The meeting on start of work of Karaj Innovation Center was held in the presence of Sorena Sattari, the vice president for science and technology affairs, head of Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, the mayor of Karaj, and a number of authorities of the city. During the meeting, the latest details on placement of Karaj innovation center and regulation of relations between urban management and components of the innovation ecosystem in the city were assessed. Karaj Mayor also emphasized the readiness of the building intended for the establishment of the center and expressed hope that the remaining minor problems would be resolved soon.

During the meeting, Sattari emphasized the benefits of occupation creation and development of innovation ecosystem in the country, asserting: there are many joint ideas and programs to create occupation for clients of Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, and their joint follow-up is welcomed.

Smart City in Hands of Knowledge-based Activists and Startups

Pointing out the measures taken in the country in line with the development of smart city discourse, Sattari added: it has been a while since the topic of development of “smart city” has been followed up by mayors of metropolises.

It could be expressed that the most accessible definition of smart city from the perspective of urban management is to make the suite of urban executives, startups, and innovative companies involved in smart city, and solve old city problems instead of skeptical view of this issue.

Interaction instead of Confrontation

He marked: online taxis are a good example of proving the benefits of collaboration between urban management and innovative companies. It should be noted that traditional taxi and public transport generally impose costs on municipalities, while one online taxi has approximately 1.4 million drivers and the two major companies in the area make one million intra-city trips.

New Sources of Urban Income

The president of the national elites foundation considered startups as a new source of income for cities, adding: in Beijing, about 25 percent of the city"s area is dedicated to a private technology park, and the municipality monetizes the activities in the park. When talking about startups, there is a great deal of potential ideas. Smart parking centers, electric motors, and hundreds of other services and goods such as these can be a sustainable source of revenue for municipalities. Some areas, such as municipal waste and social damages, can also lay the foundation for joint work of social startups and municipalities.

Parviz Karami, the advisor to the vice president and the secretary of knowledge-based economy and culture-building technologies development headquarter, pointed out the successful experiences gained in other provinces and following up of two topics related to the establishment of Karaj Innovation Factory, asserting: one of these two issues is almost achieved and good interactions with the respected governor of Alborz province and Karaj municipality have been established. Considering the work of the Joint Committee and visits to several sites proposed to establish the Karaj Innovation Plant, some considerations should be taken into account. Given the remarkable talent and capacity of the Karaj metropolis and the presence of large scientific, research and industrial centers, it is expected that a wider, almost similar location to the innovation plant in Tehran will be devoted to this issue.

In addition, Peyman Salehi, the deputy of technology innovation and commercialization development headquarter, pointed out the innovation ecosystem development in the country as one of the fundamental missions of the headquarter, asserting: about 500,000 square meters of space have been earmarked for innovation centers in the country, and we hope to increase that figure to nearly 1 million square meters in the future.

In the final part of the meeting, several agreements were signed related to Karaj innovation center and turning the city into an innovation pole between the representatives of three headquarters attending the meeting.

A report by the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs