We had a blast with the Open World delegates from the Republic of Georgia last week! Several months ago, the Rotary Club of West Wichita asked if we’d be willing to give visitors from the Republic of Georgia, who were part of an international Open World exchange program, a tour of the Maker Labs. We gladly accepted. Last week they joined us on a tour of our facilities, where we discussed advanced manufacturing, rapid product prototyping, and coworking business models.

The Open World Program is a special program of the Congressional Office of International Leadership, an independent U.S. federal agency. Their mission is to build relationships between the United States and the following Eurasian countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Delegates from each country are selected to participate in a ten-day professional exchange program designed to promote communication, share cultural experiences, and establish long-term relationships. The delegates begin in Washington, D.C., where they are introduced to the United States government and its operations. From there, they separate and travel to various parts of the United States, often through local Rotary International clubs, where they meet with their professional counterparts to engage in events that build professional knowledge and personal connections. The program is made available to local Rotary chapters through a grant secured by Rotary International.

The Rotary Club of West Wichita hosted five delegates from the Republic of Georgia, who visited several different organizations around Wichita last week, including NetWork Kansas, NXTUS, the Wichita Independent Business Association, Wichita State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and more. Georgian participants included a furniture and toy manufacturer, the founder of a gift-making company, a language school instructor, and the founder of a jewelry company.

On their tour of Groover Labs, the delegates were especially interested in some of the products we're prototyping in the lab—they even FaceTimed some of their colleagues and family back home so they could join us for the tour. Additionally, we were fascinated by the insights they shared about their local industries and innovative practices in Georgia. The delegates discussed the value of affordable equipment like our large-format laser cutters, and how they would like similar equipment to make their products more affordable.

And we loved learning about their beautiful Georgian script and unique 33-letter alphabet!

Thank you to our friends at the Rotary Club of West Wichita!