The share of Iran’s joint research papers with foreign scientists in 2016 shows a 5% increase compared to the previous fiscal year, said Minister of Science and Technology Mohammad Farhadi, at a meeting of academics and scientists in Tehran.
Speaking at the commemoration ceremony of the 30th session of the Khwarizmi International Award (KIA), Iran's premier scientific prize, Farhadi maintained that in the 30 years since the holding of the award, nearly 1,000 innovations and research projects have been introduced as winners, Mehr News Agency reported.
The official said foreign researchers who are invited to such events in Iran are often able to visit local science labs and meet with local researchers.
“Iran’s scientific ranking in ISI and Scopus is 16th at the international level, and first in the Middle East,” he said. According to Leiden ranking, 14 universities in Iran are among the top-tier universities.
He added, “While global scientific growth in 2015 has been reported at a 6% increase compared to 2014, the growth in the same period in Iran has been reported at 17.5%, which is quite significant.”
“Currently, there are 1,000 knowledge-based companies in 39 science and technology parks in Iran, registering over $100 million in exports in 2014-2015,” he said.
The Khwarizmi International Award was established in 1987 by Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.
Each year, the award recognizes outstanding contribution, invention or innovation from across the world. In this year’s edition, besides a number of Iranian scientists, six foreign researchers won the award. They included scientists and researchers from Italy, Canada, Sweden, Tunisia, Russia and Spain.
