The working group meeting of the knowledge-based forum of Iranian entrepreneurs was held on Saturday (January 2, 2022) with the presence of members, representatives of economic drivers, as well as the deputy of the General Directorate of Innovation and Technology of the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Innovation of the Presidency, at the forum venue.
According to the Iranian Entrepreneurs' Forum Information Center, the deputy of the General Directorate of Innovation and Technology of the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Innovation said: Knowledge-based companies are divided into three categories: startups, innovative, and advanced. Startup knowledge-based companies are those with sales declarations of less than 100 billion tomans in the previous fiscal year, which have goods or services that are technologically advanced.
He added: Innovative knowledge-based companies are those with sales declarations of more than 5 billion tomans in the previous fiscal year, which have goods or services that are technologically advanced, but the share of knowledge-based product or service sales from the total sales is less than 50%. Advanced knowledge-based companies are those with sales declarations of more than 5 billion tomans, which have goods or services that are technologically advanced, and the share of knowledge-based product or service sales from the total sales is more than 50%, and at least 10 insured personnel are employed in these companies. Therefore, the sales volume determines which category the knowledge-based companies belong to.
Regarding the facilities provided to knowledge-based companies, the deputy mentioned that the Innovation and Technology Fund has a procedure and structure for evaluating and approving companies. This fund has limited resources that need to be managed, so it can be considered the most important provider of facilities to knowledge-based companies.