Deputy of Investment for Innovation and Prosperity Fund visited ICT Park

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr.Mohammad Jafar Sadigh, President of ICT Park, introduced the Park and stated: “the primary mission of ICT Park is to develop the economy and strengthen the companies’ technologies to increase their competitiveness power. For this reason, on the one hand, we should consider the Park as a new generation of research institutes in which, instead of researchers working for the government, researches are done by researchers employed in the private sector. 
The Minister’s Advisor and President of the Communications and Information Technology Park identified the Park’s function as its most crucial distinctive aspect. He asserted: “other parks concern themselves with only the issue of demand, but ICT Park has the duty of producing and selling goods to the market. In other words, it’s not a start-up park, but a park that hosts developed companies and has a product .”
He noted, with regards to ICT Park’s position in the innovation ecosystem and ecology: “ ICT Park is a kind of park which is on the market side and plays a  complementary role for the duties of the Parks on the supply side .”
President of ICT Park declared the Park’s missions as “helping young companies in the field of ICT to grow and convert them to developed companies,” “developing the international interactions of Iranian ICT industries,” “attracting the elite and genius and reversing the of their immigration process,” and “networking the country’s growth centers and linking their evolved companies to the market.”
Dr. Sadigh Damghanizadh considered “accelerator projects,” operational programs,” “laboratories and equipment,” “periodic assessment and control of indexes,” and “services” as ICT Park’s main components and emphasized: “export of cultural and artistic data, cloud service provision, and export of these services to the countries in the region, IOT’s application in the matters of food security, water consumption management and intelligent city, and construction of foundations for the open operating system and expanding its application in Iran and Persian speaking countries, are ICT Park’s accelerator projects .”

He divided ICT Park’s operational programs into two categories of “general” and “exclusive.” He said: “the development of young enterprises, the digital economy development network, and the globalization program are of the Park’s general programs. And innovation clusters with the open innovation method, the supply chain development plan, etc., constitute the Park’s exclusive programs.”

The Minister’s Advisor and President of ICT Park continued: “in ICT Park, various specialized laboratories such as the Rapid Computation Lab, Animation Lab, Cloud Services Laboratory, the Lab of “IOT’s application in manufacturing agricultural products” (with the cooperation of the University of Tehran ), “Transportation with UAV” Laboratory ( with the cooperation of Iran Post ), and Remote Sensing Laboratory ( with the collaboration of Space Organization ) are also present and active. 

Dr. Sadigh Damghanizadeh considered the “annual economic progress index,” “work knowledge force index,” technology depth index,” and “product and services export index” as periodic evaluation and control indexes and added: “the annual economic progress index” compares the annual and the last year revenues and it is calculated at the level of the company and Park and declared annually. The “work knowledge force index” shows the number of the active forces and their level of knowledge.”
He went on to say: “the technology depth index” represents the technological activities’ share from a company’s total economic activity. This, in the form of two micro–indexes, is evaluated and published annually at the level of the Park and the company. Also, the “product and services export index” reflects the exports’ share from the total revenue, which is evaluated and published at the company the Park’s levels. These indexes are calculated based on reliable documents, including the companies’ tax declarations, their insurance lists, and the technical judgment of the products.”
The Minister’s Advisor and President of ICT Park emphasized: “we should not forget that the country’s plight is not its managers, but the improper regulations for development (regulations which are against development). The Parks should be recognized as instruments of the funds and exchanges with them should take place based on the existing capacities and capabilities.”
Then Dr . Ali Nazemi, Deputy of Investment for the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, expressed his gratitude towards the President of ICT Park and introduced the Fund, stating: “in line with the realization of Knowledge-based and Technology-oriented Economy and the completion of the chain of Idea to Market, a financial institution called the Innovation and Prosperity Fund had been established in late 2006.”
Deputy of Investment for the Innovation and Prosperity Fund asserted: “the Fund provides support for the knowledge-based firms to commercialize the innovations and inventions, make the research knowledge and achievements applicable, and complete the chain of idea /product/the market. The Fund provides financial and credential services such as assistance, facilities, and participation. In general, the ultimate goal of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, as a developmental institution, is to help the prosperity of the country’s economy through knowledge-based domains and superior technologies.”
Dr. Nazemi remarked that the Innovation and Prosperity Fund has an independent legal status and administrative, financial, transactional, and employment independence. He added: “The Innovation and Prosperity Fund is formed based on the policies and sanctioned laws of the Board of Trustees and acts under the supervision of the president (as the chairman of Board of Trustees) and administered in accordance with the decree of Council of Ministers and approved by the Guardian Council.”
Finally, he concluded: “ICT Parks are the hubs or the empowerment centers for serving the companies. The set of empowerment services such as training courses, standards achievement, consultation, evaluation, etc., are available in the Innovation and Flourishing Fund, and each Park, based on its number of companies and services, receives the appropriate funding.”
It should be noted apart from Dr. Mohammad Jafar Sadigh Damghanizadeh, the Minister’s Advisor and President of ICT Park, Dr. Ehsan Chitsaz, deputy of ICT Park’s Market Development, Dr. Namaki, the counselor of ICT Park’s President, Dr. Ahmadi, the Park’s Financial General-Director, and Dr. Aref Ali-Gholipour, Manager of  IFB’s  ( Iran’s Over The Counter )  financial organs, were also present in the Deputy of Investment for Innovation and Prosperity Fund’s visit from ICT Park.