This cooperation memorandum was signed this morning in the presence of Ruhollah Dehghani, Vice President of Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, by Ali Vahdat, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, Alborz Mohammadi, CEO of the Cooperation Investment Guarantee Fund of the Ministry of Labor, Cooperation and Social Welfare, and Mohammad Hassan Moghiseh, the CEO of the Small Industries Investment Guarantee Fund of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade.

In the signing ceremony of this tripartite memorandum, Ruhollah Dehghani, Vice President of Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, pointed out the necessity of adopting innovative solutions for the financing of companies and said: events like this that promote innovation in financing models, guarantees and bonds It follows for knowledge-based companies, can pave the way for the creation of start-up knowledge-based companies and promise for activists who want to step on the path of knowledge-based economy.

Emphasizing that the supreme leader of the revolution paid a new attention to knowledge foundations in his speech this year, Dehghani continued: These words had more strategies and instructions than his last year's speech. Last year's speech was mainly based on the nature and definition of knowledge-based companies, but this year new strategies were taken into consideration and he emphasized that the economy will not change unless the private sector and knowledge-based companies are trusted more ambitiously.

The vice president of science, technology and knowledge-based economy continued: In his statements, the leadership mentioned knowledge-based companies as the first example of an economy based on the private sector and with growth, and even ordered that structuring and information should be created for people's participation in the economy. This is an important issue and it shows that knowledge-based companies have found a place beyond a number of economic enterprises in the country, so that if the topic of science, technology, and knowledge-based economy seemed to be a decorative and luxurious category until the previous years, today it has found a place. which is known as the only way to save the country's economy.

The head of the National Elites Foundation, referring to the role of the economy based on innovation and brain ware in difficult economic situations, said: knowledge-based companies have been able to show their importance and effectiveness, and this issue shows the strategic role of these companies in economic fields and it is necessary to support them.

He added: Therefore, in this period, one of the programs by the Vice Presidency of Science is to lay the groundwork to encourage people, academics and technologists to join knowledge-based companies, and tools to facilitate this path, including financial assistance.

The vice president of science, technology and knowledge-based economy, emphasizing the establishment of mechanisms appropriate to the intangible values and intellectual assets of knowledge-based companies in large financing structures, including banks, said: the intangible assets of knowledge-based companies are sometimes several times the tangible assets of other large companies, but since there is no structured and specific way to value such assets in the country's banking system, we must move towards the reform of this valuation and evaluation structure. Due to their more flexible structure, investment funds can be more efficient in this valuation and investment, and if they play this role, it can be expected that other financial structures, including banks, will also play their role properly in this support structure. .

In another part of the ceremony, Ali Vahdat, the head of the executive board of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, referring to the provision of innovative financial mechanisms for small and medium-sized companies, said: The existence of these two funds shows that those in the past had thought about the model of financing small companies, which shows that the matter is very important. In the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, we are always trying to create innovative mechanisms to finance knowledge-based companies and we are trying to use all the available capacities to realize this.

He added: The Innovation Fund considers itself to be in charge of supporting knowledge-based companies in the financial discussion, and considers it its duty to use all the facilities, opportunities and tools available to finance companies.

Vahdat, pointing out that the financial record of knowledge-based companies shows the low risk of investing in these companies, continued: Knowledge-based companies are creditworthy companies and the arrears rate of these companies is under 1% with the fund. An issue that can give the necessary motivation to investors and financial activists to trust these companies. With this agreement, a basis was created to meet the financial needs of companies up to 10 billion tomans, and companies can respond to their financial needs more easily.

Creating a smooth platform to support knowledge-based and technological companies

Alborz Mohammadi, the CEO of the Cooperative Investment Guarantee Fund of the Ministry of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare, stated in this ceremony that financing and risk reduction mechanisms for knowledge-based and technological companies are among the priorities of this fund and said: As a fund with an approach to capital risk reduction, we are ready to take steps to develop the ecosystem of technological innovation and creativity with the capital we have.

He added: "We can do this work better with the support by the Vice Presidency of Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy and the cooperation of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund." Guaranteeing and covering the investment risk of these companies will be done with the help of the scientific and technology vice-chancellor, focusing on small and micro-based knowledge cooperatives.

Creating a platform for providing facilities to knowledge-based companies

Mohammad Hassan Moghiseh, the CEO of the Small Industries Investment Guarantee Fund of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade, also said in this ceremony: The Small Industries Investment Guarantee Fund was created with the aim of solving the financing challenge, and the collateral is one of the most important needs of these companies.

He added: We have also taken steps to cover bonds for research and technology funds, and for the first time, this fund, which only issued guarantees, was able to grant facilities to knowledge-based companies with new resources.

Moghiseh said about entering supply chain financing and continued: In this context, we have prepared guarantees suitable for supply chain financing and signed memorandums of understanding with two suppliers at the country level. Also, since last year, with the validation of knowledge-based companies, we are upgrading these companies by one rank, so that they can receive the granted facilities more easily.

Facilitating the receipt of guarantees and facilities for knowledge-based companies

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Innovation and Prosperity Fund and the Small Industries Investment Guarantee Fund and the Cooperative Guarantee Fund, knowledge-based companies can benefit from payment guarantee to receive facilities from the banking network.

This memorandum of understanding has been concluded with the aim of facilitating the guarantees required by knowledge-based production companies with a production activity license and less than 50 employees and sales less than 20 billion tomans to receive facilities from the banking network.

Based on the provisions of this memorandum, obtaining a credit guarantee or payment obligation for presenting only commercial documents will be done as soon as possible and at a minimum cost.

Also, a part of the deposit required for issuing a guarantee is to be provided by the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, and every qualified knowledge-based company can benefit from this service up to 10 billion tomans.

Vice Presidency of Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy