Parviz Karami stated: one of the most important issues in realizing the economy of resistance is being free from economic hazards. The economy that depends on natural sources, such as raw oil, will face problems any time the costs changes and sanctions affect these costs.

According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Parviz Karami, secretary of knowledge-based sciences and technologies development headquarter, talked about the necessary properties of knowledge-based companies in an interview with the journalist of the science and academic group of Fars news agency, stating: according to the article one in the law for support of knowledge-based companies and institutes and commercialization of innovations and inventions, a knowledge-based company or institute is a private institute that is formed to increase science and wealth, develop knowledge-based economy, realize scientific and economic goals (including the development and use of inventions and innovations) and commercialization of research projects and subsequent development (including the design and production of products and services) in the area of top technologies and with sufficient added value.

Karami continued: knowledge-based companies work based on two important features of activity in the top technology area and commercialization of research results. In addition, knowledge-based companies and institutes can be recognized based on evaluation and diagnosis regulations and with three conditions to be regarded as companies that provide knowledge-based services and products.

The advisor to the vice president for science and technology affairs, regarded these three conditions as production and design based on research and its development. In this regard, he marked: the products or services must be in the area of moderate-to-high technologies, meaning that technical knowledge on the design and manufacture of laboratory samples or technical knowledge on the production process can be copied due to technical complications and its acquisition is one of the main obstacles of other countries to enter the market. In addition, the product requires considerable research and development, expansion of the expert panel and creation of complicated applications of the product.

In terms of production stage, Karami affirmed: the presented products must be produced or have a minimum of one laboratory sample (with the ability of technical evaluation). In addition, services must have sales documents. In the design stage based on development and research, the company must have a significant design based on research activities and adhere to issues, such as designing the main subsystem of the product and service, integrated design of the product and service and design of the process (or equipment) of the product creation with the condition of having complicated processes. With regard to the mentioned issues, companies with these conditions can be classified in four categories of type 1-4.

* Rapid growth in the production of Iranian high-quality products

General secretary of the culture and art festival of “Made in Iran” pointed out the background of establishment of knowledge-based companies in the country, expressing: the law to support knowledge-based companies and institutes and commercialize innovations and inventions was approved in the parliament in 2010. After that, the code of conduct for legislation was approved by the cabinet of ministers in 2012. The adoption of this law has been the start of the largest government program to support knowledge-based companies and institutions. Since the implementation of this law, 55 companies have been approved as knowledge-based, which has reached 3500 companies in 2018.

*The core capital of knowledge-based companies is its elite human resources and their accumulated knowledge

In terms of advantages of Iran in the creation of knowledge-based companies, Karami mentioned: usually the assets of manufacturing companies and services are known to have facilities such as production lines, land, buildings, and bank capitals. However, knowledge-based companies that are mostly small and newly established lack these assets. However, the main asset of these companies is their intelligent human resource and their accumulated knowledge. This is because companies mostly seek the commercialization of their results. Given the need for creative and talented elites in research and development, knowledge-based companies are formed by educated and elite human resources.

* One of the most important issues in realizing the economy of resistance is the release of economic instabilities

Pointing out the occupation creation by these companies, Karami stated: one of the most important issues in the realization of economy of resistance is release from economic instabilities. The economy that relies on natural resources, such as raw oil, is affected by changes in prices, sanctions and international issues every time. Therefore, the economy of resistance seeks changing the dependence to natural resources to another factor that has strong and unchanging foundations, recognized as knowledge-based economy.

He continued: on 2015 and among elites, the supreme leader of the country talked about the knowledge-based economy, stating: one of the strong bases of economy of resistance is knowledge-based economy. This is because the economy of resistance is an internalizing economy, one that is strong from the inside and cannot be changed based on international and global economic impacts.

The advisor the vice president for science and technology affairs added: given the importance of support of formation and development of knowledge-based companies to create an economy based on science, occupation created by this economy will be more sustainable, compared to those emerged due to the selling of natural resources, such as oil. He regarded the presence of knowledge-based companies an effective part of growth of DGP in the country, stating: the income of knowledge-based companies in the first year of implementation of the law (2013) was about two thousand billion rials. However, a significant increase was observed in this figure simultaneously with increased number of companies. According to the reported statistics in the tax returns of the companies, their income has reached above 330 thousand billion rials by the end of 2017. While it is not a huge range compared to the GDP, it shows that the development of knowledge-based companies and support of their presence in domestic and international markets can significantly improve the share of knowledge-based economy in the future.

Culture building; a tool to support knowledge-based companies

Secretary of knowledge-based economy and technology development headquarter, talked about the familiarization of people with knowledge-based companies, expressing: by formation of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, we have a growing path toward the development of innovation and technology in the country in a purposive manner. One of the signs of this improvement is the effort to create the culture of some concepts, such as being released from oil money and oil-based economy, attention to technology growth, and use of the capacity of elites to eliminate the needs of the country. Currently, the society has more knowledge about these concepts, compared to a few years ago, which shows a significant growth in this regard. However, we still need to build the culture in the society to familiarize the society members with concepts related to knowledge-based economy.

Karami also asserted: the knowledge-based economy, technology, and science development headquarter is also being formed and holds the annual exhibition of “Made in Iran”, which is one of the most important programs of the Vice-Presidency. To introduce the knowledge-based products, various complexes, including the national technomart of Iran, have been formed to more properly introduce the products of these companies.

According to Karami, one of the most important benefits of knowledge-based enterprises is producing products based on knowledge, which was carried out to eliminate the needs of the country and prevent excessive import. The majority of these products prevented the exit of currency from the country and created competitive abilities for the economy of the country against other countries.

Knowledge-based Companies Are Faced with the Problem of Selling Their Products Due to Lack of Ability to Recognize the Accurate Markets

According to Karami, one of the most important capacities of these companies is using the elite youth. The population of young graduates in the country is one of the most important assets of Iran, which if used inappropriately, could lead to their emigration from the country or loss of their abilities. Therefore, creating opportunities for their growth and use of their capabilities is the path made by the development and support of knowledge-based companies.

General secretary of “Made in Iran” exhibition also explained about the challenges and barriers in the path of these companies, claiming: knowledge-based companies dedicate extensive efforts to produce products with top technologies. In this path, the majority of these companies are faced with problems in selling their products due to lack of ability to recognize the proper market. On the other hand, there are still governmental and non-governmental large complexes that purchase foreign product despite the presence of their domestic counterparts in the country. Therefore, creating the market for knowledge-based products is one of the most important problems of these companies.

Karami also reminded: the active human resource in knowledge-based companies is in fact encompasses the academic graduates of the country, which showed the huge role of universities in this regard. Moreover, there are various knowledge-based companies that are active in growth centers and parks due to their affiliation with universities. However, these are low figures compared to the huge number of academic graduates in the country.