TEHRAN – Some 73 investors from 19 countries will attend the 4th Technology Investment Meeting (TIM 2022) of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation.

The event will be held on February 21-22 in Tehran Pardis Technology Park.

Some 61 startups have been selected and introduced to the relevant investors, of which 12 are foreign startups and the rest are Iranian, Milad Sadrkhanlou, an official in charge of holding the meeting, stated.

So far, more than 120 B2B virtual meetings have been held between investors and these startups, he added.

So far, 73 domestic and foreign investors from 19 countries will participate in the meeting, which aims to address the investment potentials in Islamic developing countries in order to open up an opportunity for foreign and domestic investors, he explained.

D-8 includes major Muslim developing countries namely, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.

Creating the capacity to use the pristine markets of the D8 countries for domestic investors is another important goal of this event.

The TIM 2022 focuses on raising capital from D8 member countries, during which foreign investors, along with domestic investors, will discuss cooperation and joint ventures on startups.

Good opportunities, such as abundant manpower alongside cheap knowledge-based and technological products, have attracted foreign investors, despite unilateral sanctions, to consider the Iranian knowledge-based ecosystem.

Iranian 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, medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

FB/MG