TEHRAN – A total of 227 knowledge-based firms are supplying medical equipment for health centers across the country, according to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

These companies are producing many of the sanctioned items, and export them in addition to supplying the domestic market.

In Iran, the production of technological and advanced equipment is being carried out rapidly.

On a global scale, 56 percent of 500,000 medical equipment items available in the world market have Iranian versions. Products, in addition to meeting the needs of medical centers and hospitals, accelerate research pace and paves the way for other technological productions, as well as reducing costs and dependence on imports.

On the other hand, some of this knowledge-based equipment was on the sanctions list, and with the domestic production in accordance with international standards, an effective step was taken.

This capability has been very effective in times of crisis, such as the production of ventilators during the outbreak of coronavirus.

Of course, the knowledge-based firms definitely had challenges to produce advanced equipment, which were facilitated through 110 services provided by the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

In 2018, the National Medical Device Directorate reported that the Iranian medical equipment market was worth $2.5 billion, 30 percent of which belonged to over 1,000 domestic firms.

On a global scale, 56 percent of 500,000 medical equipment items available in the world market have Iranian versions. In pharmaceuticals, around 70 percent of Iran’s $4.5 billion markets are domestic products and, in 2018, 97 percent of pharmaceuticals consumed in the country were manufactured locally.

In 2018, 67 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to produce drugs in Iran were made locally.

$4b allocated to support knowledge-based firms

The Innovation and Prosperity Fund affiliated with the Vice Presidency of Science and Technology has earmarked a sum of 170 trillion rials (nearly $4 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) to support knowledge-based companies over the past 4 years.

There are currently 6,263 knowledge-based companies operating in the country, offering advanced products and services in various fields of technology to domestic and foreign markets, and some of them have entered international markets, Siavash Maleki, deputy head of the Fund stated.

The fields of aircraft maintenance, steel, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

FB/MG