The year 2020 was a fruitful one for Iran's technology ecosystem, which earned about $1 billion in exports, according to the state-backed Iran National Innovation Fund.
“The revenue was earned by 450 well-developed tech firms,” said Marzieh Shavardi, the head of the fund's Empowerment Office.
“With about 7,000 talented startups and 6,000 knowledge-based businesses, the export value will embark on an upward trajectory,” the fund’s website quoted her as saying.
Addressing a Sunday meeting with a commercial delegation from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Shavardi gave an overview of Iran's technological achievements and outlined INIF's commitment to financially support the growing tech ecosystem.
“With the fund’s assistance, new entrepreneurs will be able to commercialize their products and develop into knowledge-based businesses,” she said.
INIF chief, Ali Vahdat, proposed hosting joint tech and innovation events to help bilateral ties grow. He also announced that the fund intends to create a permanent tech hub in Bosnia-Herzegovina to increase the export of Iranian innovative goods.
“The fund is also keen on sharing experiences to develop Bosnian tech community and improve relations with the country,” he added.
During the conference, 10 Iranian technology companies showcased their products in the fields of construction and engineering, residential energy efficiency, clinical equipment and medicine.
The Bosnian delegation expressed its willingness to expand tech cooperation, hoping that bilateral ties would help their country develop in various technological fields while also benefiting from Iranian products in their market.
Export Promotion
Tech experts and officials believe greater financial support should be directed to boost knowledge-based exports and make domestic tech industries more self-sufficient.
INIF is planning to achieve the goal by designing a scheme that offers tech firms four kinds of support, namely loans, warranties, investments and empowerment services.
Siavash Malekifar, a deputy at the fund, said tech firms undertaking international trade can receive financial support, foreign leasing and other services to expand their export market.
“Offering grants worth 800 million rials [$3,600] to firms for attending foreign expos is one of the other services offered by the fund to help tech firms develop foreign business ties,” he said.
According to the official, export centers were established in China, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq and Kyrgyzstan last year, which showed high capacity for introducing Iranian high-tech products to the target market.
“After opening a tech hub in Kenya in late January and in Syria last week, officials are holding talks to open similar centers in Afghanistan, Qatar, Oman and hopefully Bosnia,” he added.
Malekifar said export centers provide tech firms with shared working space, the opportunity to employ local professionals for marketing their products in small-scale exhibitions, market analysis and sales consultancy, in addition to deploying commercial teams for publicizing the firms and attracting customers.
Overall Sales
In mid-March, Esmaeil Qaderifar, a senior official with the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology, said the sales of Iranian startups and knowledge-based companies in domestic and foreign markets reached 1.8 quadrillion rials ($7.6 billion) in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2021).
Qaderifar added that tech firms' earnings have been rising over the past few years, reaching 1.2 quadrillion rials ($5.45 billion) in the year ending March 2019 and 1.5 quadrillion rials ($6.81 billion) in the fiscal 2019-20 from 600 trillion rials ($2.72 billion) in the fiscal 2017-18.
The official noted that the number will continue to grow in the current Iranian year.
“The growth has been achieved despite hurdles. The reimposition of US sanctions against Iran in the summer of 2018 and the Covid outbreak in February 2020 have been blessings in disguise for the technology ecosystem,” he said.
Tech firms spearheaded localization efforts while profiting from extensive state support and zero foreign competition.
According to Qaderifar, startups and tech companies, primarily engaged in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information and communications technologies, and aerospace, are increasingly gaining a larger share of Iran's economy.
“In addition to tech achievements in transportation, auto manufacturing, mining and steel industries, a large portion of medical and laboratory equipment have been indigenized, and 98% of medicines on the domestic market are produced in Iran,” he said.
“This is the outcome of putting faith in the young, talented generation. We expect the ecosystem to become a game-changer in the domestic economy, reducing Iran's reliance on foreign resources.”
Iran has over five million university students who are a vital element of the country's development efforts.
Qaderifar said the public and private sectors should take advantage of this opportunity to invest in the young generation to maximize their potential and achieve long-term benefits.
Share of GDP
Mohammad Sadeq Khayyatian, an official with INIF, earlier said the share of tech firms in Iran’s GDP has been growing exponentially and is projected to reach 10% in the coming years.
“Funding should be extended to accelerators and innovation centers to help expand tech units,” he said, calling on officials and private investors to boost the contribution of tech ecosystem in the country's revenue.
“Iran’s technology ecosystem is growing fast and so will its share in GDP. In the 2000s, there were only 52 knowledge-based companies in Iran, which figure today stands at 6,000. In fact, Iran’s first science and technology park was launched 10 years ago in Isfahan Province. Today, 46 tech parks are operating nationwide,” he said.
Because of Iran’s dependence on oil revenues, the government did not bank on the knowledge-based sector to generate revenues in the past.
Khayyatian stressed that the government’s policies have changed, such that Iran is increasingly counting on the technology ecosystem for wealth production and extending more support to knowledge-based companies.
“The government is planning to provide tech firms with tax and customs exemption, ease commercial license issuance, cut social security fee, reduce military service and extend business empowerment consultancy,” he said.
