Efforts are on track in Tehran to expand tech centers offering workspace and financial support to local startups.
One of the main projects, which have been kicked off, pertains to expansion of Pardis Technology Park by 21 hectares.
Located in Pardis, a satellite town 20 km east of Tehran, the park and its two branches have been established by the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology, offering free and subsidized workspace for technology companies and emerging startups, the office’s website Isti.ir reported.
The new center named “Entrepreneurship Pardis” is expected to become operational in the coming fall.
The center is planned in 85 sections, including workspace for fledgling and professional startups developing high-tech products, research and development units, laboratories and workshops.
According to the local media, Shams Omran Company is the project contractor that gets consultancy from Tosseh Kalbodi Asia Consulting Engineers. The project is managed by Shora Consulting Engineers Company and financially supported by the vice presidential office.
Amin-Reza Khaleqian, the park’s head of international affairs office, said around 300 companies are currently settled in the park.
“With the opening of the third space, the number will further rise,” he said.
He noted that absorbing companies and startups working on advanced medical equipment, information and communication technologies, electronics and their applications is high on the park’s priority.
Khaleqian said when the third branch is completed, the total area under the management of Pardis Tech Park will reach 60 hectares.
“The ultimate aim is to extend the park by up to 1,000 hectares and convert the technology park and its branches to an innovation zone,” he said.
Officials at the park believe the center can help establish up to five branches in the capital in the form of innovation factories.
Pardis Branches
Azadi and Highway are the park’s two already active branches.
Azadi Innovation Factory was launched in August 2018 at an abandoned chemicals factory near Azadi Square, west of Tehran. The factory is backed by the vice presidential office for science and technology and is managed by Sharif University of Technology.
Highway, the capital's second innovation factory, is still under construction but is partially operational. The factory is being established in an old building near Tehran’s Nobonyad Square.
The space, which is 5,000 square meters wide, was formerly owned by Iranian Space Agency.
Early this week, a contract was signed by Sorena Sattari, the vice president for science and technology, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, the dean of Islamic Azad University, to establish a new technology-oriented university in the park’s premises.
Sharing resources and optimizing the park’s capacities were among the contract issues, which are aimed at creating a more efficient connection among the academia, tech enterprises and industry.
Extensive Support
Giving support to new startups and technology firms has been on the government's agenda since 2013 when President Hassan Rouhani began his first term in office.
In line with the policy, numerous accelerators, funds and tech centers around the country have been established to extend resources for the technology ecosystem.
One such fund is for research and technology, which has been planned to be established in Amir Kabir University of Technology in Tehran.
Hossein Khaleqi, an official with the university, said the fund will soon be established with the initial budget of 100 billion rials ($617,000), collected from several private investors beside the university.
“The fund will back innovative and technological ideas born in the university, contributing to commercializing the ideas and adding high-tech products into the market,” Kaleqi said.
Based on the regulations, he added, the fund will be authorized to provide tech companies with financial assistance in the forms of loan, grant, leasing and investment.
Speaking of financial assistance, the state-backed Iran National Innovation Fund is a pioneering institution linking the government resources with the growing tech units.
Earlier in February, the fund announced that it has invested 140 billion rials ($864,000) in nanotechnology firms to boost the domestic production of health protective items.
Besides the investment, a month later, INIF planned to pay 45 trillion rials ($277.7 million) in loans to knowledge-based companies and tech firms to boost their operations.
Loans regularly offered to startups and tech firms constitute a major example of government support for the sector. Iranian knowledge-based companies and tech firms received 137.6 trillion rials ($849.3 million) in loans during the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2020), the Central Bank of Iran said.
