A Virtual Research and Technology Bazaar will be set up in the first half of the current fiscal year (which started March 21), said the head of Iran’s National Science Foundation (INSF) on Sunday, IRNA reported. According to Nosratollah Zargham, the virtual bazaar will act as a connecting bridge between researchers and investors, offering effective strategies by which research ideas can be promoted and commercialized. Using this platform, companies and industries will be given the opportunity to identify ideas of interest that can later be developed into concrete products. The bazaar will also provide assistance to investors in preparing their request for proposal (RfP). An RfP is a solicitation, made through a bidding process, by an agency interested in procurement of a commodity, service, or valuable asset. Both private and governmental sector investors would be granted access to the research projects of their interest. By far, researchers have submitted 1,000 projects to INSF for this purpose, 37 percent of which have been approved. Some of the projects have yielded technological results and are ready to be processed and merchandized.
