The third smart city innovation and technology center was opened in district 10 of Tehran to take another step toward accelerating the pace of moving toward a smart Tehran.

According to the information center of national elites foundation, With the cooperation of Vice-Presidency, the municipality of Tehran has established three smart city innovation and technology centers. This act led to the provision of services required for growth and development of startups in districts 10, 9 and 4 of Tehran.

In total, 10 new companies and 23 startups have been located in the third center, which can expand their products and businesses through receiving support from “Zogh” accelerator. The fields of information technology, urban, cultural and social services are also some of their fields of activity.

Parviz Karami, the secretary of the knowledge-based economy and culture-building technologies development headquarter, stated during the opening ceremony: another step is taken toward a smart Tehran by opening this center. There are five main axes in Smart Tehran, one of which is innovative Tehran. The establishment of innovation centers is also in this field. Startup teams and knowledge-based businesses are supported at these centers to grow their business and turn their idea into a product.

Creating an Infrastructure for Creative Youth

The advisor to the vice president for science and technology affairs added: this action of Tehran Municipality to provide space to accelerators and startups is a great work in the direction of social responsibility. By doing so, the creative and innovative youth in each region will form their own startup team, and the municipality will soon be able to take advantage of their achievements. With this action, the municipality has created the infrastructure for the youth, which is innovative and transformative.

Karami mentioned: the establishment of these centers in the southern regions of Tehran is another appropriate measure that has been taken to witness the per capita development of innovation areas in these areas. In the last few years, the Vice-Presidency has provided different types of support for the formation of the innovation and technology ecosystem in Tehran and the country. Supporting the establishment of innovation centers and factories is also part of these measures to bring investment and support for human resources closer to the realization of a knowledge-based economy. However, another agreement was signed between the Vice-Presidency and the municipality of Tehran to create smart innovation zones on a much larger scale.

The Future in the Hands of Innovation

During the ceremony, Hamed Mazaherian, the deputy of urban planning and development of Tehran Municipality, marked: the future of all metropolises depends on innovative activities. Since problems such as pollution and traffic are not solved by traditional processes, new questions cannot be answered with old answers.

Moreover, Mohammad Farjood, the CEO of IT organization of Tehran, considered the innovation area as one of the most important discussions in the topic of smart Tehran. In this regard, he continued: our view of intelligence and innovation should be a comprehensive and supportive view, especially of the urban innovation ecosystem.

Laying the foundation for the Development of New Businesses

Zahra Nejadbahram, a city council member, emphasized the importance of more development of these measures in south of Tehran, adding: zone 10 is one of the fastest-growing areas for change, and it has also partnered with ICT to take the lead in modernizing technology development and using intelligent capacity.

This council member mentioned: the municipality is tasked with paving the way for the development of new businesses. These activities will definitely be developed in the future, because after the end of the Corona crisis, startups will be the driving force of the world economy.

Afterwards, Majid Robati, the mayor of district 10, considered the area as one of the regions with the most renovation of worn-out texture and shared his satisfaction with the development of innovative projects to boom the southern parts of Tehran. In this respect, he pointed out: considering that the esteemed mayor of Tehran is smart about the issue, it is more important to carry out such projects in the neighborhoods of the city. Especially since it makes people happy and businesses thrive.

In addition, Mohammad Mahdi Zolfaghari and Hamid Reza Ghanbari, the co-founders of “Zogh” accelerator, shared their views and visited the startups located in the center.

According to the report, the municipality of Tehran provides its unused spaces in various areas to the accelerators to create these centers, so that in these centers, businesses can prosper by providing services such as consulting, training and investment by the accelerators.