemented in Georgia by Expertise France and the Czech Development Agency with financial support from the European Union.

On October 7, ACT held a workshop on strategic business planning to strengthen the SME sector within the framework of social responsibility.

The meeting was attended by executive directors and founders of enterprises.

Workshop participants had the opportunity to work with ACT's strategic consultants to evaluate their company's current business model and identify factors influencing their business performance.

As a result of the workshop, the participants developed a vision for the long-term development of their business and corresponding effective strategies.

The working session was led by ACT founder, business leader, management consultant and executive coach Tinatin Rukhadze.