Science and Technology Parks are a new generation of research organizations whose massive mission is to expand economic development and deepen the technology of companies to increase competitiveness

In this educational workshop Dr. Mohammd Jafar Sadigh Damghanizadeh, Minister’s Advisor and President of ICT Park, presented his lecture on “Modern Governance in ICT Parks; survey of the history of the development of ICT Parks in Iran.” The report of the lecture is as follows:

Mohammad Jafar Sadigh Damghanizadeh, President of ICT Park, called the breaking of the old shells and formats “the key to progress and development of a body” and stated: “growth and acquisition of new experiences would not happen under old management principles and approaches.”

The President of ICT Park considered paying attention to sci-fi stories to be the main stimuli and cause of technology and noted: “the stimulant and main drive for the development of all organizations is Public Relation Offices. In old patterns, the Public Relation sections were the strongholds for the headship, but in the new patterns, they have a complementary role in the development plans of organizations. In other words, understanding the mission of the organization, introducing, producing thought, content, and distribution  are some of the most important tasks of the Public Relation sections.”

“The issue of ICT Parks is novel, not only in Iran but in the world. During the years 2002-2003, the idea of establishing ICT Parks was introduced into Iran. At that time, the main models for ICT Parks were Tsukuba in Japan and Daidok in South Korea, and such achievements were just dreams, “Sadigh Damghanizadeh said regarding the history of ICT parks creation.

The President of ICT Park continued: “Back then, there was an area in the vicinity of the Esfahan Zob Ahan (Iron Melting) factory, whose usage was overdue. After studying the situation, the result was the establishment of Esfahan Scientific and Research Town. The location of this town was pinpointed around Esfahan Industrial University.  After that, the Town’s constitution was approved by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution. The dominant pattern in the Scientific Town of Esfahan is a scientific city, and the first budget allocated to the Town by the government approved for the town was less than 1.7 million dollars. Then, this amount was equal to the biannual budget of an ordinary university. Surely, with that budget, building Tsukuba or Daidok was impossible. So, in Iran, following the patterns of Japanese and Korean Parks was impracticable.”

Then Dr. Sadigh Damghanizadeh, one of the first founders of ICT Parks in Iran, declared the landmark and triggering force in establishment and development of these Parks to be the Supreme Leader’s support and said: “In 2009, after his visit from Esfahan’s expo of capacities, the Supreme Leader welcomed and backed up the idea of the birth of ICT Parks, and his consideration of the matter had a significant impact on growth and development of ICT Parks in Iran.”

Pointing to the paradigm shift taken place in the Scientific and Research Town of Esfahan, he stated: “based on the existing capacities, we have stopped dreaming of recreating Tsukuba and Daidok in Iran. Instead, we have started thinking of creating growth centers together with young people who are prepared to work but lack money and capital.”

The Advisor of the Minister and President of ICT Park referred to the complementary role of ICT Parks alongside the ICT Parks of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (SRT) and emphasized: “Almost all of the world’s Parks, except for China, are formed with the approach of “Parks affiliated to the Ministry of SRT.” China’s approach was “large population, cheap labor and attracting foreign industries into the country”; therefore, the first goal and foremost issue is working for the market.”

According to Dr.  Sadigh, in Iran, immediately after the Ministry of Energy, the idea of establishing ICT Parks was considered and followed by the Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Petroleum. But in achieving this goal, the Ministry of ICT was the leading unit. Through cooperation between the Ministry of ICT and the University of Tehran, ICT Park was designed and established in 2010. Therefore, it should be noted that ICT Park is not a repetition of the Parks of Ministry of SRT, but their supplement.”

The President of ICT park, referring to his managerial experience in various ICT Parks of the country, pointed out that the grand mission of Science and Technology Parks is aimed at economic development and deepening companies’ technologies to increase their competitive capacity. He further reminded: “accordingly, ICT Parks must be considered a new generation of research organizations, where instead of researchers, researchers hired by the government, researchers working in the private sector are engaged. In other words, the Information and Communication Technology Park is a park which is on the market front and complements the responsibilities of the supply-side of Parks .”

Finally, he looked on “development of young companies and turning them into medium and big enterprises,” “attracting and maintaining the genius and preparing the grounds for their return to Iran” and “creating an integrated network of Parks and Growth Centers formed at the Ministry of SRT, at  a National level” as the functions and missions of ICT Park; Additionally, he considered “discovery and dissemination of knowledge of Park Management” as the task of Public Relations sections.

It should be noted  that at the workshop of “Modern Governance in ICT Parks” held on Wednesday, 26 June, in the ICT Park Conference Room, in addition to the Director-General of Ministry of SRT, ten Public Relations Secretaries from the decuple districts of the Ministry (personally attending) and more than 150 Public Relations managers of ICT Park and universities across the country took part online.

Also, the following were the other main lecturers/lectures of this educational workshop :

Dr. Neda Shafiee, Head Supervisor of the Ministry of SRT’s main office, presented  “The Importance of Effective communications in ICT park’s Public Relations activities”;

Dr. Ehsan Chitsaz, Deputy of ICT Park’s Market Development, presented “Standardization of Modern Enterprises through Comprehensive Finance provision”;

Dr. Abbas Ghanbari Baghestan, Advisor of ICT Park’s International Relations, presented “The Necessity of Transition to Standardization for Modern Governance of ICT Parks”;

Engr. Mohammad Ali Jafari, Manager of the Development Center for ICT Park’s Technological Units, presented “Introduction of the Digital Economy Development Network (TOD).”