A delegation from various technology and economy fields from Canton Wood province of Switzerland visited with the deputy minister for international affairs and head of the center for international science and technology interactions of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs to talk about various abilities of this province in development of scientific and technological collaborations with Iran.

According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Ali Morteza Birang, deputy minister for international affairs and head of the center for international science and technology interactions, pointed out the advancements made in Iran in his visit with the delegation from Switzerland, expressing: over the past few years, Iran has had acceptable developments in the area of new technologies and sciences.

He added: for instance, Iran has had good developments in the nanotechnology area, which is evident when considering its fourth rank in the world in this area.

According to Birang, there are about three thousand active knowledge-based companies in Iran, a great number of which produce technological products in the area of nanotechnology.

He also pointed out: reports of international organizations also confirm the improvement of Iran’s status in new technologies, and any activity in this area is supported by the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs.

He also conveyed: Pardis technology park of Iran has the ability to attract investments and form international collaborations. Creation of a cooperation environment between technology parks of Iran and Switzerland can have significant impacts on development of scientific and technological relationships of the two countries.

Birang continued that given the presence of 200 active companies in Pardis park, economic meetings can be held between Iranian knowledge-based companies based in Pardis technology park and those from Switzerland.

In another part of his speech, Birang talked about successful examples of international collaborations of Iran, stating: currently, the Vice-Presidency has good cooperation with Academy of Sciences of China. In this regard, the silk road fund and young scholar projects have been developed between the two countries.

Deputy minister for international affairs also marked: Iran has effective cooperation with Austria in various areas, including renewable energies, environment and driving forces.

Head of the center for international science and technology interactions presented a proposal for establishing a committee under the joint commission of the two countries, stating: we can develop our technological cooperation by establishing and supporting this committee.

During this meeting, representatives of Switzerland expressed their interest in expanding collaborations with Iranian companies in areas of foreign investments and support of startups and creating innovative ecosystems. However, they pointed out that one of the top 10 universities of the world is located in Lausanne, which has had proper collaborations with Iran in the area student and technology exchange.