Iran’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology Seyed Sattar Hashemi said the ministry’s research institute has a significant role stressing that no development or infrastructure project shall start prior to its approval.
“The Institute shall be the main authority of the country’s technological
progress. No project shall begin without its evaluation,” he said in a meeting at
the ICT Research Institute.
The minister
urged the institute’s staff and directors to restore its heyday and to play a
central role in the country's macro-level policymaking and decision-making.
Hashemi
recalled his experience working in the ICT Research Institute and added: “It
shall continue to train specialized and innovative personnel. The presence of
students from top universities in this center will contribute to both the
scientific richness of the research institute and the promotion of the
country's communications industry."
The ICT
minister also referred to the challenges of the national information network
and data centers and said, "In the upstream documents, major missions have
been defined to create data center hubs in the country, but the reality is that
without detailed analysis and global experience, these goals will be
unrealistic."
"The
research institute shall be an analytical and decision-making arm in this field,
and its expert reports be the basis for decision-making by the government and
the ministry."
He
reiterated the role of media to introduce the ICT Research Institute saying "When
the research institute is absent from the media, non-specialists create
narratives. You must be recognized as a scientific and technical authority in
the field of communications and information technology."
Referring to
the role of productivity in the country's economic growth, Hashemi said: "According
to the Seventh Development Plan, a section of the economic growth must come
from productivity. This means that the research institute shall be the hub of
innovation and intelligence in the country."
“We will use
the capacity of this center to solve national issues and hope that, with the
support of researchers, a new path will be drawn for the future of technology
in Iran,” the ICT minister concluded.