According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Manouchehr Manteghi, chairman of Iran national space administration, mentioned the importance of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the country on the closing ceremony of the fourth round of the competition of design and manufacturing of UA, stating: given the significant importance of UAV industry in the country, a UAV innovation center will be soon established, which will be the center for relations between elites and active knowledge-based companies of this area.

He continued: this center will receive the needs and ideas in the UAV industry, which will then be produced and commercialized by knowledge-based companies.

According to Manteghi, two products, including “commercial UAVs” and “small satellites”, in the aerial field of the country require more efficient management and reliance on domestic abilities. In this respect, use of the abilities of knowledge-based companies has been prioritized.

Chairman of Iran national space administration announced the acceptable elimination of security barriers to the development of UAV industry, affirming: we have taken some measures to create a UAV market. In this respect, one of the measures has been conclusion of a cooperation contract with organizations requesting for this technology.

The fourth round of the student competition of design and manufacturing of UAVs was initiated June 2016 with the support of Iran national space administration and by the efforts of Shahid Rezaei Research Center of Sharif University of Technology. In total, 40 teams from across nation participated in this competition. After holding educational workshops and passing the stages of proposal presentation, production, pre-evaluation and final assessment of the products in Kalaleh airport in Golestan province, the competition ended September 2017. At the end, Matin team from Islamic Azad University, Bushehr Branch, was introduced as the first place winner of the competition.