Georgian physicists started participating in CERN activities already in the early 1960s. Some of them played leading roles in the Boson Spectrometer experiment, approved at CERN in 1969 and carried out at Serpukhov. In the 1980s, individual Georgian physicists made recognised contributions to the DELPHI and ALEPH experiments at LEP. Two Georgian teams, essentially supported by JINR, are involved in the ATLAS experiment. Young Georgian physicists have taken part in ATLAS detector construction in JINR, specifically in the preparation of the Muon Chambers and the Tile Calorimeter.

Through an Agreement with IBM, the Tbilisi Institute of High Energy Physics obtained a special engineering design software license, and has done well-appreciated work for ATLAS.

Considering the visible scientific and official interest in expanding Georgian co-operation with CERN, an International Cooperation Agreement (ICA) concerning the further development of scientific and technical collaboration in high-energy physics and related technologies was signed between CERN and the government of Georgia in 2008. It was followed by a Protocol signed in 2011 by CERN, JINR and the Government of Georgia in order to develop joint research projects.

In October 2015, the CERN Director of Research, alongside representatives of the Government of Georgia, the Italian National Centre of Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) and the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), signed a Letter of Intent for the sharing of expertise towards the establishment of a technological institute in Tbilisi focused on hadron therapy.

In June 2018, the Minister of Education and Science visited CERN and reaffirmed the overall objective of enhancing relations with CERN, including possible consideration of Associate Membership.