TEHRAN –The sixth annual meeting of science attachés kicked off today in Tehran and is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday.

As one of the goals of the meeting, science attachés will present a report on their activities such as boosting academic ties; providing assistance to overseas Iranian students, professors, scientists, and experts; and attracting international students< Mehr reported.

Science attachés will also hold meetings with academic and government officials to discuss problems and challenges they face and to benefit from their recommendations and experiences.

Science diplomacy

In July 2022, Deputy Science Minister Peyman Salehi said despite U.S. sanctions, the international activities of Iranian scientists have increased year by year so that more than 35 percent of Iranian articles in Scopus have been multi-national projects.

Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and build constructive international partnerships.

It is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a number of formal or informal technical, research-based, academic, or engineering exchanges, within the general field of international relations.

The national budget bill for the previous Iranian calendar year 1402 (March 2023-March 2024), earmarked about 37 trillion rials ($60 million) for science and technology.

The bill increased the budget by 35 percent year on year, ISNA reported.

The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology was formed in 2006 with the aim of creating an environment for supporting knowledge-based companies and providing the ground for the development of technological industries.

More than 8,000 knowledge-based companies have so far been established across the country.

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

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei has emphasized the importance of boosting domestic production, saying the reason is “because it boosts economic growth, it creates employment, it reduces inflation, it increases per capita income and it improves public welfare.”

To this end, the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology has executed and supported several projects toward the goal of boosting knowledge-based production.

MT/MG