TEHRAN – The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology aims to help large companies and startups develop markets for products by launching eight new biotechnology accelerators.

Since 2016, the process of creating bio-accelerators started to pace up with the support of the Biotechnology Development Headquarters of the Vice President for Science and Technology, and there are currently 23 accelerators operating nationwide.

These accelerators operate in technological fields such as pharmaceutical raw materials, biological and advanced medicine, vaccines, agriculture, food industry, cosmetics, probiotics, and medical equipment and have a high share in promoting the production of these materials in the country.

Nearly 800 knowledge-based companies are operating in the field of biotechnology. Accelerators are centers that sit next to startups and acquire a percentage of ownership by focusing and investing in viable ideas. Instead, they provide project managers with the training they need to succeed.

One of those who benefit from the services of these accelerators are activists in various fields of biotechnology who offer their ideas in the fields of medicine, vaccine, agriculture, and food industry to the accelerators.

The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, with a special focus on these centers, intends to increase the number of accelerators from 23 centers to 31, so that their distribution and dispersion in the country will be better and more accessible.

The development of accelerators and innovation centers over the last five years has led to a rapid increase in startups and knowledge-based companies.

The report states that innovation in Iran has developed rapidly over the past five years, and by the end of last year, 49 accelerators and 113 innovation centers had provided services to start-ups with the participation of the private sector.

Biotechnology development

Biotechnology today is widespread in all fields and is no longer limited to biomedical drugs; So that it has replaced the injured limbs.

Nearly 800 knowledge-based companies in the country are currently operating in the field of biotechnology and supplying their products and services to the domestic market

Earlier in May, the Biotechnology Development Council launched 129 production projects with the aim of saving up to $1.44 billion of foreign currency.

Iran is ranked 12th in the world and first in West Asia in terms of biotechnology, as 9.5 percent of the income of knowledge-based companies and more than 60 percent of their exports are related to biotechnology.

Foreign exchange savings of $1 billion per year by producing 22 biopharmaceuticals, gaining the first rank in biotechnology products and vaccines in West Asia, and the presence among the top five biotechnology producers in Asia are among the country’s achievements, Mostafa Ghanei, secretary of the biotechnology development office of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, said in October 2020.

So far, 27 biotechnology medicines, 12 vaccine projects, 90 pharmaceutical raw materials, and 55 projects in agriculture and food security have been implemented in order to gain a 3 percent market share and biotechnology assistance to the development of the economy, he explained.

Some 8 major companies are responsible for managing the country's 117 priority products in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical raw materials, vaccines, probiotics, equipment, and chemical drugs, he emphasized.

FB/MG