Iran’s auto parts industry is on the fast track to expand its collaborations with academia to keep its head above water as looming US sanctions coupled with the government’s monetary policies have driven the business to near bankruptcy.
A conglomerate of Iranian parts makers has forged an agreement with Iran University of Science and Technology, under which the academia is poised to boost the industrial capacity of the sector and provide businesses with engineering services.
Abolfazl Khalkhali, a professor with the IUST, told local automotive website Asre Khodro that other countries involved in auto parts production allocate 30% of revenues to research and development, a practice uncommon in Iran.
According to the professor, through the agreement the academia hopes to claim a share of the automotive sector’s circulating capital, earning some 10 billion rials ($227,272) by the end of the first year of the collaborations.
The MoU with four major auto parts makers can serve as an opening for universities to tap into the working capital of the industry. The firms’ names have not been disclosed yet.
July 30, 2018 16:11
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Pinched by Sanctions, Iran's Auto Industry Taps Into Academia’s Capabilities
The auto parts industry has turned to academia as a last resort to address the current disarray in the sector as more and more parts makers are shuttering business or downsizing to cope with the current economic turmoil
The past two years have seen auto parts makers grapple with the rising price of raw materials as the government has contained car prices in a vacuum, creating crippling debts for the auto parts industry which has led to the widespread closure of factories
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