TEHRAN – Japanese Ambassador Tamaki Tsukada has highlighted the significance of promoting scientific ties with Iranian universities in different areas, especially emerging technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced materials.

Science and industry are the two main indicators of power in the 21st century, which play a critical role in scientific diplomacy, IRNA quoted Tsukada as saying.

He made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting with Mahmoud Shokrieh, the chancellor of Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). The ambassador said the scientific capabilities and capacities of Iran have never been truly presented to Japan, and that it is his main responsibility to do so. He also announced readiness to foster interactions between the IUST and Japanese universities.

For his part, Shokrieh elaborated on the University’s achievements in science, research, and industry. He proposed exchanging professors and students, conducting collaborative educational courses and scientific projects, establishing joint laboratories, and cooperating in science and technology parks.

Referring to the consortium of the top five universities of technology in Iran, namely the University of Tehran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Amirkabir University of Technology, Sharif University of Technology, and Iran University of Medical Sciences (called UT5), the official said the consortium can lay the ground for the expansion of scientific interactions between the best Iranian universities of technology and Japanese universities, which was well-received by the Japanese side.

Tehran, Tokyo underscore promoting sci-tech co-op

In October 2024, Science, Research, and Technology Minister Hosseith Simaei-Sarraf and Tsukada discussed avenues for boosting scientific and technological collaborations between the two countries.

The officials met in Tehran, a week before attending the 21st annual meeting of the Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum held from October 6 to 8, 2024, in Kyoto, Japan.

Referring to Iran and Japan’s global ranking in producing articles related to nanotechnology, which are fifth and fourth, respectively, Tsukada stressed the two countries could collaborate and become the leading countries in this field.

The Japanese official went on to say that regarding former joint activities, “Iran and Japan’s collaborations in the field of environment can also be expanded.”

Simaei-Sarraf, for his part, said the history of friendly relations between the two countries dates back centuries.

The official expressed interest in further fostering scientific cooperation between Iran and Japan, saying that “Iran is ready to attract Japanese students in the fields of humanities such as Islamic studies, Persian language, and other subjects that are of interest to Japanese students,” he highlighted.

Referring to Japanese language teaching at University of Tehran, Sarraf said, “We expect Persian language teaching courses, which were previously held in Japanese universities, to be resumed. We are also ready to dispatch Persian language professors and provide the programs.”

The official also stressed that the two countries can collaborate in the field of the environment as an area of cooperation.

MT/MG