By signing two memorandums of understanding, the vice president for science and technology affairs and the mayor of Tehran agreed on “the recognition of urban areas to establish innovation centers” and development of “the innovation center of advanced transportation technologies”.

According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, while Tehran experienced one of its most polluted days, the vice president and mayor of Tehran agreed on resolving the air pollution problem by using advanced technologies and developing them with the help of startups.

In this regard, two memorandums of understanding were signed by Sorena Sattari and Pirouz Hanachi on the “creation of the infrastructure for advanced vehicles by forming an innovation center” and “recognition and development of innovation areas”.

In this ceremony, Sattari pointed out the considerable role of knowledge-based companies in solving urban problems in addition to creating occupations and value added with the help of innovation, asserting: the capital has good potential to become a smart city, and it needs to have an ecosystem to turn this talent into an innovative businesses empowered by youth creativity and capable of creating urban problems, wealth and employment.

Mentioning that Tehran is already among the technological and smart capitals of the world, Sattari added: according to the global innovation index (Gii), Tehran is now among the top 50 technological cities of the world. Last week, I presented a detailed report on issue of Tehran and smart city in city council of Tehran. I believe that Tehran has a high capacity to be turned into a smart and innovative city, which is being operationalized with the help of innovation of creative youth in startups and knowledge-based companies.

The vice president considered the development of innovation areas as one of the necessities of the innovation ecosystem and a prerequisite for becoming a smart city.

The president of the knowledge-based economy and culture-building technologies development headquarter affirmed that innovation centers solve people’s problems by role-playing of municipalities and determination of people in society in support of innovation ecosystem activists, adding: while increasing the country"s GDP, this area leads to sustainable development.

Pointing out the important role of municipalities in the commercialization of knowledge-based and startup innovations, Sattari added: municipalities have a very pristine marketplace that can provide startup knowledge businesses. In doing so, while creating a new area for income generation, they are taking a serious step toward solving urban problems. I hope that an important step will be taken with the support and cooperation of the Tehran Municipality for the marketing and development of urban technologies.

During the ceremony, the mayor of Tehran expressed that the main focus is to create a center of innovation on electric motorcycles, but cars and electric buses are also a focus of this innovation center. In this context, he claimed: 10% of Tehran’s population is related to carburetor motorcycles. More than three million units of these motorcycles drive in Tehran, which have a major impact on the production of particulate matter and pollution in the city.

Manouchehr Manteghi, chairman of Iran national space and advanced transportation administration, stated: the memorandum aims to establish a transport innovation center, focusing on two axes of intelligent transportation using electric and dual-fuel vehicles as well as unmanned vehicles.

The first joint memorandum of understanding signed by the vice president for science and technology affairs and mayor of Tehran will support the “advanced transportation innovation center”. Supporting a dynamic and effective innovation center that attracts, organizes, and supports accelerators, knowledge-based companies, and urban transport startups is central to this partnership agreement. Design, manufacturing, and commercialization of electric vehicles such as bikes, motorcycles, cars and buses as well as advanced unmanned vehicles with urban use are the goals of this cooperation agreement.

In addition, another agreement was signed focusing on creating and expanding innovation zones in Tehran, using successful model of Sharif Innovation Area. According to this agreement, cooperation with appropriate locations for the formation of innovation zones across the capital will be carried out with the feasibility study of the establishment of innovation zones. In this project, studying the boundaries of universities, semi-active or closed factories, historical areas and other capacities of Tehran within nine months will be reviewed and documented in Tehran innovation zones.