TEHRAN – A delegation of Iranian knowledge-based companies led by Sorena Sattari, the vice president for science and technology, headed to Uzbekistan on Tuesday to increase scientific and technological interactions.

Developing exports and business cooperation with Uzbekistan and Eurasia is one of the goals pursued by the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

The delegation consists of 40 knowledge-based and creative companies in technological fields such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and health, who tend to develop their market and technological interactions in this region by attending specialized meetings with 150 Uzbek companies.

Another program of this trip is holding an exhibition of 100 Iranian-made products from 80 Iranian knowledge-based firms in Uzbekistan.

Holding specialized meetings for familiarizing Iranian companies with the rules, laws, and regulations of Uzbekistan in the field of registration and follow-up of works in the fields of health and agriculture, and trade are other programs.

In February, Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov announced readiness to develop technological cooperation with Iran.

The country's knowledge-based ecosystem accounts for more than 3 percent of GDP, and the figure is projected to reach 10 percent.

Good opportunities exist for technological cooperation between the two countries and Uzbekistan is ready to interact with Iran in this field, he said, appreciating Iran’s achievements in the field of technology, innovation, and development of knowledge-based firms.

Science, technology advancement with knowledge-based ecosystem

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.

The knowledge-based ecosystem is a newly-emerged ecosystem but has so far been able to solve many of the country's problems.

The Innovation and Prosperity Fund affiliated with the Vice Presidency of Science and Technology has earmarked a sum of 170 trillion rials (nearly $650 million) to support knowledge-based companies over the past 4 years.

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