The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology Will Introduce Special Credit Line for “Ghazal” Companies
According to Iran digital economy annotation, In a recent meeting, the Vice President for Science and Technology announced that a special credit line will be established for “Ghazal” companies.
Rouhollah Dehghani Firouzabadi stated that “Ghazal” companies are small and medium-sized enterprises with high growth rates compared to others. The concept of “Ghazal” is a global one, used in many countries, and has been defined and outlined by the Vice Presidency’s efforts in developing knowledge-based companies.
According to him, key criteria for evaluating “Ghazal” companies include having more than 200 employees, knowledge-based sales of at least almost one million dollors, and specific metrics for exports and sales growth.
The Vice President continued, “A special credit line will be created for Ghazal companies, including support for addressing company issues, financial facilities, tax credits, international exchange opportunities, and military service benefits. One of the features of the Ghazal knowledge-based club is that each qualifying company’s issues will be examined specially, and support will be tailored to the company’s needs. Thus, support for each Ghazal company will be unique and customized. The issues and problems of each Ghazal company will be reviewed with the company’s manager, and a special support package will be designed for each company for 3 to 5 years.”
He also mentioned the upcoming Ghazal Knowledge-Based Companies Festival, which will be attended by science and technology assistants from the past four terms. At this festival, 12 Ghazal companies will be introduced, and symbolic awards will be given to the first and the 10,000th companies in this group.
Firouzabadi highlighted that a specialized secretariat has been established for Ghazal knowledge-based companies. Currently, 121 Ghazal knowledge-based companies have been identified, and these companies will benefit from the special credit line.
“Royan” System to Be Launched
To create a fair environment and provide services and facilities to knowledge-based companies, the Vice Presidency will launch an integrated system called “Royan.” This system will be available to companies through a mobile application.
The Vice Presidency has designed the Royan system to ensure transparency and prevent injustice in service delivery to knowledge-based companies. Through this system, all services from the Vice Presidency will be available to companies in the form of a microservice. The system will be unveiled in the next 14 days.
Changes in Company Evaluation System
Firouzabadi noted that there are unresolved issues regarding the evaluation and support of knowledge-based companies. Companies are categorized into three types: startup, innovative, and technological, based on technology, financial turnover, and specialized employment. The previous evaluators, who had collaborated with the Vice Presidency for years, faced criticism for lack of expertise and conflicts of interest. Under the new evaluation system, startups will be evaluated not by agents but by judges selected by the companies themselves.
He added that the evaluation system for larger companies will be based on a standard framework rather than the previous agent-based system. Any interested company can become an evaluation agent for the Vice Presidency by completing special training and joining the evaluation club, thus eliminating the monopoly in agency.
Finally, Dehghani Firouzabadi emphasized the qualities of the new Vice President for Science and Technology, suggesting that the new vice president should be young to connect with the new generation, non-political to keep scientific matters separate from politics, have a full professor degree due to interactions with researchers and academics, and have experience in the science and technology ecosystem.
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