TEHRAN – Smart city and smart life are the main themes of the 7th International Innovation Technology Exhibition (INOTEX) 2018, which will be held from July 5 to 7 in Tehran.

Supported by the vice-presidency for science and technology, the event will be hosted by the Pardis Technology Park (PTP) and Iran National Technomart.

Trade delegations from eight countries will attend the event, INOTEX Secretary Akbar Qanbarpour said during a press conference on Tuesday.

The delegations are from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Oman, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and Poland, Qanbarpour announced.

“We aim to find foreign investors for our technological innovation, hence the invited countries are in lower technological level in comparison to Iran,” he explained.

He said that Export Development Bank of Iran provides facilities for foreign customers and Iranian companies who want to trade with foreigner parties.

“We do our best not to deal with countries, in which we should use dollar and euro as foreign exchange currencies,” Qanbarpour said.

He also highlighted that several startups and accelerators will attend other sections of the festival.

“We anticipate that about 6,000 visitors will attend the three-day exhibition,” he concluded.    

In coming edition of the exhibition, a special part is dedicated to introduction of Iranian startups to visitors.

At this section, startups and their functions in everyday life are introduced to the visitors.

From right to left the head of PTP Innovation Acceleration Center Ali Hezaveh, INOTEX Secretary Akbar Qanbarpour and INOTEX offical Reza Ghiabi attend press conference on INOTEX 2018 on May 13, 2018

INOTEX to promote startup ecosystem 

At the conference, the head of PTP Innovation Acceleration Center Ali Hezaveh talked about startup ecosystem, which will be promoted during INOTEX 2018.

“The exhibition will host 150 startups, which have the main role at the exhibition, incubators, accelerators and investors will attend the exhibition,” he said.

Venture capital (VC) firms and angel investors will also attend the event, he said.

A section of the exhibition provides a chance for holding entrepreneurship events in the country, he said.

Hezaveh announced that professionals will offer business consultation and mentoring support during the event.

“Some state organizations, which can provide infrastructures for development of startup ecosystem in Iran will also attend the event,” he said.

“All the activities in different sections of the exhibition is handled by people who are professional in that field,” he concluded.

INTOTEX official Reza Ghiabi, for his part, said that startup ecosystem highlights knowledge economy and entrepreneurship.

“INOTEX is a great opportunity for Iranian startups to get acquainted with both the Iranian and regional markets,” he said.

He pointed to the exhibition’s sideline event, Stage, in which startup managers and entrepreneurs share their experience and knowledge with each other through speech and workshops. 

Mobility smart, environment smart, energy management in smart cities, smart Internet of Things (IoT) based devices, smart infrastructure and smart healthcare are some of the categories of INOTEX 2018.

SB/MQ/MG