TEHRAN - In line with the law enforced on May 24, knowledge-based production is a priority of the government so the plan for promoting knowledge-based products has progressed well so far.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei designated the new Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21, as the year of “Production: Knowledge-Based and Job-Creating.” 

Over the past couple of years, the concept of ‘knowledge-based company’ has changed to ‘knowledge-based society’, meaning that supporting knowledge-based companies will lead to many social and economic advantages for the public.

The Leader reemphasized the importance of boosting domestic production, as he had done in past years, saying the reason he placed so much emphasis on production was “because it boosts economic growth, it creates employment, it reduces inflation, it increases per capita income and it improves public welfare.”

The concept of ‘knowledge-based company’ has changed to ‘knowledge-based society’, meaning that supporting knowledge-based companies will lead to many social and economic advantages for the public.To this end, the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology has executed and supported several projects toward the goal of boosting knowledge-based production.

Moreover, the development of an innovation ecosystem is on the agenda, according to which 65 houses of innovation have been set up across the country.

The Innovation and Prosperity Fund has paid a total of 240 trillion rials (nearly $960 million) to support knowledge-based companies over the last [Iranian calendar] year (March 2021-March 2022).

The Iranian banking system paid 669.4 trillion rials (about $2.5 billion) in loans to 1,362 knowledge-based companies in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2021-March 2022), an increase of 108 percent year on year.

The share of knowledge-based companies in the country's economy has exceeded 9 quadrillion rials (about $34 billion), and since 2019, it has experienced a growth of more than 450 percent.

Today, the country's knowledge-based ecosystem accounts for more than 3 percent of GDP. And the figure is projected to reach 5 percent, however, the main goal is to step toward a 10 percent share in GDP, Vice President for Science and Technology, Sourena Sattari told Fars on February 13.

There are more than 6,800 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.

Iranian knowledge-based companies marketed their products in 70 countries, and in some global markets have overtaken European and American companies, Siavash Maleki, deputy head of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, has said.

Exporting technological products of Iranian knowledge-based companies is one of the important and key programs of the vice presidency for science and technology, and in this regard, the Iranian houses of innovation have been set up in several countries to develop the global market for knowledge-based products.

These centers have already been set up in countries such as Russia, Turkey, China, Syria, Kenya, Armenia, and Iraq.