Several Iranian Funds Attend Austria Connect Day 2021 Event

The event was held from May 3-12, 2021, trying to match start-ups with investors and major industrial companies in the fields of technology and innovation from across the globe.

The event was organized by the promotional bank of the Austrian federal government (AWS), the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), and Global Incubator Network Austria (GIN) as the most significant financial supporters of Technology-Based Firms (TBFs), start-ups and those who work in Austria’s innovation and technology ecosystem.

Austria Connect Day 2021 brought financial supporters of innovation as well as innovative and creative firms from around the world together in order to establish a platform to build networks and match investors and start-ups, owners of innovative and technological ideas in order to develop novel, effective, innovative and sustainable businesses in the world.

Iran National Innovation Fund (INIF) made some arrangements with the secretariat of the event and, in coordination with the Iranian representation in Vienna, arranged bilateral meetings between Iranian TBFs, Start-ups and Private Research and Technology Funds and their foreign counterparts including investors, traders, innovative and technological companies and Venture Capital Funds (VCs). INIF also made arrangements to facilitate the participation of Iranian companies and start-ups in workshops and investment pitch sessions.

According to Sohrab Assa, the INIF’s International Affairs manager, “despite the barriers to international cooperation, Iran’s innovation ecosystem and its various actors such as TBFs and start-ups, enjoy a good technological appeal that can cover the shortcomings and obstacles in this way.”

“Taking this issue into account, and considering the good relationship between Iran and Austria, the INIF tried to make the most of this opportunity to pave the way for the Iranian teams to participate in this event and show their capabilities,” Assa said.

He said, “One of the most important purposes of the INIF is to support and encourage the other actors of the country’s innovation ecosystem to attend such events, so that they would get familiar with global actors in the field of financing and learn their operational mechanisms.”

Sohrab Assa explained, “The establishment of joint innovation Funds to develop cooperation in the fields of empowerment and export development and support the commercialization of joint high-priority projects between Iranian and foreign parties have been the other important goals behind the participation of the Iranian delegation in this event.”

During this event, 54 meetings were held between the Iranian participants and their foreign counterparts.