Last year, the vice president for science and technology affairs visited some European and African countries to pave the way for increased interactions between scientific, technological and knowledge-based units of two countries by forming a joint bilateral cooperation foundation.

According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, interaction is the most important necessity for development of the ecosystem, and ecosystem is the most important need for flourishing of knowledge-based and startup businesses. Therefore, one of the plans of the Vice-President for science and technology affairs is cooperation with other countries of the world in line with exchange of experiences and providing a suitable foundation for international activities in the field of knowledge-based businesses.

Belgium Hosted the Technological and Scientific Abilities of Iran

During the last days of June 2018, the vice president for science and technology affairs traveled to Brussels to attend the second conference on international economic and technological cooperation of Iran and Europe as the head of a high-ranking delegation.

This conference was carried out with the topic of economic and technological cooperation by the efforts of Ravand Research Institute and with the cooperation of the ministry of foreign affairs and the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs in Brussels. The conference’s topic is cooperation on topics such as economic and technological development, growth of startup society and internationalization of knowledge-based companies.

During the opening ceremony of the conference, which hosted high-ranking policy-makers and decision-makers and senior administrative managers from Iran, Europe and other parts of the world, Sattari presented a speech.

In this two-day event, specialized meetings were held with topics such as “vision of startups in Iran”, “cooperation in fintech area (financial technologies and innovations)”, “investment and business in Iran”, “national resources and energy” and “investment funds”.

During the conference, Sattari expressed: in the past three years, a platform was established for cooperation with Iranian entrepreneurs and scientists who work abroad. This platform addresses Iranian PhD holders (graduated from the 100 top universities of the world), faculty members of 200 top universities, and entrepreneurs and experts who work in top technological companies.

Welcoming the Technological Abilities of Iran by South Africa

Over an official invitation by the minister of science and technology of South Africa, the vice president for science and technology affairs traveled to Pretoria and Johannesburg as the head of a commercial and technological delegation encompassing 46 managers of financial funds and active knowledge-based companies in fields of information and communication technology, health and biotechnology, mine and mine industries, industrial equipment and machinery and electrical and electronics.

During this trip, which was carried out for four days with the aim of developing the export of knowledge-based companies and expanding international businesses, activists of Iranian knowledge-based companies met with their similar companies of South Africa at the location of chamber of commerce of Africa in Johannesburg.

Attending the science meeting of Africa and meeting the side exhibition of the meeting are some of the other programs of the event. During the travel, the representative of knowledge-based companies of Iran can attend the meeting with a technology-based space to learn about the progresses and needs of science and technology field of Africa.

This travel was carried out with the goal of developing the export of knowledge-based products and expanding international businesses. The Iranian knowledge-based companies met with their counterparts of South Africa and had a meeting at the location of the chamber of commerce of Africa based in Johannesburg.

In addition, the vice president for science and technology affairs visited the science and industry research council of South Africa along with a delegation, attending the official event held by the minister of science and technology of this country as well.

Visiting TIA Innovation Center

During his travel to South Africa, Sattari visited TIA innovation center. This center supports innovators and researchers in various technology and innovation fields through investment (funding). In this visit, which was held to recognize the scientific and technological capacities of Africa for development of bilateral cooperation, a report of activities of this center was presented and achievements of innovation centers of Iran were introduced.

Travel to Uganda

The vice president for science and technology affairs entered Kampala and met with the president and minister of science, technology and innovation of this country.

In addition, Sattari met with Elioda Tumwesigye, the minister of science, technology and innovation of Uganda. Afterwards, he traveled to Kenya.

“Kenya”, the Next Destination of the Science and Technology Caravan of Iran

The vice president for science and technology affairs traveled to Kenya and met with the minister of industry and commerce and head of the investment organization of this country.

During this meeting, a report of the activities of knowledge-based companies and technological products of Iran was presented to the head of the investment organization of Kenya.

The second commercial meeting was held in Kenya and in the presence of Iranian companies and 170 companies of Kenya. During the meetings, in addition to 11 agreements and memorandums of understanding signed between the companies of Iran and Kenya, it was decided that topics such as “transfer of technology for production of chemical fertilizers to Kenya”, “creating a production line for livestock vaccines”, “creating the production line for medical drugs”, “performing joint meetings on satellite assessment of distribution of livestock and human diseases”, and “cooperation in the field of creating the e-money wallet on the foundation of social networks” be followed up.

These travels were made to develop the export of knowledge-based companies, where in addition to designing policies in high-level documents and responsibilities of the Vice-Presidency for the topic of knowledge-based economy and development of occupation creation export, planning was made to improve the export power of knowledge-based companies and help the marketing of companies and entering them into the target markets for export.