Parviz Karami

Parviz Karami, advisor to the vice president for science and technology affairs

We live in an ever-changing world and we must move toward evolution. Human kind has always sought progress in life and moves toward perfectionism. Time has passed, and one’s creativity and ideas must be used to achieve this goal. Mankind invented wheels so that life would become easier. He also invented light to overcome darkness caused by unawareness.

Over the years, ideas have been improved. Today, we have reached a point that creativity and innovation bring a gift every day; a gift emerged from the flourishing of innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The growth and development of the ecosystem is occurring in the country.

Players of the ecosystem have come to the field. Everyone cooperate with each other and have reversed the slang of “great promise, small performance”. They showed that Iranians could do anything they set their mind to. Knowledge-based companies, academic and research centers, startups, innovation centers, and accelerators are the main players of the field. Currently, innovation factories have joined this move to accelerate its pace.

Old buildings that were dark and full of dust. However, they have turned into new places to implement new ideas. The buildings provide the opportunity for implementing ideas and establishing startups.

Startups and new businesses gather in these places to nurture their ideas with innovation and introduce their product or service to the market. Here, innovation is a tool for realization of wishes. There is a new path toward meeting needs; a path that creates jobs and uses graduated young workforce.

Innovation factories have a creative, dynamic, integrated environment for the growth and development of startups.

With this belief, we established the largest innovation factory in the Middle East known as Azadi Innovation Factory in an area of 18500 m² with 3500 entrepreneurs. The place includes 10 specialized accelerators to grow startups.

Providing specialized services to startups, increasing synergy and culture-building for having a knowledge-based economy are among the goals of the innovation factory. In the joint work spaces, teams suggest new ideas. Startups get strong mentors, coaches, investors and their supporters with expert advice. All the needs of innovative teams are met to realize their ideas independently. An idea that infuses creativity and innovation into society.

Therefore, this place can be identified as constructor of knowledge-based companies and promoter of businesses so that the youth would more eagerly continue their innovative activities. At innovation startups, startups remember and soar on top of innovation peaks.

Mashhad, Fars, Mazandaran, Golestan, Ardabil and Yazd will soon have an innovation factory so that the creative youth could be guided.

*Secretary of knowledge-based economy and culture-building technologies development headquarter