Tehran, February 09: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised the efforts of Iranian inventors and called for amending the law on registering inventions and innovations.
President Ahmadinejad made the remarks in the inauguration ceremony of the Third National Festival of Innovation and Prosperity on Tuesday, ISNA reported.
Ahmadinejad reiterated government’s support for inventors and said his administration is determined to provide the opportunity to commercialize Iranian inventions.
“Presently the process for the registration of inventions is within the framework of registration of companies which is under the supervision of the judiciary,” he said, noting that the law should be revised.
He said under the present circumstances, an inventor who has toiled for years to complete an invention is not rewarded properly.
“If the government can amend the law on registering inventions through the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, it will certainly change the law to the benefit of inventors. If not, we will send a bill to the Majlis to amend the law,” he stated.
He urged inventors and innovators to heed the humanitarian aspects of scientific work, saying that Iran’s scientific drive is different from that of the Western countries.
“The path undertaken by many western countries has incurred irreparable damage to humanity. We should avoid that course. Our objectives and theirs are different. Iran wants progress and advancement for global peace and justice and welfare of human beings. It does not want to plunder public wealth or exploit other people’s efforts by its inventions,” the president said.
A four-day exhibition has also been organized on the sidelines of the festival to showcase the latest achievements by the Iranian scientists. Over 580 inventions have been put on display in the exhibit.
The event has three categories, namely the commercialization of inventions, scientific study of them, and supporting the companies whose activities are science-based.
Iran has demonstrated a remarkable growth in science and technology over the past one decade, increasing its science and technology output five times from 2000 to 2008. Most of this growth has been in engineering and chemistry producing 1.4% of the world’s total output in the period.
According to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Iran increased its academic publishing output nearly tenfold from 1996 to 2004, and has been ranked first globally in terms of output growth rate.
A 2010 report by Canadian research firm Science-Metrix put Iran in the top rank globally in terms of growth in scientific productivity with a 14.4 growth index followed by South Korea with a 9.8 growth index.
The Islamic Republic’s growth rate in science and technology is 11 times more than the average growth of the world’s output in 2009 in terms of total output per year. Iran with an annual science and technology growth rate of 25% is doubling its total output every three years.
——–Agencies