TEHRAN – Royan Institute and the Kazakhstan National Center for Biotechnology (NCB) have explored the potential to expand joint efforts, agreeing to enhance educational, research, and technological cooperation and implement joint research projects.

In this line, representatives from the two sides held an online meeting on Monday with Iran’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, Ali-Akbar Jokar, in attendance, IRNA reported.

During the meeting, Jokar highlighted the importance of boosting science diplomacy between the two countries, and elaborated on the available capacities for strategic partnership in research, education, and technology sectors.

Also, directors of Royan Institute expounded on the structure, accomplishments, and missions of the Institute, while reviewing Royan Institute’s international scientific cooperation with other countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Syria, and Northern Cyprus.

Furthermore, they emphasized benefiting from the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) Scientific Network as a platform to foster regional cooperation and establish scientific connections between the two organizations.

Royan Institute proposed initiating the cooperation by organizing a joint scientific webinar, which was welcomed by the other side.

For their part, Kazak officials detailed on NCB structure, and their research priorities. They announced the center’s readiness for the development of joint research projects.

NCB is supposed to submit proposals for promoting cooperation with Royan Institute to the Iranian embassy in Kazakhstan.

Iran offers proposals to foster SCO scientific ties

In June, Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Hossein Simaei-Sarraf, put forward three proposals to enhance academic, research, and technological collaborations among the universities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.

“Universities are custodians of shaping the future of societies. Today, they are faced with different challenges like revising curricula, making research projects applicable, making theses and research studies more useful to the societies. SCO can serve as a platform for member states to boost their academic capacities through an executive and problem-based network,” IRNA quoted Simaei-Sarraf as saying.

The official made the remarks while addressing the tenth meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Education Ministers, which took place in Minsk, Belarus, on June 16 and 17. A delegation led by the science minister attended the meeting.

To promote scientific cooperation among member states, the science minister offered three proposals. The first one focused on ‘exchanging elites and scholars’. Accordingly, Iran is ready to grant 100 scholarships to post-graduate and Ph.D. students, and 10 more to post-doctoral researchers of SCO member states to do research on the real problems in the region under the supervision of professors.

The establishment of the ‘Shanghai technological and innovative universities network’ with the help of leading universities and technology parks was the second offered suggestion.  According to Simaei-Sarraf, this network would provide the ground for commercializing scientific achievements and strengthening connections between universities and industry. He also announced Iran’s readiness to host its secretariat.

The ‘development of a collaborative research consortia in smart management of natural resources, particularly water, artificial intelligence, and modern pharmaceutical technologies’ was the third proposal, which is expected to be an effective strategy to improve the scientific capacities of SCO member states.

The science minister went on to say that the universities are not merely the centers of education, but they should be the standard bearers of rationality, entrepreneurship, hope, and international scientific cooperation.

The top universities of Iran, with all their laboratory capacities, growth centers, and scientific capabilities, will be there to implement these programs in cooperation with the universities of the SCO member states.

MT/MG