Dr. Jalali, Scientific Secretary of the First National Conference on ‘Universal Service Obligation’ (USO) for ICT in Rural and Less Developed Regions, asked for a fresh outlook toward the field of rural USO and said: “The previous outlook of services provision to rural areas was unsuccessful in establishing sustainable development in our villages, therefore in addition to providing internet services to villages we should also have a special outlook toward knowledge-oriented jobs and businesses.”
According to ICT Ministry’s PR department, Dr. Jalali emphasized on the cycle of science, technology and economy, saying: “To obtain results, we have to add technology to our academic understanding.”
He underlined that: “Nowadays, sustainable rural development is based on knowledge-based agriculture, farming and livestock; therefore USO project must be able to transfer production output to user destinations, creating add-value.”
Stating that future jobs and businesses in the world are all based on science and knowledge, he added: “Naturally, USO must also move in that direction.”
In continuation, this faculty member highlighted the overall policies of the 6th Development Plan, decreed by the Supreme Leader, as a comprehensive outlook and said: “The 6th development plan in the ICT field must be adjusted based on these policies, where 25 percent of the state budget is going to be allocated to communication and information technology sector, and we have the ICT Ministry to thank for managing to include this vital section in the 6th development plan.”
He also referred to the existing global experiences in the field of USO and the studies carried out by the ITU, expressing that: “We received rural USO awards for creativity and innovation, a success we should manage to repeat by acquiring knowledge-base approaches.”
Jalali concluded his words by underscoring the political environment created by the P5+1 agreement as a great opportunity which can positively impact our economy through wise utilization.”