A Meeting Was Held for Presenting the Opportunities and Capacities of Cooperation with Tunisia

At the start of this meeting, the International Affairs Expert at ICT Park, provided the participants with a short introduction to the ICT Park and invited Monia Jendoubi, the Head of the Entrepreneurship and Business Development Department in Elgazala Smart Technopark, to introduce Elgazala Technopark. "Elgazala Technopark”, Jedoubi claimed, “is the first I.T Park in Tunisia, established in 1997 with the aim of promoting innovation and job creation under the supervision of Tunisia’s Ministry of Communication Technology; its first company became operational in 1999. Since the most important point regarding technology Park management is networking and finding reliable partners in national and international markets, Elgazala Technopark started its activity by developing the required network and infrastructure.” She continued, “today, after 25 years, Tunisia's Elgazala Technopark has extensive national and international networks.”

The Head of the Entrepreneurship and Business Development Department in Elgazala Technopark stated that the main objective of Tunisia's Technology Park is creating a synergy between education, industry, and resource centers: "Different well-known universities that offer technology programs and certificates, including the Supcom University and Tunis Higher Institutes of Technological Studies with seven research labs are associated with this park. We currently have approximately 100 companies active in the field of information technology besides 40 start-ups.” She continued, “this park has always been focused on technology transfer and assisting small and mi-size companies and the associated start-ups for implementing joint projects and introducing their product to the market. In 2015, with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Elgazala Technopark started its activity regarding technology transfer by establishing a technology transfer office.”

"Ever since its establishment, Tunisia's Elgazala Smart Technopark has signed several contracts with other countries and is in contact with many international ecosystems. Moreover, to promote its entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem, and to link its start-ups with the growth centers, it collaborates with many different innovation centers and university technology Parks all around the world," she noted. 

Ms. Jendoubi noted that the main mission of Tunisia's Elgazala Technopark is to ensure the transfer of technology and the development of start-ups, to guarantee more business opportunities, and to establish proper communication between the main actors in this ecosystem, including academic researchers and start-ups. Additionally, she considered the further development of Tunisia by being dependent on supporting and promoting the ideas and inventions presented by start-ups and small/midsize companies.

The Head of the Entrepreneurship and Business Development Department in Tunisia's Elgazala Technopark, considered one of the tasks of science and technology parks to be creating a suitable environment for communication between different start-ups: "Tunisia's Elgazala Technopark, in cooperation with the universities inside and outside the park, hold many different events, including hackathon programming, B2B meetings, and technology fairs, inviting its investors and partners to get to know the capabilities of these start-ups," she stated.

"Elgazala Smart Technopark aims to launch an environmental cluster in 2025, focusing on agriculture and health technology," she noted at the end.

At the end of this meeting, which was held with the presence of the ICT Park’s technology companies, a Q&A session was held between the ICT Park's associated technology companies and Tunisia's Elgazala Smart Technopark. The technology companies which were present in this meeting were as follows: Arg Telecom Company, Arshin Co., Nour Behineh Gostar Middle East, Lotus Net, Sigma Information Technology Infrastructure Development Company, Amn Pardaz, Ranir Co., Danesh Avaran and Amin Optical Communications Technology and some other companies.

It is worth mentioning that the following topics informed the memorandum of cooperation (action plan) between Iran's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Park and Tunisia's Elgazala Technopark: “Holding meetings to introduce business opportunities in both Iran and Tunisia", "Holding business-to-business (B2B) meetings between the technology companies associated with each of the two parks", "Holding an exhibition of technology products by companies associated with each of the two parks"; "Two-sided visits by the representatives of the technology companies associated with each of the two parks" and "Launching a joint innovation center.” The MoU was signed on September 6th, 2022, with the presence of the Ambassadors of Iran and Tunisia in ICT Park, Tehran-Iran.