Maritime startups are increasing in Iran with the support of the government and the academia, as they utilize digital technologies to find smart solutions for addressing challenges facing the field.
Iran has 13 active ports where over 35,000 commercial ships and vessels dock annually, which shows the huge potentials of marine industries for benefiting from the technology ecosystem and in turn, propelling the digital economy.
Recently, the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research announced plans to expand the tech firms’ reach in shipping industries.
Hamidreza Tayebi, the head of ACECR, made a daylong visit to Kish Island to extend support to knowledge-based firms seeking to operate in the maritime sector, ISNA reported.
Tayebi and Gholamhossein Mozaffari, CEO of Kish Free Zone, signed a contract to designate a section of Kish Central Cultural Complex for accommodating tech companies and startup teams.
Speaking at the signing event, Tayebi said today, a country’s strength reflects its ability to promote knowledge and convert it to technology for practical use.
“Developing technologies is a reliable foundation for realizing a knowledge-based economy,” he added.
Later, Tayebi visited the island’s fish-breeding units in Gerzeh Village. According to local officials, fish breeders produce 3,000 tons of fish annually, a big share of which is exported to Persian Gulf and European states.
During his visit, Tayebi emphasized that fish farming can be upgraded via state-of-the-art technologies to boost production.
He also noted that aerial cargo transit and mechanization of packaging should be employed in the island’s shipping industries.
Boosting Local Production
Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami has invited domestic knowledge-based firms for building 63 commercial vessels for the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran.
Pointing to the fact that Iran’s commercial ships were procured from foreign companies, Eslami said, “We should switch focus from foreign suppliers to domestic producers to both curb the country’s dependency on the former and oil the wheels of local production.”
Speaking with the local media, Eslami said maritime industries offer endless business opportunities. He emphasized that the development of business structures, infrastructures, tools and requirements in the shipping industry should be assigned to the growing technology ecosystem.
The Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology recently announced that it is planning to extend support to 50 knowledge-based companies and tech firms active in the maritime industries, boosting creative approaches in the field.
According to the office’s Department of Smart Transportation and Space Technologies, the support plan is to accelerate the drive for incorporating technology in the conventional marine sector’s operations.
Reportedly, tech teams have already started procuring the raw material, machinery and parts required to undertake shipbuilding and offshore activities.
The vice presidential office is also working on establishing innovation centers in Iranian port cities to extend support to entrepreneurs and expand the technology ecosystem in the sector.
Previous Efforts
Last year in April, the construction of a specialized technology tower for marine industries was launched on Qeshm Island, off the Persian Gulf.
The tower is a joint project between the vice presidential office, Qeshm Free Zone and Qeshm International Incubator (QII).
With an initial investment of 50 billion rials ($185,000), the building is being built over 3,000 square meters near QII, Qeshm Free Zone reported.
Mahdieh Fallahi, the head of QII, said the tower will provide a workplace to startups, tech companies and investors, along with workshops for tech production.
"The tower is expected to bring together specialists and startups that need facilities for starting the small-scale production of their tech products. This would help prepare them for mass production," she added.
In addition, the building will attract university students active in the field of marine industries and help them produce knowledge-based products.
The tower will also provide startups and tech teams with facilities to test their products.
Also in May 2019, six marine technology startups received support from the vice presidential office to help find smart solutions for the sector’s problems.
The firms were backed for commercializing their innovative solutions.
The selected startups were the best performing teams among 32 participants in an earlier marine industry startup event held by the vice presidential office in February 2019.
The six winner startups were introduced to potential investors and accelerators to receive all the support they need to flourish and enter the market.
"Adapting cutting-edge technologies in marine propulsion, applying smart solutions to ports, upgrading ship engines and maintaining ships are some of the issues Iranian startups are working on," Mohsen Naderi, the event’s executive secretary, said then.
According to Naderi, these are the main challenges facing the domestic marine industry.
