According to the Public Relations and information Center of the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, Amir Ali Hamidieh, secretary of stem cells sciences and technologies development headquarter, stated about the third “national festival and international congress on stem cells and regenerative medicine”, which will be held by the efforts of the headquarter in Iran: this event will be held this December in the as a place for exchange of opinions between international scientists and domestic researchers and professors, as well as knowledge-based companies and investors.

Participation of Investors in Development of Stem Cell Sciences

Secretary of stem cells sciences and technologies development headquarter pointed out: the technomart section of this event can turn a large amount of knowledge produced by researchers and students into wealth and products that can be presented to the market with the support of large and powerful investors. This support cannot be fully provided by the Vice-Presidency and cooperation of other investors could lead to promising results.

According to Hamidieh, another part of the event is specialized and educational workshops. In this regard, he expressed: we have aimed to only present theoretical topics in the form of congress and teach practical topics in workshops. To this end, individuals are considered in various laboratories and are taught about practical issues as they observe them first hand. Therefore, there will be no increase in the number of workshops and we will focus on their quality improvement.

He introduced weekend startup as another part of the festival, affirming: during the event of stem cells and regenerative medicine startup (with the title of StemUp), enthusiasts, as well as high school and university students learn the process of turning ideas into a company and presentable products to the market.

Hamidieh announced that one of the important events of the festival is center of innovation. In this respect, he conveyed: this section will be held with the cooperation of center of international scientific interactions, Iranian scientists in the area of stem cells, who are active in foreign universities, will be invited to present lectures in the congress. Over the first two years of holding the festival, a path was paved for cooperation of Iranian and foreign universities in publication of articles and exchange of students.

Secretary of stem cells sciences and technologies development headquarter, the new section of the third round of the festival is student part of the event. In this regard, he stated: while this type of congress, startup and workshop is mostly for students, there is a need for gathering of active student associations in the area of stem cells and regenerative medicine of the universities of the country in a meeting.

In addition, it is decided to train students, who are eager to learn about stem cells and regenerative medicine, through a program called “gathering of stem cell ambassadors”, where the top individuals will be awarded on the third round of the festival of stem cells and regenerative medicine.

He also pointed out the school student section, affirming: this was one of the strengths of the festival in 2017, in a way that scientists from America, France and English visited this section and welcomed it.

In the end, Hamidieh emphasized: in addition to being the largest gathering of activists in the area of stem cells and regenerative medicine, another benefit of the event is simultaneous holding of all sections, which significantly lowers the costs.

The third national festival and international congress of stem cells and regenerative medicine will be held November 24^th-December 1^st, 2018 in the Iran International Conference Center by the stem cells sciences and technologies development headquarter.