‘Digital Iran’ Project among Top 5 Projects of World Information Society Summit

The closing event of the ‘National Student Artificial Intelligence Competition’ and the summer season of the ‘Digital Iran’ project was held at Sharif University of Technology.

In this ceremony, while acknowledging the winners, it was emphasized that the goal of educating two million students was set and it was announced that this national project has been recognized as one of the top five projects at the World Information Society Summit.

Seyed Mostafa Azarkish, the deputy minister of Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, announced at the ceremony that the ‘Digital Iran’ project, which was launched with the aim of free, online, and project-based artificial intelligence education, has been met with a remarkable reception and more than 730,000 students from all over the country have participated in it.

"Of this number, more than 427,000 people have been trained in cooperation with the Vice-President for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy, and the rest have been covered in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology,” he added.

Azarkish also announced that the ‘Digital Iran’ project was selected as one of the five top projects in the world at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which is being held by the International Telecommunication Union, as one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, after competing with more than 1,050 innovative projects from around the world.

In a relevant development in August, the head of the National Park of Soft Sciences, Technologies and Cultural Industries of Iran announced that the artificial intelligence (AI) and creative industries exhibition will be held in Tehran in the next three months.

“This exhibition, which was supposed to be held in Kish, has been moved to Tehran due to some issues and will be held in the next three months,” said Mohammad Imani Khoshkhou.

“All those involved in the field of artificial intelligence are present in its policy-making council,” he added.

Earlier reports said that the International Artificial Intelligence Congress and Exhibition titled Kish AI Vision 2025 was due to be held on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, in the Southern waters of Iran, during September 2- 5.

Iranian Vice-President for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy Hossein Afshin announced in February that the AI has passed the theoretical stage and now is in the operational phase in Iran.

“The AI has been developed in Iran since 2010. This technology was first introduced in self-driving cars, medical guidance systems and traffic management, and today, having passed the theoretical stage, it has entered industrial and operational applications,” Afshin said.

Noting that artificial intelligence is no longer a purely academic subject, he said, “There was a time when only theoretical discussions were raised about artificial intelligence, but today the country is facing a new generation of operational projects in the fields of oil, health, smart cities and industry.”

“This change of direction is the result of targeted investment and the serious entry of creative engineers into this field,” Afshin said.

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