TEHRAN – The Pardis Technology Park (PTP) plans to establish a special economic zone for technology and innovation near Tehran in the near future, PTP Director Mehdi Saffarinia announced, Mehr reported on Saturday.

By expanding the area of the park to 1000 square meters, the zone will be established at the park in which about 1000 experts will be employed, he said.

Calling the zone the innovation region, he said that Majlis (the parliament) and government should support the plan.

The Pardis Technology Park aims to boost innovation, establish techmarket, boost startup ecosystem and provide an economic model for entrepreneurs, he explained.

About 230 knowledge-based companies present at the PTP and over 2000 startup teams and knowledge-based companies are covered by the Pardis Technology Park different branches, he said.

The second branch of Pardis Technology Park’s innovation factory, dubbed Highway, was established in Tehran in early June. Its first branch, dubbed Azadi, was established in October 2017 in district 22.

During the Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2016-March 2017), 80 percent of total sale of Pardis Technology Park equaled 60 thousand billion rials (about $1.4 billion), he announced.

At present, 40 brokers at the technology business development center and 1350 juridical members are active at the Pardis Technology Park, he explained.

About 80 startups with 450 employees are now active at the Pardis Technology Park and 330 startups are working with 40 accelerator centers affiliated to the PTP, he added.

Investors from Italy, Sweden, France, South Korea and Belgium are four percent of companies active in this park, he said.

He announced that 28 thousand experts benefit from Pardis Technology Park services.

The Pardis Technology Park initiated techmarket in 20 Iranian provinces, he explained.

During past three years, a total of 13,600 technology products at the Pardis Technology Park were commercialized, he added.

SB/MQ/MG