TEHRAN - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has officially registered thirteen new Iranian products, according to a senior advisor at Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade.

The milestone highlights the growing global recognition of Iran’s diverse cultural and natural assets, Mehdi Mirsalehi told IRNA on Monday.

The newly registered items include a mix of mineral stones, agricultural goods, and one traditional handicraft, he said.

Among the most notable, he said, are rosewater from the city of Kashan, grapes and apples from Urmia, and a handwoven carpet from Fars Province.

These additions bring the total number of Iranian products registered with WIPO to 87, he added.

Mirsalehi said that Iran’s journey toward international product registration began in 2010 with the global recognition of its handwoven carpets.

Since then, 31 carpet-producing regions across the country, along with various agricultural and mineral products, have been added to the registry, he said.

WIPO is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations. It was established to encourage creative works and protect intellectual property rights globally.

WIPO 2024 report

The World Intellectual Property Organization has published the 2024 Global Innovation Index (GII) report, based on which Iran’s innovation capabilities are ranked in seven criteria that include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology output, and creative output.

Iran is ranked 133 in Institutions globally. In this category, the country’s global rankings in Operational stability for business, Government effectiveness, Rule of law, Business environment, Entrepreneurship policies, and culture were 130, 120, 118, 128, and 85, respectively.

In human capital and research criterion, the country is placed 64th. It ranked 93, 109, 67, 66, and 96 in Education, Expenditure on education, Government funding/pupil, School life expectancy, and Pupil-teacher ratio, respectively.

Iran’s ranking in Tertiary education, Graduates in science & engineering, Research and development (R&D), and Researchers is 35, 8, 48, and 47, respectively.

The global ranking of the country in Infrastructure is 95. It ranked 5 in Gross capital formation and 50 in General infrastructure.

In Market sophistication criteria, with a global ranking of 17, Iran is placed 70, 58, and 19 in Finance for startups and scaleups, Domestic industry diversification, Domestic market scale, and Market capitalization. 

In Business sophistication, Iran is ranked 110. It is ranked 86 in Females employed with advanced degrees, 82 in Public Research-Industry co-publications, 121 in university-industry R&D collaboration, 55 in Research talent, and percent in businesses.