Former Parliament Building in Kutaisi Reopens as Georgia's Largest Technology Hub

A technology hub has opened in the former parliament building in Kutaisi, western Georgia, giving a new role to the oval-shaped glass-and-steel structure that stood largely unused after the legislature moved back to Tbilisi in 2019.

The launch ceremony was held late on July 24, 2026 and featured a drone show. Government officials, lawmakers, local authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the Georgian Patriarchate attended.

It is operated by Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA), a public body.

What the hub will house

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the building will accommodate Georgia's largest technology park, an interactive science and technology museum, the international TUMO technology school, an artificial intelligence (AI) computing center, startup spaces and modern laboratories dedicated to robotics, electronics, drones, AI, virtual reality and more.

The prime minister's statement

“The Kutaisi Technology Hub, I am confident, will become a regional center of knowledge, innovation and technological development,” Kobakhidze said at the ceremony. He added that he was pleased the building, which he described as a symbol of corruption under the previous government, would acquire an entirely new purpose.

Kutaisi International University, established by Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, “will become an integral part of this ecosystem,” the prime minister said. He also pointed to transport links, saying Kutaisi International Airport would help the hub become a technology center of regional significance.

Startups and government support

Kobakhidze listed the government's efforts to strengthen Georgia's innovation ecosystem: support for startups, technology parks, tax incentives, foreign investment and workforce development. According to him, with government support more than 300 high-tech startups have generated over GEL 800 million (USD 305 million) in economic value and created more than 4,000 jobs.

From parliament to technology hub

The building in Kutaisi, the main city of the Imereti region, was built under the United National Movement (UNM) government's 2004–2012 policy of geographical deconcentration. The legislature moved to Kutaisi in 2012, but after the change of government, ruling Georgian Dream members argued the relocation was both inconvenient and costly. Parliamentary operations gradually returned to Tbilisi, a process completed by 2019. Both moves required constitutional amendments.

After losing its legislative function, the building joined a list of UNM-era modernist projects struggling to find new purposes. Its reopening follows other recent decisions: the Foreign Ministry relocated to the former Presidential Palace in Avlabari, and Tbilisi City Hall approved the demolition of the “Rike Tubes,” a modernist landmark designed by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas in 2010 and never operational.