IHTECC Creating Competitive Atmosphere for Iranian Knowledge-Based Firms

“One of the duties of this centre in recent years has been to offer support to boost the export capability of, and develop markets for knowledge-based, technological and innovative companies through offering various services,” says Mahdi Ghalenoei, the head of the Centre for International Science and Technology Interactions of the Science and Technology Department of the Presidential Office.

“Policies currently adopted to support knowledge-based firms have, so far, involved the creation of platforms to offer services (such as corridors as well as the Exports Promotion and Technology Exchange Fund), and each company has been able to use the existing bylaws depending on its needs and at its own discretion,” he adds.

“To be successful in the exports arena requires the development of approaches and upgrading of the current programs,” he says.

“The programs of IHTECC serves as an effective step toward adopting an active approach and offering specific support to boost the exports potential of top companies,” Qalenoui says.

“Competition in the domain of high-tech products in international markets is very serious and tough due to the presence of well-established and popular brands,” he underlines.

“So, we will need to pick top companies and adopt precise strategies for offering services at this centre in order to further develop the exports of high-quality and competitive products,” Ghalenoei says.

“By evaluating knowledge-based companies based on indicators in the three domains of technical issues, corporate infrastructure and the amount of domestic and foreign sales, the IHTECC ranks and chooses top knowledge-based firms offering goods and services for exports and divides them into 5-star, 4-star, 3-star and talented companies,” he explains.

Supported by the Centre for International Science and Technology Interactions, this program kicked off a year ago with the evaluation of companies, he says.

According to him, the responsibilities of the club of high-tech firms exporting commodities and services include:

1. Identifying, choosing and reinforcing top companies capable of exporting goods and services

2. choosing companies to accompany Iranian officials in foreign trips

3. establishing specialized consortiums of companies

4. creating brands, guaranteeing the quality, offering warranty and after-sales services for products

5. absorbing incentives and support in order to facilitate exports trends

“So far, more than 1,100 companies have undergone technical assessment,” he says.
“513 of them have been fully assessed. Of this number, 4 firms have been evaluated as 5-star companies, 48 firms as 4-star ones and 227 companies as 3-star ones,” Ghalenoei explains.

“Moreover, 103 companies are identified as talented firms,” he says.
It is noteworthy that the list of the companies’ rankings will be updated periodically and based on the efforts made by the companies to upgrade their status.