Data Center and Governance Report: 50% Decrease in Startup Investments

The report on the outlook of Iran’s digital economy shows a decrease in investment in the startup ecosystem, indicating a lag behind the global average in the digital economy.

According to IDEA, the Data and Governance Laboratory has published a report on the outlook of the country’s digital economy, with the director of this laboratory revealing some details.

According to this report, employees in the ICT sector in Iran make up 10.3% of the country’s total workforce, and the ICT sector’s contribution to GDP in 2019 was 4.2%.

The director of the data laboratory stated that while these numbers indicate growth in the digital economy, they also show that we are lagging behind the global average. For example, we can look at China, where the digital economy’s share has reached 38.6%.

He noted that although startups and knowledge-based companies experienced growth in 2023, the level of investment in the startup ecosystem has declined. Investment in Iran’s startup ecosystem in 1401 decreased by 50% compared to 1400, which is influenced by unpredictable and unstable conditions, clearly affecting Iran’s startup ecosystem.

In the fourth chapter of this report, the importance of labor migration in the ICT industry is discussed, where actions by countries such as China, Singapore, Italy, and Malaysia to create incentives for students studying abroad to return to their home country are mentioned.

This report also emphasizes the importance of regulation in the digital technology sector. The director stated that in the face of rapidly changing digital technology, regulatory bodies must be able to adapt to these conditions and characteristics. In situations where the process of enacting laws is time-consuming and does not keep pace with the rapid growth of technology.

Another result of this report is the importance of fiber optics. The director mentioned that if we do not reach 20 to 30 million users in the field of fiber optics and 5G coverage in less than two years, we will miss out on many innovative advances and opportunities.