Iranian officials and urban managers are investing in the development of Pardis Tech Park in the namesake satellite city in Tehran Province into an innovation city.
During a Saturday event, the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology and Tehran’s Governorate signed an agreement to cede land to the park, the office’s website Isti.ir reported.
Based on the agreement, the governorate has agreed to build infrastructures for the new area and the vice presidential office will inject resources to make the park more spacious and efficient.
Speaking at the event, Sorena Sattari, the vice president, referred to the fact that the world’s largest tech cities, like Silicon Valley in the US, Daedeok Innopolis in South Korea and Hsinchu in Taiwan, have grown out of an initial tech park.
“Pardis Tech Park is the core from which an innovation city is to be born,” he said.
An innovation zone or city is broader than tech firms and consists of numerous technology components, including accelerators, consultants, funds and investors.
“An innovation city, which is Pardis’s ultimate goal, steps way beyond a tech zone. It includes components of a city, including residential areas, shopping centers, universities and tech centers that help upgrade the complex with the state-of-the-art technologies,” Sattari said.
“When fully formed in the future, the innovation zone is expected to be the driving force of the country’s economy and a substitute for oil resources.”
Sattari said Pardis satellite city, with an area of 4,150 hectares and 170,000 residents, is best suited for establishing an innovation zone.
The would-be zone will also benefit from its proximity to the Islamic Azad University of Rudehen, Islamic Azad University of Pardis, Payam-e Noor University of Pardis, Bumehen Satellite Station and Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, he added.
*** Attractive Features
Based on the park’s five-year perspective, it will expand to 115 hectares, accommodating 5,000 students, 20,000 professionals and 1,000 companies by 2024.
Pardis park is estimated to earn $120 million from export and 300 trillion rials ($1.03 billion) from the domestic market.
Mohammad Taqizadeh, a deputy of Tehran Governorate, told reporters that Pardis Tech Park is expected to become a model for modern urban development in the under-construction city.
“The expansion project is aimed at encouraging the emergence of tech-based businesses and developing the technology ecosystem, which is gradually formed via a nationwide effort. Expanding the park and making it more productive will help set up a knowledge-based city,” he said.
Amin-Reza Khaleqian, the park’s head of International Affairs Office, said around 300 companies are currently settled in the park, the development of which will further increase this number.
Khaleqian noted that attracting companies and startups working on advanced medical equipment, information and communication technologies, electronics and their applications are high on the park’s priority.
Located 20 km east of Tehran, the park was established by the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology, offering free and subsidized workspace for technology companies and emerging startups.
*** Expansion History
In late September, arrangements were made between Roads Ministry and New Towns Development Company to add a 327-hectare extension to Pardis Tech Park.
In mid-May, another project was kicked off for the park’s expansion by 21 hectares.
The new center named “Entrepreneurship Pardis” is expected to become operational in the coming months.
The center is planned in 85 sections, including units for fledgling and professional startups developing high-tech products, research and development units, laboratories and workshops.
According to a media report, Shams Omran Company is the project contractor receiving consultancy from Tosseh Kalbodi Asia Consulting Engineers. The project is managed by Shora Consulting Engineers Company and financially supported by the vice presidential office.
*** Pardis Branches
Officials at the park believe the center can help establish up to five branches in the capital in the form of innovation factories.
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 and 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.
Formerly owned by Iranian Space Agency, it is 5,000 square meters wide.
In early September, a contract was signed by Sorena Sattari, vice president for science and technology, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, chancellor 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 symbiosis among the academia, tech enterprises and the industrial sector.
*** Provincial Project
Emulating the capital’s move for enhancing the technology ecosystem, Kermanshah Province has made efforts to create a new tech center.
With the support of the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology, an innovation center specialized in agriculture was inaugurated in the western province’s technology park on Saturday.
The project is also supported by the province’s Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research and Nirooye Gharb Company.
“The newly-established innovation center is the fifth of its kind in the province,” said Siamak Azadi, caretaker of the tech park.
“The center provides local talented teams with an opportunity to develop their innovative business ideas in the farming sector and promote the local agriculture sector by using modern technologies,” Azadi said.
Startups and tech firms can develop smart solutions to upgrade traditional agriculture. For instance, by developing smart drip irrigation and developing solutions based on the internet of things technology, startups can give the sector a much-needed boost, he added.
Pointing to the fact that the center also acts as an accelerator, Azadi said startups and tech units will receive financial, technical, legal and marketing assistance to take large strides in achieving their goals.
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.
