Nanotechnology, Medical Equipment Among Top Areas of Technology in Iran

President of Pardis Technology Park Mahdi Saffarinia referred to Iran's international interactions in the field of technology with different countries, saying that Iran's progress in various fields of technology, including nano and medical equipment, is remarkable.

Saffarinia made the remarks in an interview with Russia Today, the full text of which is as follows:

RT: What specific Iranian achievements in science and technology are you mostly proud of and what makes it significant?

Saffarinia: In several fields we were able to have good balances in the international level. For example, in the field of nano-technology we started in Iran nearly twenty years ago and now we are among the first few countries in the world in the production of technological knowledge. In the field of biotechnology, Iran’s progress is very high. In the field of medicine production, you know that we have several vaccine production companies in Iran in the field of corona and after a short period we did not need products to be imported into Iran. Import of hospital equipment during the coronavirus was almost unnecessary. We produced all the equipment such as ventilator and breathing devices into Iran. We reached the stage of exporting both vaccine and medical equipment in the field of corona.

RT: There is a generally accepted notion that all science and technology are supposedly located in the West. How can Iran’s experience break this stereotype?

Saffarinia: Thirty years ago, we might have thought that people’s lives would be in trouble if there would be no western products. At first during the imposed war between Iran and Iraq and then the sanctions led us to a self-belief that we can. This was the slogan that the leader of Iran instilled in our society that we can.

This “We Can” made us seek to meet our needs in the face of sanctions so sanctions became an opportunity for Iran. What kind of opportunity?  The products that used to be imported from West were no longer imported so a new space was created for our professionals to find the market and make those products domestically. Supporting relations were also provided of course. The government also set good standards that not every product is produced and only those products that have good quality level are purchased. Therefore, the opportunity of sanctions caused the number of our knowledge-based companies to increase from several hundred companies to several thousands.

We found that the most important possibility that sanctions provided is that tens of thousands university graduates were employed in these companies. The governments agencies and the organizations could not import from abroad because their economy was crippled. So, they became interested in buying these products and now a very good share of Iran’s needs is provided by these knowledge-based companies. Now it is not us that are losing the profit, but it is the Western and European companies that lost the Iranian market.   

RT: Russia and China are Iran’s main partners when it comes to politics, economy and even science and technology. Hoe does the cooperation with Russian and China work in Pardis Technology Park? And have there been any joint projects with these two foreign countries?

Saffarinia: China and Russia are Iran’s strategic partners in terms of technology cooperation. The biggest history of technological cooperation is between Iran and Russia which goes back to about 40 years ago. Joint high-tech companies is between Iran and Russia were formed in Iran and then vice versa this experience happened in Russia. This was formed in the field of medicine and several joint companies are located in Pardis Technology Park. This experience led to this technology partnership with some companies in other countries as well. We now have more than ten companies in Pardis Technology Park that are Iranian with foreign partners in the field of high-tech products. Next, this happened with China with the shared experience of nano-technology between Iranian and Chinese organizations at the Pardis Technology Park we have now cooperation agreements with several technology parks with in Russia. We exchange offices with each other and the same thing with happen at the next level with China. So that we can continue and develop cooperation between our companies.