UNCTAD: Iran Ranks 75th in Index of Readiness for Advanced Technologies

According to this report, Iran ranks 75th among 158 countries in the index of readiness for advanced technologies in 2022, compared to Turkey (ranked 53), and Saudi Arabia (ranked 47).

Examining the sub-indices of readiness for frontier technologies in 2022 shows that Iran's situation is relatively better in the research and development sub-index (35th in the world) and relatively worse in the industrial activities sub-index (118th in the world).

The report added that UNCTAD has categorized 17 types of technologies as frontier technologies including artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, 5G, 3D printing, robotics, drone technology, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, biofuels, biogas and biomass, wind energy, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, nanotechnology and gene editing.

The global trend in the next few years will be knowledge-oriented, and education is considered a key element to promote innovation and alignment with trends, especially concerning rapid developments in the field of information technology.

In this report, the structure of the Readiness for Frontiers Technologies Index, the comparison of countries' performance at both global and regional levels, and Iran's position in the Readiness for Frontier Technologies Index have been prepared in three parts in 2022.

The Readiness for Frontiers Technologies Index ranks countries in the world according to their ability to use, adopt, and adapt frontier technologies.

In this index, technological capacities related to physical investment, human capital, and technological efforts are considered and include national capacities to exploit, accept, and adapt to these technologies.

The aforementioned capacities, taking into account the five sub-indices of the development of information and communication technology, the number of Internet users and download speed (skills), the expected academic years of highly educated workers (research and development activities (number of publications and patents), industrial activity with High technology and export of digital services and access to financing are measured by the ratio of domestic credit to the private sector.

In other sub-indexes such as financial subsidies (rank 62), skills sub-index (rank 74), and in the sub-index of the establishment of information and communication technology (rank 78), the country has almost a middle position among countries.

In the research and development sub-index, although Iran's rank has improved by 5 places, its growth has been insignificant and it has reached the 40th rank in the world in 2008 to the 35th rank in 2022.

In the sub-index of the establishment of information and communication technology, Iran ranks 10th in West Asia and 78th in the world.

The trend of Iran's rank in this sub-index decreased from 2008 to 2015; it dropped from the 104th rank in 2008 to the 126th rank in 2015.

But since 2016, Iran's ranking in this sub-index has improved and it has been promoted from 126th in the world in 2008 to 78th in 2022.

In the sub-index of skills, Iran ranks 8th in West Asia and 74th in the world.

The trend of Iran's ranking in this sub-index has improved from 104th in the world in 2008 to 74th rank in 2021.

In the research and development sub-index, Iran ranks fifth in West Asia and 35th in the world.

In the industrial activity sub-index, Iran ranks 12th in West Asia and 108th in the world. It has slightly improved from 132nd in 2008 to 118th in 2022.

In the financing sub-index, Iran ranks 10th in West Asia and 62nd in the world.

Earlier this year, a report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that was recently released showed that Tehran had ranked 34th among the top 100 science and technology (S&T) clusters,.

According to a report by the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and Knowledge-Based  Economy, citing the WIPO report which was published on September 20, 2023 in Geneva, the Global Innovation Index (GII) which acts under the WAIPO has released its rankings of the innovation performance of a large number of economies around the world.

The GII science and technology clusters take the pulse of the most recent trends in global innovation, accoridng to the report.

With 37 patent applications and 9,320 scientific articles per one million people, Tehran ranked 34th in the world, standing above cities such as Melbourne (42nd), Madrid (48th), Zurich (49th), Milan (50th), Toronto (52nd) and Istanbul (59).

Among the top 100, Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan) is the top performing cluster, followed by Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China), Seoul (Republic of Korea), Beijing (China) and Shanghai–Suzhou (China).

Seoul (Republic of Korea) climbs one place to third in the rankings overtaking Beijing (China) in fourth, in 2023.

Shanghai–Suzhou (China) rises one place to enter the top 5, primarily owing to a strong growth in PCT filings. San Jose–San Francisco, CA (United States) follows in sixth position.

The four remaining top 10 clusters are unchanged on the previous year, with the exception of San Diego, CA, which climbs two places from 11th to 9th with New York City, NY dropping a place to 10th and Paris two places to 12th.

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