On October 10, 2017, Professor Hans Wiesmeth challenged ISET BA students to think about possible solutions to environmental issues, more specifically, how the country can deal with beverage packaging, which is a global environmental issue, with 1 billion plastic bottles produced each day (more than ten thousand every second). Only about 10% of these bottles are currently recovered and recycled.
ISET Professor Norberto Pignatti recently attended the international IZA/Volkswagen Foundation Workshop: Preferences, Personality Traits, and the Labor Market held in Bertinoro (Italy) on the 6th and 7th of October. Professor Pignatti was invited to present his research about the role of risk preferences in labor market choices in the Georgian labor market.
Just recently, a rare occurrence made the headlines in Georgia: Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the government of Georgia’s local and foreign currency issuer ratings first time in seven years, to Ba2 from Ba3, with commentary that the outlook remains stable. This news was met with great excitement, but was soon overshadowed by the unfortunate news of Georgia’s downgrade on the Global Competitiveness Indicators, without fully appreciating or understanding the significance of the Moody's upgrade.
On October 3, 2017, ISET Policy Institute Executive Director Lasha Labadze made a presentation at the conference "Modern Educational Programs to Support Agribusiness Development,” organized by East European University within the International Scientific Festival, planned by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.
On 26 September, the World Economic Forum published The Global Competitiveness Report 2017–2018. The full report contains detailed profiles and rankings for 137 countries based on 2016 data.