Iranian tech officials are planning new projects to widen the technology ecosystem in the country and extend support to knowledge-based companies and startups.
Based on the most recent negotiations, an industrial tech town and a tech-based innovation center are to be launched in Tehran in the near future.
During a Thursday meeting in Tehran, Esmaeil Qaderifar, an official with the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology, and Ali Tavakkoli, mayor of Tehran’s District 19, signed an agreement to build an industrial tech town for promoting technology and industrial innovations in a 27-hectare area, Mehr News Agency reported.
The town will have sections for workshops, educational areas, exhibition spaces, innovation factory, support center and service office. It is set to support tech units in training, making prototypes, industrializing and commercializing their ideas.
Based on the agreement, the two sides agreed to prepare legal, financial and technical grounds for the implementation of the project.
Speaking at the signing event, Qaderifar said the move is aimed at harnessing the local academic and industrial potentials to expand the country’s technology ecosystem.
“Establishing constructive ties with industries and identifying their technological demands will be the primary goal of the would-be town,” Qaderifar said, stressing that the vice presidential office is ready to fulfill the task.
District 19 is located at the southern end of the capital and deprived of facilities that are expanding in the well-off parts of the city.
Tavakkoli said a tech town in the area will provide an opportunity for tech aficionados in less developed areas to present and develop their innovative ideas.
New Innovation Center
With the support of the vice presidential office, the capital city will also house a new innovation center designed as a 10-story building.
The center is set to provide 15,000 square meters of shared workspace for fledgling startups and tech firms active in social fields and businesses that directly affect the society’s physical and mental health, raising life expectancy rate among the people.
Besides workplaces, the center will have two cinema halls, a theater auditorium, two rehearsal rooms, an art gallery and a commercial space housing cafés and food courts.
The officials did not mention the exact location of the center.
The design and construction of the center commenced in November 2019. Officials expect to partially launch the center in late June.
The center is set to become fully operational by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2021).
Nationwide Push
Extending 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.
Over the past few years, numerous tech parks and innovation factories have been established throughout the country.
Currently, there are seven tech parks in Tehran Province, most of which are backed by major Iranian universities, including Tarbiat Modares University, University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University and Islamic Azad University.
These tech parks carry the name of universities backing them.
Innovation factories in Tehran, such as Azadi and Highway, have also attracted numerous tech teams and startups.
Azadi Innovation Factory was launched in August 2018 at an abandoned chemicals factory near Azadi Square, west of Tehran. The center 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 under construction. The factory is being established in an old building near Nobonyad Square on the northeastern flank of Tehran.
Tehran is not alone in its push for establishing innovation factories and tech parks. Numerous centers have also been launched across Iran.
Innovation factories are to be launched in Iranian metropolises by the vice presidential office to expand the startup and knowledge-based ecosystems.
According to Qaderifar, innovation factory projects in the provinces of Khorasan Razavi and East Azarbaijan are almost complete and will become operational in the near future.
“Tabriz in East Azarbaijan will get its third innovation factory when a construction project is completed,” he said.
"Feasibility studies are underway in Fars, Isfahan and Yazd provinces for introducing similar projects."
Qaderifar noted that the new projects resemble innovation factories in Tehran, namely Azadi and Highway.
“Provincial projects have also been established in abandoned factories to keep the projects cost-efficient,” he said.
The Roads and Urban Development Ministry, municipalities and governorates in the host cities are assisting the vice presidential office in implementing these projects.
At the innovation factories, startups and knowledge-based companies find legal, technical and financial support to develop their activities.
With the avowed pledge to extend full support to those who are active in the tech ecosystem, Iran is expected to make its mark on the international stage.
