TEHRAN –A total of ten technological tours were held in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2023 – March 2024), according to the Vice-Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy.

The main objective of tech tours is to provide the opportunity for more interactions among students, technologists, and technological companies, IRNA reported.

Conducted simultaneously with major exhibitions, the tours also serve to showcase the scientific capabilities of the country and inspire students by enhancing their self-reliance.

During the tours, technologists and advocates from various technological sectors share their knowledge, experiences, and accomplishments with interested experts and students to use academic capacities to tackle technological challenges in the industry. Four lecturers also attend the tours.

Moreover, the tours included visits to Iran’s House of Innovation and Technology (iHiT), and other prominent pavilions in the exhibitions.

Iran ranks 75 in innovation, technology

In December 2023, Iran was ranked 75 among 185 countries by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

UNCTAD  categorized 17 types of technologies as frontier technologies including artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, 5G, 3D printing, robotics, drone technology, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, biofuels, biogas and biomass, wind energy, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, nanotechnology and gene editing.

The aforementioned capacities, taking into account the five sub-indices of the development of information and communication technology, the number of Internet users and download speed (skills), the expected academic years of highly educated workers (research and development activities (number of publications and patents), industrial activity with High technology and export of digital services and access to financing are measured by the ratio of domestic credit to the private sector.

According to this report, Iran ranks 75th among 158 countries in the index of readiness for advanced technologies in 2022, compared to Turkey (ranked 53), and Saudi Arabia (ranked 47).

Examining the sub-indices of readiness for frontier technologies in 2022 shows that Iran's situation is relatively better in the research and development sub-index (35th in the world) and relatively worse in the industrial activities sub-index (118th in the world).

In other sub-indexes such as financial subsidies (rank 62), skills sub-index (rank 74), and in the sub-index of the establishment of information and communication technology (rank 78), the country has almost a middle position among countries.

In the research and development sub-index, although Iran's rank has improved by 5 places, its growth has been insignificant and it has reached the 40th rank in the world in 2008 to the 35th rank in 2022.

In the sub-index of the establishment of information and communication technology, Iran ranks 10th in West Asia and 78th in the world.

The trend of Iran's rank in this sub-index decreased from 2008 to 2015; it dropped from the 104th rank in 2008 to the 126th rank in 2015.

But since 2016, Iran's ranking in this sub-index has improved and it has been promoted from 126th in the world in 2008 to 78th in 2022.

In the sub-index of skills, Iran ranks 8th in West Asia and 74th in the world.

The trend of Iran's ranking in this sub-index has improved from 104th in the world in 2008 to 74th rank in 2021.

In the research and development sub-index, Iran ranks fifth in West Asia and 35th in the world.

In the industrial activity sub-index, Iran ranks 12th in West Asia and 108th in the world. It has slightly improved from 132nd in 2008 to 118th in 2022.

In the financing sub-index, Iran ranks 10th in West Asia and 62nd in the world.

MT/MG