Gov’t-Backed Innovation Factory Expanding Arak Tech Ecosystem

The government’s initiatives of extending resources and facilities for boosting the country’s technology ecosystem are bearing fruit, as they help curb the country’s dependency on oil-based revenues and materialize a knowledge-based economy.
An innovation factory named Aftab (sunlight in Persian) is being expanded in Arak, Markazi Province. It will be officially inaugurated in September.
Alireza Moaddeli, the project manager, told the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that the factory is an outcome of a multilateral agreement signed last year in August between the Vice Presidential Office for Science and technology, Machine Sazi Arak Company (MSA), Markazi Governorate and the province’s tech park.
The factory is partly operational and has already started attracting investors, accelerators and knowledge-based companies.
“Initially, an 8,000-sqm area was designated for the factory. Then it was decided to add 18,000 sqm to the project at MSA, which makes it the largest innovation center in the country,” Moaddeli said.