TEHRAN – Iran's technology and innovation ecosystem has led to the return of 2,510 Iranian specialists and graduates from 720 prestigious and top universities in the world, IRIB reported on Wednesday.

Under the Connect Platform established in 2011, some 285 technological projects have been registered by Iranian experts and entrepreneurs abroad; 170 of these people work as guest professors and 420 as assistant professors in the country, while 150 study opportunities have also been provided to these applicants.

The platform aims to establish companies in the field of advanced technology, provide conditions for transferring new skills, methods and capabilities by Iranian specialists abroad, provide suitable conditions for the development of emerging and advanced technologies in the country, using the scientific capacity and professionalism of Iranian specialists abroad in the country's scientific, technological and industrial centers.

Iran also implemented a plan to return elites from the top 100 universities in the world, through the national model, the facilities are provided for their return, by creating technology parks, innovation centers, and factories.

The plan was able to bring back 2,000 Iranian students from the top 100 universities in the world over a three-year period, amounting to 600 people a year.

“Despite U.S. sanctions, Iran achieved scientific growth, and with the help of the technology ecosystem and domestic scientists, we were able to become one of the top countries in the field of technology in the region,” Vice President for Science and Technology Sourena Sattari said in January 2021.

500 top researchers return in 4 years

About 500 Iranian researchers have returned home over the past four years to transfer their knowledge and expertise to the country's universities, according to the vice presidency for science and technology.

With the support of the National Elites Foundation and Science and Technology Vice Presidency, universities, knowledge enterprises, technology parks, and incubators launched a plan titled ‘cooperation with Iranian expatriate entrepreneurs and elites’ in 2015.

The plan aims to attract Iranians abroad to share knowledge in different forms including postdoctoral research, research opportunity, and visiting fellows, in addition to being faculty members.

So far, it has attracted more than 500 prominent Iranian researchers living in other countries as faculty members of the country's top universities, which has had a significant impact on raising the quality of research, and educational activities of universities.

Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the return of elites to the country decreased in the first 5 months of last year, however, more than 300 graduates of the top 200 universities in the world came back to cooperate with domestic science and technology centers, which is almost double compared to a year before.

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