More than 800 knowledge-based companies across Iran are actively carrying out research and making products related to the defense sector, Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari said on Sunday.
“The defense sector should provide these firms with room for expansion and guarantee the purchase of their knowledge-based products,” the official was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Sattari was giving a speech in the closing ceremony of a three-day event titled Imam Ali Knowledge & Research on Sunday morning, attended by Army commanders and families of soldiers who have lost their lives in wars in the past four decades.
The official pointed to remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the role of knowledge-based firms in the development of the country and said, “We’re now in a place where we’ve grasped the value of knowledge and technology, especially in the defense sector.”
He placed special focus on innovation as one of the cornerstones of power in the international order and noted that innovation should become a part of every sector, including defense.
“We spend a lot of money in the country on education and research, but we don’t see that it results in expansion and goods production,” he added.
According to him, investment by the private sector was a neglected factor that had created the suboptimal results.
“The defense sector should demand its needs from these [knowledge-based] companies,” he said, noting that innovation and commercialization of products could be carried out by private businesses.
Sattari added, “There is an understanding in the defense sector to make use of knowledge-based companies, but it still faces some resistance.”
The official stated that employing inventive and smart individuals in these companies was key to innovation.
Role of Universities
Sattari said that the defense sector could tap into the largely unrealized potential of universities and researchers to advance its goals.
All organizations currently carrying out research were established to entice the private sector into making investments, the official said.
He was referring to the many science and technology parks as well as innovation factories operating throughout the country.
“The private sector’s investment in many science and technology parks is 25 times higher than the government,” the vice president said.
He pointed out that by creating the right ecosystem and minimizing investment risks, Iran could expand, boost its economy and assert authority.
He concluded his remarks by expressing hope for the success of recent local research into artificial intelligence and spoke of its potential in the development of the country.
