According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Sorena Sattari, the vice president for science and technology affairs, announced the advancements made in the field of science and technology in his exclusive interview with ISNA, stating: MS medication is exported to Russia, leading to the coverage of 100% of the market of this country.

It was mentioned in this interview that Sattari graduated from Sharif University of Technology. Currently, he is the vice president for science and technology affairs as a member of cabinet of the 12^th government. In less than four years that he has worked in this position, he has aimed to make distance between the economy of Iran and oil-based economy since he believe that: “oil-based economy is similar to an individual with a wealthy father, who purchases all of his needs without using his power and abilities.”

According to Sattari, providing loans for new companies is not beneficial and is “very toxic”. Therefore, his team aimed to guide the knowledge-based caravan of the country toward venture capital. He believes that he has acted really well in this area.

Another challenge of knowledge-based economy was introduced to be lack of intellectual property. However, Sattari raises the question of whether these strict rules are for the benefits of companies or their loss.

He hosted us with a simple manner, in a way that he was asked by Karami, his advisor, to keep his jacket on during the interview, but he refused and said: “simple is better”.

This simplicity and unpredictability is found throughout the whole building of the Vice-Presidency, in which the sounds of birds can be heard. “One of the employees brought one of these and they gradually increased by breeding!”, Sattari stated. He believes that you can work more efficiently in a calm environment and by providing opportunities for others.

He has aimed to accompany the future government in the knowledge-based field as the vice president. He even announced big projects for the future. “We have implemented the great project of “knowledge-based city” to turn Tehran into a large technological city.”

The outcome of the interview with Dr. Sorena Sattari, son of Mansour Sattari, a martyred air forces deputy commander, the vice president for science and technology affairs, president of national elites foundation and vice-chairman of the board of trustees is provided in two sections.

The first section is as follows:

Immigration of Elites, a Global Challenge

In his interview with ISNA, Sattari introduced the most important problem of the country to be recruit of talented individuals to create an economy based on underground sources and selling of raw materials. In this regard, he stated: selling of crude oil will continue until an economic structure is formed that relies on abilities and creativity of talented and educated human sources. However, there are some countries with the same problems. Today, we need to end selling crude oil and create an entrepreneurial ecosystem with the application of best elites and talented individuals.

He pointed out the experience of some European countries in dealing with the challenge of immigration of elites and talented individuals, asserting: members of the European Union are significantly dealing with this challenge. Currently, elites of the east Europe countries, such as Greece and Serbia, have the highest rate of immigration among the members of the European Union. On the other hand, Germany and France are regarded as the main destinies of elites and top talented individuals. Therefore, both immigrating and immigrant-accepting countries have problems. 

Sattari also affirmed: elimination of boarders and abolition of visas between the countries of Europe Union has led to the immigration of elites and specialists of most of the countries to countries, such as Germany. For instance, in a meeting that I had with the prime minister of Greece two years ago due to its travel to Iran, he was upset with the immigration of the elites and specialists of his country and stated that even good mechanics will not stay in Greece and travel to Germany. Therefore, the concept of human capital flight is very serious.

He stated that scientific figures continued their scientific activities in centers, such as “Max Planck” or “Fraunhofer”, adding: one of the most important challenges of “Brexit” (term for the United Kingdoms intended withdrawal from the European Union) is losing the opportunity of using many elites of members of European Union and its negative effects on the economy of Britain.

President of national elites foundation regarded the concept of immigration elites as one of the most important global challenges, asserting: there is no difference between an expert and a normal person in countries without knowledge-based economy. I we want to bring back elites and specialists to the country and maintain our talented youth, we have to firstly provide the necessary condition for realization of knowledge-based economy. Therefore, we need to start changing our position, for which modification of culture, as well as economic attitudes and approaches must be modified.

Head of board of trustees of national science foundation stated that modification of education system of the country is required as an effective factor for attracting elites.

Emphasizing on the fact that the basis of knowledge-based economy is not selling underground sources and crude oil, Sattari continued: the human resource that is trained in our universities must add values to the country and not to sit behind a desk and receive government salary. However, this has been the case in Iran for several years.

According to Sattari, universities have been established to train expert human resource with the use of knowledge and technology, which will lead to increased added value. It is not our goal to have educated youth with knowledge-based activities in agriculture area but eager to have a desk job since this type of activity does not lead to added values or improved condition of agriculture through specific agricultural activities.

Change by an Entrepreneurial Generation

Vice-chairman of the board of trustees of national science foundation stated the approach of the country toward human resource and intellectual properties must be changed. In this regard, he expressed: fortunately, this modifying approach has been initiated in the past few years, and today we have witnessed that the creative young generation has entered the business area, affecting our lives every day. If you walk around top universities of the country or visit the technology parks of Iran, you can see that some individuals, who were supposed to immigrate to other countries, are currently working at these centers, establishing knowledge-based businesses.

Mentioning the fact that creation of such environment does not depend on government budgets, he conveyed: proper business environment must be provided for these young individuals since they want to follow up their dreams and ideas and be innovative. Therefore, the nature of economy, university and system of the country must be changed in the interest of knowledge-based economy. These changes can occur from the same youth.

Sattari also explained about measures taken to attract elites by the national elites foundation, adding: the majority of our activities has been change of attitudes toward the concept of knowledge-based. Just because a person has been able to pass the national exam of university with a high score does not mean that he will be recognized as a talent by the national elites foundation without any specific responsibilities. In addition, inventing or having a patent registration license does not mean gaining money from the government since this method will not lead to the commercialization inventions and their production.

President of national elites foundation emphasized that commercialization of patents requires many processes. He affirmed: the role of government in these processes is creating the necessary infrastructures, in which I believe we have had great achievements.

Increased Demands for Return to Iran from Non-resident Iranian Researchers

The vice president for science and technology affairs regarded the communication with non-resident Iranian researchers, as well as their recognition and recruit, as another action of the national elites foundation.  

Sattari explained about the process of recruiting and return non-resident elites to the country, marking: the demand of these individuals for returning to Iran will be sent to the national elites foundation, and this foundation finds posts for these people in research and academic centers. Some of these individuals ask to be recruited by a company, whereas some others want to have academic positions (faculty member of a university). All of these will be provided by the national elites foundation and cooperation of related organizations.