TEHRAN – Iran's progress in the field of the knowledge-based ecosystem is significant, Azra Fazal Pechuho, Health and Population Welfare Minister of Pakistan’s Sindh Province, has said.

She made the remarks on the sidelines of the 11th International Innovation and Technology Exhibition (INOTEX 2022), held on May 10-13 at Tehran’s Pardis Technology Park.

Referring to the achievements of Iranian knowledge-based companies, especially in the field of health and medicine, she announced readiness to transfer Iran's achievements to Pakistan.

There are 13 science and technology parks and 95 technology growth centers in Iran working in the field of health. Iran has taken an important step in cooperation and coordination for technology transfer between the eight Islamic countries, she added.

Lauding Iran's medical advances, she said that Iranian knowledge-based companies could exchange knowledge and technology with Pakistani knowledge-based groups.

INOTEX is Iran’s biggest technology event and the forerunner in the region, bringing technology and innovation experts around the world together to bridge the gap between innovators, investors, and traders. Held this year with the theme of ‘innovation ecosystem under one roof’.

Health technology development

Based on innovative indicators of health technology development in 2021, Iran was ranked 60th among 132 countries, which shows an improvement of 60 steps compared to 2014, the deputy health minister for research and technology, has announced.

A total of 1,670 knowledge-based firms are operating in the health sector, Younes Panahi said in April.

He added that there are 13 science and technology parks and 95 technology growth centers in the field of health, while 343 technological products have so far been licensed, and 335 inventions in medical sciences have been patented.

 Exporting technological products

Exporting technological products of Iranian knowledge-based companies is one of the important and key programs of the vice presidency for science and technology, and in this regard, five houses of innovation and technology were inaugurated in Kenya, China, Russia, Syria, and Turkey.

It is also planned to establish two innovation centers in Iraq and Armenia over the next months. 

In December 2021, Marzieh Shaverdi, the manager of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, said Iran will launch production lines of knowledge-based products in seven countries, namely Turkey, Armenia, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, Syria, Iraq, and Kenya.

Knowledge-based companies

Today, the country's knowledge-based ecosystem accounts for more than 3 percent of GDP. And the figure is projected to reach 5 percent, however, the main goal is to step toward a 10 percent share in GDP, Sattari told Fars on February 13.

The share of knowledge-based companies in the country's economy has exceeded 9 quadrillion rials (about $34 billion), and since 2019, it has experienced a growth of more than 450 percent, he stated.

There are currently 6,263 knowledge-based companies operating in the country, offering advanced products and services in various fields of technology to domestic and foreign markets, and some of them have entered international markets, Siavash Maleki, deputy head of the Fund, stated.

The fields of aircraft maintenance, steel, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

FB/MG